Tomorrow's the National Book Festival

Here's who I'm going to see, and why, if you're a local writer, you should make it an artist's date.

One of the perks of living in the DMV (and we’ll take as many as we get these days!) is the annual National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress. Tomorrow is the big day, and years of experience have taught me it’s best to arrive with an idea of what sessions you plan to attend, given the many great options competing in the same time slot (indeed, life is full of hard choices).

Some of my favorite authors (and friends) will be there tomorrow, including the brilliant and effervescent Angie Kim, who, in another life, was a litigator and is now the renowned mystery author of my favorite book of 2023, Happiness Falls.

She’ll be on stage with fellow authors Susan Choi (Trust Exercise, and most recently, Flashlight), and the inimitable Katie Kitamura (A Separation, Intimacies, Audition), under whom I studied in Aspen two summers ago. Back then, Katie was still drafting Audition (recently long-listed for the Booker Prize), and I was delighted to discover that the astute, ethereal scene she shared with us back then indeed made it into the final book. If you haven’t read any of her work, I honestly can’t tell you what to choose first. They are all thin, closely observed novels, in which Kitamura dusts away the facade of ordinary experiences and reveals them anew. I’ve loved them all.

I’m also looking forward to hearing Geraldine Brooks (Horse) reflect on her recent memoir, Memorial Days, which recounts the sudden loss of her husband and subsequent grief journey. Both Horse and Memorial Days feature familiar DC landscapes, and I’m always thoroughly impressed by her masterfully crafted descriptions of a setting I know intimately. From Horse,

“In Washington, the seasons slammed her – summer’s soup-pot heat; autumn’s extravagant arboreal fireworks; winter’s iciness; spring’s intoxicating explosion of bloom, birdsong, and fragrance. Even the neglected bike path erupted with lushness, and with the sun low in the west, the Anacostia river shone like polished silver.”

I’m morbidly curious about the headlining conversation between Justice Amy Coney Barrett and philanthropist David Rubenstein. Who will be in that room? Will they boo at the Justice’s every remark? Will Rubenstein mention being ousted by Trump from his position as Chairman of the Kennedy Center? So many questions! So much tension my stomach is already clenched!

On to other exciting appearances:

Nigerian prize-winning novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Americanah, Half of a Yellow Sun), will be discussing her latest book, Dream Count, which I just began and can’t put down (and, yes, if you’re tracking, I’m currently reading 4 books simultaneously). It’s a multi-POV novel capturing the lives of four interrelated women against the backdrop of the pandemic. The writing is beautiful, easy, and poignant.

What does the world need now? (Besides gun control, a serious check on checks-and-balances, and a Democratic candidate with hutzpah and a strong voter base?) That’s right. POETS! Three of our greatest will come together tomorrow on one stage: Ada Limón, Joy Harjo, and Tracy K. Smith. How I wish I had a poet’s mind! Alas, I possess only a few teenage journals stuffed with bad poetry, and the good enough sense to know where to turn for spiritual nourishment on the page. These are the authors whose work I pick up during the early morning hours, when I need a fresh pulse on the world and a new set of eyes with which to see it.

There are so many others I wish I could squeeze in (and maybe I’ll split my time between a few contenders), including Liz Moore (Long Bright River and God of the Woods), and children’s author Mac Barnett (note to get a signed copy of the classic, Extra Yarn, for my nephew).

My dates at the 2023 event.

Lastly, here’s why, if you’re a writer in the area, you should take a page from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and make it an artist’s date. Not only is the National Book Festival (and other local bookstore/library events) a great opportunity to join the literary community, but tomorrow, author Yung Jin is leading a Fiction Writing Workshop from 11am-12pm. If you need a spark of inspiration to get to the page, what better place than in a convention center full of the country’s best and brightest literary minds?

If you don’t live in our fair, occupied city, or can’t be there in person, don’t worry, several programs will be livestreamed. And if you tune in, don’t forget to tell me who you watched.

I hope to see the rest of you there.