# National Book Festival



## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

The Libarary of Congress is organizing the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

It will be Saturday, September 26, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are honorary chairs.

The Festival will bring more than 75 writers and illustrators to the Mall to talk about their work and autograph their books.

Authors will include:
David Baldacci
Ken Burns
Lee Child (Jim Grant)
Paula Dean
John Grisham
John Irving
James Patterson
Nicholas Sparks

Google for it or:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/

Sounds like a neat opportunity, if you are in the area or inclined to make plans to be there.

I have a prior engagement, or I would take the metro and go down.

Just sayin......


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## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

Oh, wow! Makes me wish I lived closer so I could go. (I blew my budget on BEA in NYC.)


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I usually catch some of the events on BookTV.  Haven't checked yet to see if they will carry it live.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Wow, that sounds like fun! I've never been to D.C. but have always wanted to go... 

P.S. What's with the (Jim Grant) after Lee Child's name?


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

911jason said:


> Wow, that sounds like fun! I've never been to D.C. but have always wanted to go...
> 
> P.S. What's with the (Jim Grant) after Lee Child's name?


Lee Child (born 1954, Coventry, England) is the pen name of British thriller writer Jim Grant.
This was listed in the Washington Post flyer and I vetted it in Wikipedia.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

geoffthomas said:


> Lee Child (born 1954, Coventry, England) is the pen name of British thriller writer Jim Grant.
> This was listed in the Washington Post flyer and I vetted it in Wikipedia.


Oh okay, got it... being such a big fan of his writing, you'd think I would have known that!


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

DD and I are probably going to go check out the kids'  area.  It's a good way to show her that books are important to a lot of other people, too.  And it'll be a fun outing for her to go into DC, unless it's pouring.


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## cloudyvisions (May 21, 2009)

I went the year that Diana Galbadon was there and it was pretty fun! Kinda lousy weather, but still fun. There is free stuff, a ton of authors, and the best thing is that you're with a bunch of other book lovers!


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

You know Amazon should have a booth there.

And maybe next year, KindleBoards will have a booth there??

Well maybe I am pushing it ..... aren't I?





Just sayin....


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## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

Well, Geoff, you'll have to go there and 'case the joint' this year. 
These big literary affairs are fascinating! I wonder how this will compare to BEA?

(Report back, X-5!)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

If I didn't have prior commitments all day Saturday I'd totally be down there. . . . .it's usually a great place for book lovers to hang out. . . . .


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## kevindorsey (Mar 4, 2009)

Too bad its not closer to my parts.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

I'd say "whereabouts are your parts", but somehow that sounds all wrong.      Um, let's try "in what region of this nation do you live?"  


For anyone else who lives too far away, or who's right here but can't be there:  would anyone like anything specific scouted out, the sort of thing that cannot be found online?  Brochures picked up, for instance?  Candid photo of your favorite author (assuming pics are permitted)?  DD and I will see what we can do....


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> I'd say "whereabouts are your parts", but somehow that sounds all wrong.  Um, let's try "in what region of this nation do you live?"











I found this "LOL" image... I'm not sure, but are those the "parts" you were looking for bouncing in the middle of the very leg-like L's? 



Susan in VA said:


> For anyone else who lives too far away, or who's right here but can't be there: would anyone like anything specific scouted out, the sort of thing that cannot be found online? Brochures picked up, for instance? Candid photo of your favorite author (assuming pics are permitted)? DD and I will see what we can do....


I'd love it if somehow you could get Lee Child's autograph and scan it for me... I'd like to make some kind of screensaver....


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

911jason said:


> I found this "LOL" image... I'm not sure, but are those the "parts" you were looking for bouncing in the middle of the very leg-like L's?
> 
> I'd love it if somehow you could get Lee Child's autograph and scan it for me... I'd like to make some kind of screensaver....


I'll see what I can do about the autograph. Though if you just want a scanned version.... you are aware that you can get a facsimile online? http://www.fadedgiant.net/html/child__lee.htm


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> I'll see what I can do about the autograph. Though if you just want a scanned version.... you are aware that you can get a facsimile online? http://www.fadedgiant.net/html/child__lee.htm


I sure didn't, but that is a cool site, I think I'll grab a bunch of autographs from there and make up a sig-saver... Thanks for the link! =)


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

<ahem> Make sure you include some female authors.

I'm gleefully waiting for the day when you've made another 135 posts....


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> <ahem> Make sure you include some female authors.
> 
> I'm gleefully waiting for the day when you've made another 135 posts....


Wow... quite a memory Susan, I'm impressed.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

911jason said:


> Wow... quite a memory Susan, I'm impressed.


Well, your request regarding KB author names was... unusual. And amusing. So I remembered.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Festival Report!

... Well, we went. We stayed about two hours, and it only rained a teensy bit while we were there. 

For anyone who wants to get autographs, arriving early is key. We got there about an hour after it started, and there were well over 50 people in line at each table, and that number only grew over the next couple of hours.

