National Book Festival Is This Saturday, September 6

During the height of the pandemic, the National Book Festival was fully on-line, and I "attended" a few events. This was one of the pandemic activities that opened me up to the incredible possibilities for readers and writers on-line. Yes, I know I was just writing about this yesterday. It was life changing, okay?

This year's festival  is this Saturday, one day instead of three, as it was in 2020. During that one day you can still do some live streaming, and videos of all the speakers are supposed to be available after the festival is over. 

Oh, look! The videos from last year! If I had all the time in the world, I'd watch the one on the history of community cookbooks. Yes, seriously, I would.

Here is the list of authors' presenting. Children's writers are well represented. My favorite historian will be there. It appears that all authors have a resent book that is being featured, in case you see some favorite writers there and want to see what they're up to.

Connecticut Literary News

I have barely been keeping up on what's going on in-state since the beginning of the year. That's an exaggeration. No, it's an outright lie. I haven't been keeping up at all. 

Here are a couple of items that turned up on my radar this morning.

The Big News...

...is that the Connecticut Center for the Book, the state affiliate of the national Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, is "on hiatus" and there will be no Connecticut Book Awards this year. I think the Connecticut Book Awards disappeared for a few years a while back and then returned, so maybe this is not as bad as I think it is. However, I can't help thinking this has the same feel as The Connecticut Children's Book Fair. That disappeared for a year or two in the teens, came back in an unenthusiastic manner for a while, and hasn't been held since 2018. That's pre-pandemic, people. I'm not accepting the Big P as a cause of that.

The Intriguing News...

...is that the Connecticut Center for the Book, which I guess isn't all that on hiatus, has named two books as Library of Congress Reads From Great Places Selections. What is that? you may well ask. Well, the Library of Congress has a Roadmap to Reading Project at this Saturday's National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. The books were chosen as being representative of Connecticut's literary heritage and they both won Connecticut Book Awards last year. You will recall, because I just told you, that there will be no Connecticut Book Awards this year.  Hmmm.

The Connecticut books selected for Read From Great Places are:

Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham with illustrations by C.G. Esperanza. A picture book! I was aware of this book, because it's a children's book and that has been my beat in Connecticut. And elsewhere.

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi Science fiction set in Connecticut!!! This book I wasn't aware of, because last year, when I was covering the Connecticut Book Awards, I was only interested in the children's categories. This year, remember, I'm focusing on adult work, my own and everyone else's. The big draw for me with this book is that it is, as I've already said, science fiction set in Connecticut. Now, perhaps there is a subgenre of Connecticut-based science fiction that I don't know about, because I'm not that knowledgeable about scifi. But now I know there is this one.

Multiple Ways To Participate In This Year's National Book Festival

Last year the National Book Festival was all virtual, which meant I was able to "attend" a number of events.  This year the Festival is going to take place over 10 days, September 17 through 26. There will be a number of ways for people to take part, virtually as well as, it appears, some ticketed events at the Library, for those able to go that route. 

Here is the line-up of authors to date. 

Though I had some technical difficulties with last year's Festival, it was still a fantastic opportunity. I hope that in years to come, the Library of Congress continues to make it possible for people across the country to take part in the Festival on-line, making it a true national event.

My 2020 National Book Festival Experience

This year's National Book Festival was this past weekend, and it was digital, because it's 2020. It was the 20th book festival, and this was the first time I "attended" any part of it. Because it was digital.

I had some problems maneuvering through the Book Festival website and accessing the author presentation/videos and live question and answer sessions. I couldn't figure out how to access the question and answer sessions at all for the two authors I was interested in on Friday. On Sunday I got that worked out for the last two authors I was watching, but I kept losing the connection with one of them. I don't know whether that was because I wasn't set up close enough to our modem (I've had that problem before), I need a new computer (this laptop is seven years old), or there were problem with the Book Festival's website. I also had trouble getting to one of the author presentations on Sunday. I had to go directly to YouTube for one of them.

I went hiking on Saturday, so, yeah, nothing that day.

Nonetheless, I saw some great stuff on Friday and Sunday, and now you can, too, because these authors' presentations are on YouTube.

Links To Author Presentations On YouTube

Gene Luen Yang I watched Gene Luen Yang's presentation, because I just plain like him. I've liked some of his books, his articles, and reading about him. Watch through the point where he's discussing his new book Superman Smashes the Klan.

Mike Curato I chose Mike Curato, because his new book, Flamer, released this month and was part of one of my September book release posts. His cover and book title were striking, and I recalled them. I guess this is an example of marketing working.

Alaya Dawn Johnson I just discovered Johnson on the list of authors appearing at the Festival. She interested me, because she writes across age groups. She's an award winning YA author of speculative fiction whose new book, Trouble the Saints, is adult historical fiction with a fantasy element. 

Mary Robinette Kowal I have one of Kowal's Lady Astronaut books on my Kindle. She has a new book out in this series, The Relentless Moon.

Emily St. John Mandel Well, of course, I listened to Mandel, because of Station Eleven. She has a new book out, The Glass Hotel.

You can probably go through the list of Festival authors and find their presentations either at the Festival site or at YouTube.

National Book Festival Going Virtual!

The Library of Congress National Book Festival will be virtual this year. You know how I love virtual events. In the twenty years of its existence, I have never been to the National Book Festival. I have no plans to go any time soon, either. But I might hit a few events this year on September 25 through 27 , virtually. 

Children's Authors Taking Part

• Sophie Blackall
• Dan Brown
• Veronica Chambers
• Chelsea Clinton
• Jerry Craft
• Jessica Curry
• Parker Curry
• Angela Dominguez
• K.A. Holt
• Deborah Hopkinson
• Kwame Mbalia
• Megan McDonald
• Connie Schofield-Morrison
• Frank Morrison 
• Peter H. Reynolds
• Barb Rosenstock
• Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Jon Scieszka
• Nic Stone
• Don Tate
• Steven Weinberg
• Mo Willems
• Kelly Yang

 YA Authors Taking Part

• Becky Albertalli
• M.T. Anderson
•  Tonya Bolden
•  Mike Curato
•  Jo Rioux
•  Lucinda Robb
•  Rebecca Boggs Roberts
•  Aisha Saeed
•  Nic Stone
• Sabaa Tahir 
• Gene Luen Yang