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