The individual pavilions had authors and others scheduled to speak at various times; we didn't stay for more than a couple of minutes at any of them since I mainly wanted it to be a fun experience for DD and the topics were generally over her head.

There were several tents geared toward children. They had various kid-friendly activities, get your picture taken with a character and color your own bookmark and that sort of thing, as well as one or two very-early-reader free books and several book-related crafts tables. The books being presented were aimed at early readers, so we went on to the pavilion marked "children and teenagers", but found that they featured YA books with teen-suited subject matter. So book-wise there wasn't really anything there that grabbed DD's attention, but she had a good time at the crafts tables.

One pavilion sold books, presumably mainly so you could get them autographed, and the line was dozens of people long and not perceptibly moving.

And then.... there was a trailer (sorry, a "Digital Bookmobile", operated by OverDrive) featuring e-books! Sadly, the line for that was the shortest line anywhere on the Mall. Inside there was a brief recorded presentation on e-books and audio books, and a list of all the participating local libraries. They had half a dozen laptops set up so you could check to see what books were available; the one I used didn't work properly (or maybe they had disabled all but two of the options). And the end of the mini-tour they had seven or eight electronic gadgets set up to show people the various options for e-books and audio books. THERE WAS NO KINDLE AMONG THEM.  I did see my first Sony e-reader there, though. The function of the buttons was not intuitively obvious, but maybe I'm just too used to the K now. I did like the display; it seemed crisper than the K2. (Note to self: install the damn font hack already!) I didn't care for the case; it was silvery metal and felt cold, not temperature-wise but just "unfriendly", compared to the K. Also in evidence were a Blackberry Pearl (too many really tiny buttons, IMHO), an iPod Nano (looks deceptively plain -- there must be more to it than it appears...), and a MS Zune (nice sleek design). And several others, the names of which I didn't recognize. But <sniff> no Kindle.... I was soooo wishing I had a Kindleboards t-shirt on during that tour.... 

At one point DD settled in for what promised to be at least a 20-minute crafts project, and there was nothing else for me to look at within a 30-foot radius, so I figured I could read some. (I had my K2 with me thinking that if I saw a promising book title I could check on the spot whether it was available for K.) So I sat next to her at an outside bench (meaning there was a steady stream of people walking past) for twenty minutes reading, and not a single person asked about the Kindle!  

I also picked up a couple of the fair's guidebooks, which apart from the schedule and maps also include descriptions of the pavilions as well as pictures and brief bios of the nearly 80 authors featured. Should anyone want one, let me know and I'll mail it.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I'm watching BookTV now.  They are re-running what they had on live earlier in the day (I missed it on TV), which are talks/panels with non-fiction authors.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> Festival Report!... (Note to self: install the damn font hack already!)


Thanks for the report! Sad that the Kindle was unrepresented... 

Ummm... how in the world do you have 3000+ posts on the KindleBoards but you haven't done the font hack yet?? Seriously, this is the #1 thing I would recommend to anyone with a K2. It enhanced my enjoyment of the Kindle so much... Do it now!!!


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

911jason said:


> Thanks for the report! Sad that the Kindle was unrepresented...
> 
> Ummm... how in the world do you have 3000+ posts on the KindleBoards but you haven't done the font hack yet?? Seriously, this is the #1 thing I would recommend to anyone with a K2. It enhanced my enjoyment of the Kindle so much... Do it now!!!


Ummm.. because I'm more of a talker than a techie?  No, actually it's because I thought people were just being fussy about changing fonts until just over a week ago when I saw the results of font hacks "live" at the DC meetup. Now I'm sold on the idea. I even looked up KindleKay's directions. I just haven't had time....

Speaking of post counts.... only 76 more.... <snicker>  (jk!)


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Susan in VA, did you get one of those free plum/purple booktv book bags that I'm seeing on the TV?  They look very large.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> I just haven't had time....


Honestly, it will probably take you all of 5 minutes. It was much simpler then the directions made it seem. Especially if you've already done the Screensaver Hack. The most important part to remember, is after you have installed the font, make sure you don't touch the slider on top of your Kindle! Use the menu to restart.



> Speaking of post counts.... only 76 more.... <snicker>  (jk!)


Uh-huh... sure you're kidding.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Thank you for the report, Susan.  I'm glad someone from here could go and tell us about it.

I'm starting to live my life vicariously through KB.  Maybe I should try to get out more?  
deb


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

mlewis78 said:


> Susan in VA, did you get one of those free plum/purple booktv book bags that I'm seeing on the TV? They look very large.


I did indeed. They ARE large. I didn't intend to get one, since I have more than enough tote bags, but after half an hour we had acquired so many brochures and other stuff that it was necessary.

They're not very durable though -- wouldn't survive being filled with _books_! -- I think they are made of that paper that's processed to feel like fabric, I don't know what it's called. Great for clothes or as a crafts bag, though.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

drenee said:


> Thank you for the report, Susan. I'm glad someone from here could go and tell us about it.


