Image of authors and books from the schedule.

PBS Books showcased exclusive live coverage of the 2019 Library of Congress National Book Festival on August 31, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Featuring exceptional writers, the festival attracts tens of thousands of book-loving readers every year.

Check out our previous coverage of the National Book Festival.

Learn more about the Library of Congress.

Watch Now:

Jericho Brown
The Tradition


Holly Black
The Wicked King




Mary Anne Carter
Chairwoman of the National Endowment of the Arts


Dr. Carla Hayden
Librarian of Congress


John Scalzi
The Consuming Fire


José Andrés
Vegetables Unleashed and We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time


Ngozi Ukazu
Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey


Richard Ford
Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book


R.J. Palacio
We’re All Wonders and White Bird


Charlie Jane Anders
The City in the Middle of the Night


Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Hey, Kiddo


Beth Macy
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America


Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow and Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow


David Treuer
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present


Markus Zusak
Bridge of Clay


Faith Erin Hicks
Pumpkinheads


Laila Lalami
The Other Americans


Amitav Ghosh
Gun Island: A Novel


Marie Arana
Silver, Sword, and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story


David Rubenstein
Library of Congress National Book Festival Board Co-Chairman
Co-founder and Co-CEO of The Carlyle Group


Victoria Schwab
Tunnel of Bones