Book lovers across the nation can join the 2023 Library of Congress National Book Festival on PBS Books, which will host a series of virtual interviews with some of the festival’s featured authors beginning July 20 in partnership with PBS stations across the country.
This marks the eighth collaboration between the Library of Congress National Book Festival and PBS Books, a national programming initiative produced by Detroit Public Television. The 2023 series features interviews with authors including Claribel A. Ortega, Shelby Van Pelt, Tananarive Due, S.A. Cosby, Luis Alberto Urrea, Beverly Gage, TJ Klune, Matthew Desmond, Héctor Tobar, Angeline Boulley and Trang Thanh Tran.
Interviews with each of the 11 authors featured by PBS Books will be streamed between July 20 and the end of August on PBS Books. They will also be available on-demand on PBS Books and the National Book Festival website at loc.gov/bookfest.
The 2023 National Book Festival will take place on Aug. 12, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and the festival is free and open to everyone. Attendees will hear conversations that reflect their lived experiences and stories, with presentations for every type of reader. The festival’s theme, “Everyone Has a Story,” celebrates the storyteller in us all. The complete author lineup for the for the festival can be found at loc.gov/bookfest.
“The Library believes that everyone has a story to tell, and we’re proud to share the stories of so many groundbreaking authors, writers, poets and illustrators at the National Book Festival,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We’re grateful to join with PBS Books to extend the reach of the festival once again so that book lovers, libraries and public television stations across the country can join this celebration of reading.”
“Everyone has a story that needs to be told and we’re now living in an exciting time when more diverse voices are sharing their journeys, their rite of passage, as well as their challenges and opportunities, which are all preserved within the pages of books. That’s how we learn empathy, and that’s how we bridge great divides,” said Rich Homberg, president and CEO of Detroit Public Television. “We are thrilled to work again with the Library of Congress National Book Festival this year along with an illustrious lineup of authors as we celebrate our love for all literature.”
Highlights from the PBS Books series include:
July 20, 8 p.m. ET: Claribel A. Ortega
PBS Books, in collaboration with WNET in New York, hosts Claribel A. Ortega, a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author who writes middle grade and young adult fantasy novels inspired by her Dominican heritage.
July 27, 8 p.m. ET: Shelby Van Pelt
PBS Books, in collaboration with WGBH in Boston, presents new author Shelby Van Pelt. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” is her first novel and will be featured at the 2023 National Book Festival.
Aug. 2, 8 p.m. ET: Tananarive Due
PBS Books, in collaboration with GPB in Atlanta, hosts Tananarive Due, an award-winning author who teaches Black horror and Afrofuturism at the University of California.
Aug. 3, 8 p.m. ET: S.A. Cosby
PBS Books, in collaboration with VPM and WHRO in Virginia, presents S.A. Cosby, an Anthony, Barry, and Macavity Award-winning writer from southeastern Virginia.
Aug. 9, 8 p.m. ET: Luis Alberto Urrea
PBS Books, in collaboration with MPT in Maryland, hosts Luis Alberto Urrea, bestselling author of works of nonfiction, poetry and fiction, including “The Hummingbird’s Daughter” and “The House of Broken Angels.”
Aug. 10, 8 p.m. ET: Beverly Gage
PBS Books, in collaboration with WETA in Washington D.C., interviews Beverly Gage, a professor of 20th-century American history at Yale University and author of “The Day Wall Street Exploded.”
Aug. 23, 8 p.m. ET: TJ Klune
PBS Books, in collaboration with South Florida PBS, presents TJ Klune, the bestselling author of “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” “Into This River I Drown” and “Under the Whispering Door.”
Aug. 24, 8 p.m. ET: Matthew Desmond
PBS Books, in collaboration with WTTW in Chicago, hosts Matthew Desmond, a professor of sociology at Princeton University to discuss his latest release “Poverty, by America.”
Aug. 30, 8 p.m. ET: Héctor Tobar
PBS Books, in collaboration with PBS SoCal, interviews Héctor Tobar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and novelist. Tobar is the author of the critically-acclaimed bestseller “Deep Down Dark” as well as “The Barbarian Nurseries,” “Translation Nation” and “The Tattooed Soldier.”
Aug. 31, 8 p.m. ET: Angeline Boulley and Trang Thanh Tran
PBS Books, in collaboration with Kansas City PBS and KERA in Dallas, Texas, interviews Angeline Boulley followed by Trang Thanh Tran.
For a complete lineup of authors interviewed virtually on PBS Books, visit: PBSBooks.org/LOCBookfest23.
About the National Book Festival
The National Book Festival was co-founded in 2001 by first lady Laura Bush with the Library of Congress. The festival celebrates creators and draws thousands of readers together each year to engage with writers and the national library.
Most authors will participate in book signings following their events. Festivalgoers will be able to purchase books by the featured authors from Politics and Prose, the official bookseller of the 2023 National Book Festival, in advance at politics-prose.com/ and onsite at the festival.
A selection of programs will be livestreamed online, and videos of all programs will be available shortly after the festival at loc.gov/bookfest.
The National Book Festival is made possible by the generous support of private- and public-sector sponsors who share the Library’s commitment to reading and literacy, led by National Book Festival Co-Chair David M. Rubenstein. Sponsors include: Institute of Museum and Library Services, General Motors, James Madison Council, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John W. Kluge Center; additional support provided by the CoStar Group, For The People Fund, with seed funding provided by the Ford Foundation, Sharjah Book Authority, Friends of the Library of Congress, Library of Congress Federal Credit Union and The Hay-Adams.
