How many books fit in a tote bag? Join more than 175 authors, storytellers, illustrators and poets at the Washington Convention Center next month, and you might find out.
On Saturday, September 5, NPR's own raconteurs (who also enjoy getting their read on) will interview authors at the 15th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival. Our hosts, journalists and even our VP of news will lead book chats with writers in all different genres — from romance to science. NPR Correspondent Tom Gjelten will be there as well with his latest, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story.
Find details about these 11 events as well as some NPR coverage of books in the schedule below. More details are available in the National Book Festival App (available in iOS and Android), where you can build your own custom, public radio-infused itinerary.
Schedule: NPR at the National Book Festival
Category: Biography and Memoir
David McCullough with NPR Special Correspondent Melissa Block
5:20PM
Melissa Block sits down with David McCullough. His newest book, The Wright Brothers follows the author's Pulitzer Prize winners Truman and John Adams, which became an Emmy Award-winning miniseries on HBO.
Category: Children
Buzz Aldrin with NPR Science Correspondent Joe Palca
1:20PM
Joe Palca talks to moonwalker Buzz Aldrin about his vision for the future of space travel and his latest children's book, Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet.
Listen: After Moon Trip, Aldrin Required To Fill Out Custom Form via Morning Edition
Category: Fiction
Jane Smiley with NPR Books Correspondent Lynn Neary
1:40PM
Lynn Neary chats with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley about her latest book, Some Luck. Her previous work includes The Greenlanders, Ordinary Love and Good Will, A Thousand Acres, Horse Heaven, Good Faith and The Georges and the Jewels.
Category: History
Lawrence Wright with NPR Senior V.P. of News Michael Oreskes
5:20PM
Michael Oreskes talks with author Lawrence Wright about his newest book, Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace. Wright has also written Noriega: God's Favorite and the script for a movie by the same name.
Listen: 13 Days Of High Emotion That Led To The Egypt-Israel Peace via Fresh Air
Category: International
Juan Gabriel Vásquez with NPR Producer/Editor Bilal Qureshi
5:20PM
Bilal Qureshi interviews Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of the best-selling The Sound of Things Falling as well as the award-winning work The Informers and The Secret History of Costaguana.
Category: Romance Fiction
Sarah MacLean with NPR Books Editor Petra Mayer
7:15PM
Petra Mayer interviews Sara MacLean, author of the newest Rules of Scoundrels novel Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover. Previous work includes The Season, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, A Rogue by Any Other Name, and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished.
Beverly Jenkins with Petra Mayer
7:40PM
Petra continues talking to romance genre authors in an conversation with Beverly Jenkins, whose newest romance, Destiny's Captive, joins the ranks of her previous works including Heart of Gold, Night Hawk, Indigo and Bring on the Blessings.
Paige Tyler with Petra Mayer
9:00PM
Petra concludes her trio of interviews with author Paige Tyler. Tyler's books Animal Attraction, Dead Sexy and Good Cop, Bad Girl are EPIC Award Finalists. Some of her recent works include Her Perfect Mate, Her Lone Wolf, Her Wild Hero, Hungry Like the Wolf and her latest SWAT (Special Wolf Alpha Team) book Wolf Trouble.
Check Out: Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances via NPR Books
Category: Science
David Quammen with NPR Morning Edition Host Steve Inskeep
11:50AM
Steve Inskeep interviews David Quammen, also a journalist and author The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged From an African Forest.
Casey Schwartz with NPR Science Reporter Adam Cole
1:40PM
Adam Cole speaks with award-winning author Casey Schwartz about her new book In the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis.
Category: Young Adult
Sonia Manzano with NPR's Michel Martin
5:20PM
Michel Martin interviews Sonia Manzano (Maria from Sesame Street), about her memoir Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx.
Listen: In Her New Memoir, Maria Tells Us How She Got, How She Got To 'Sesame Street' via Morning Edition
Meg Wolitzer with NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg
6:40PM
Susan Stamberg talks with Meg Wolitzer about her latest book, Belzhar, a story of young romance, loss and the power of acceptance.
Listen: Meg Wolitzer: Catnip For 'A Certain Kind Of Reader' via Ask Me Another
Book Signing: NPR Religion and Belief Correspondent Tom Gjelten
2:35PM
Tom Gjelten's latest book, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story, explores the effect of the 1965 Immigration Act. He is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent's View and Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause, which is a history of Cuba focusing on the Bacardi rum family.
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