I wish I had more stuff to tell you guys about the actual grown-up book pavilions!  But the point of the outing this year really was to make it a fun event for DD, so we mostly focused on the kid stuff.



drenee said:


> I'm starting to live my life vicariously through KB. Maybe I should try to get out more?
> deb


It worries me sometimes when I hear or read something and my first reaction is, _Oh I'll have to tell so-and-so about this, I know he/she would be interested_, and it's somebody on KB whom I've never met in person.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Well I am very glad you posted this because I was away for the weekend and could not go.
I admit that I would rather have been at the beach with my wife celebrating our 45th than on the mall.
But still the Natl book festival sounded neat.
Thanks again for the report, Susan.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Susan in VA said:


> It worries me sometimes when I hear or read something and my first reaction is, _Oh I'll have to tell so-and-so about this, I know he/she would be interested_, and it's somebody on KB whom I've never met in person.


It worries me as well when I say to myself, wow, I can't wait to hear how so-and-so's trip went, and it's somebody on KB who I've never met before.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I am not worried at all.
But then I have been dealing with cyberfriends for a lot of years.
I have been in data communications for a long time and that has given me access to "timesharing" systems for decades.
Long before the World Wide Web.

And now I find that I am sometimes meeting those whom I have become fond of online.
Keep yourselves well, my friends, for some of us care about you.


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## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

I was thinking the same thing...I've made some real friends both here and on 'Zon...actually have met some of them in person, and I still think they're wonderful.

Congratulations on your 45th, Geoff!! 
(Jeff and I celebrated our 32nd in August.)

Sounds like the Book Festival was a good time. Still wish I could have driven the Elfmobile there. Ha!  At BEA in New York, Harper-Collins was giving out tote bags (actually made of cordura--they were pretty neat), but when they saw my 'author' badge, they pulled it back from my very hands and said, 'We don't give these to authors!' Sheesh. I felt like a droid in the bar on Tatooine!


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I was so annoyed that I didn't get to go!  I was in town and my friend (who lives in Old Town) and I were right there...but we only got to drive round and round in circles looking for a place to park for a minute so that she could feed her baby, and I could hop out for a minute to check it out.  The rain did worry me a bit, but I REALLY wanted to see some of my favorite authors like David Baldacci (was reading his latest book on the 5 hour flight to DC, and he never gets out to the Pacific NW)...and my friend and I joked that I would approach him somewhat nerdy (that I am) thrust my Passepartout at him and ask him to sign the back.  But when we saw the long line, I nearly keeled over.  In the end we were on a strict time schedule (she was driving me to my aunt & uncle in Ellicott City, MD for the rest of my trip).  Though I know that this will not be my last and only trip to DC (especially since I am looking for a job there so I can live there again--miss the place like crazy).

To make up for it a bit, my cousin in Baltimore took me to the book fair that was the next day that was only a few blocks away from her place.  Alas, I didn't not really enjoy the book fair in Baltimore as I was so unfamilar with everything (99.9% was all independant local authors)...and a majority of them did not catch my interest.  The fact that I already bought 5 books that morning while I was waiting for my cousin to get out of the shower...ha...didn't really help either (I was too eager to read them).

I did learn that my best flying buddies were: my new ITouch and Passepartout...kept me busy for hours...so much that I did not mind the extra hours that were added to my flight due to turbulance and head winds.

Tris
"Planning my next trip to DC already, and I just got back last night!"


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Tris,
we are looking forward to you becoming a "local" again.
Please let us know when this occurs so that we can hold you a party-meet.

Just sayin.....


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## Robin (Dec 11, 2008)

I went and saw a lot of the "grown up" authors: David A. Taylor, Douglas Brinkley, Mark Kurlansky, Azar Nafisi, Marilynne Robinson, Sabiha Al Khemir, Julia Alvarez, and Jeannette Walls. They were great (although Robinson was disappointing, she read from her book & was very monotone). The digital bookmobile was sponsored by a company that does ebooks & is a competitor to Amazon, so they were Kindleless.


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

geoffthomas said:


> Tris,
> we are looking forward to you becoming a "local" again.
> Please let us know when this occurs so that we can hold you a party-meet.
> 
> Just sayin.....


Hey I'm up for it! It would be awesome to meet new people, especially those who understand the Kindle.

It's just event like these that bring out my love for DC. I am just erk'ed that it only happens once a year because I'm actually in the beginning stages of planning my next trip in the spring...ish.

Oh, I second the long line thing. I just wanted one autograph from one author who was there for only an hour, and the line curved and led all the way at the end of the National Mall...and when you see people holding large signs that read "END OF THE LINE", that's really long. Only I wonder how do you know you are in the correct line?

Tris

"Trying out the Kindle app on her new iTouch...(it is neat but I don't think I will read for long periods of time on it)."


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