Washington’s National Book Festival Smashes Attendance and Sales Records

Saturday saw Washington host its annual National Book Festival and it seems this year’s was the best so far in the festivals 18-year long history. The festival has been sponsored by the Library of Congress since 2001, and this year drew in more than 200,000 readers to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C.

As The Washington Post reports, the festival offered attendees to listen to talks and interviews from over 100 authors, including the likes of Amy Tan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Dave Eggers, Meg Wolitzer and Roxane Gay. Literary director of the National Book Festival, Marie Arana, said: “Authors new to the festival were agog at the sizes of their audiences — positively gobsmacked. We probably made heads grow in the process, but we love making authors feel like rock stars. We’re going to have to learn how to manage larger crowds, that’s for certain. We are outgrowing many of the halls!”

There were so many attendees for the interview between U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden that over 3,000 people had to be turned away. Sotomayor was there to discuss her new children’s book Turning Pages: My Life Story, during which shew said “The strength of our country is in our teachers.”
The festival also saw Annie Proulx accept the 2018 Prize for American Fiction. “I don’t think of myself as a writer. What I am is a reader,” she said, as she urged people to read to their children as early and often as possible.

The former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, came to give a talk at the festival directly from the funeral of Sen. John McCain. She talked about her recent book, Fascism: A Warning. The event saw a record number of authors launching their books, including both Tracy K. Smith and Deborah Harkness.

The official bookseller of the festival, Politics and Prose, sold over 17,000 books, which is a new record. P&P co-owner Bradley Graham said: “The crowds were definitely bigger than any we’ve seen since the festival moved to the convention center in 2014.” More than 70 people were required to work as staff for the company’s pop-up book stalls.
The Library of Congress revealed the winners of 2018 Literacy Awards, which are funded by co-founder of the book festival, David M. Rubenstein.

• Reading Is Fundamental of Washington, D.C., won the $150,000 David M. Rubenstein Prize. RIF is a nonprofit literacy organization which has distributed over 400 million books since it was founded in 1966.

• East Side Community School, New York City, won the $50,000 American Prize. East Side created a reading program that helps to dramatically increased students’ literacy skills.

• Instituto Pedagógico para Problemas del Lenguaje, Mexico City, won the $50,000 International Prize. IPPLIAP is a nonprofit organization that supports literacy among deaf children and children with language and learning disabilities.
If you missed this year’s festival, then worry not! Next year’s will be held Aug. 31 at the convention center.