This year’s festival featured seven themed pavilions at which 75 authors, illustrators, and poets—including E. L. Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, John Irving, Sue Monk Kidd, Linda Sue Park, and Tom Wolfe—read from, discussed, and signed copies of their books.
The festival also served as the official launch of a partnership between LC and the national nonprofit First Book to collect money toward the Book Relief project, with a goal of distributing 5 million books to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. First Book spokeswoman Eugenia Hall told American Libraries that more than $1,300 was raised at the festival and that the project has received commitments of approximately 4.8 million new books from the publishing industry.
“The National Book Festival celebrates the joy of America’s literary culture,” said Laura Bush at a gala event the night before the Saturday fest, according to the September 25 Dallas Morning News. “Books tell us the story of who we are as a nation. Over the last few weeks, in the wake of the storms, we’ve heard stories of hardship and great hope.”
Posted September 30, 2005.