National Book Festival - Washington DC - August 31, 2019

The Library of Congress has posted the full list of authors for this years National Book Festival, to be held at the convention center on Saturday, August 31, 2019.

https://www.loc.gov/events/2019-national-book-festival/authors/

For the first time since the festival moved indoors, there are multiple authors that I am very excited to see! I am concerned though, since I seem to spend most of my time at the festival moving between rooms and waiting in lines.

The past few years we have done a breakfast meetup at Le Pain Quotidien on Massachusetts Ave. Does that sound good to everyone?

Sounds like a plan to me.

It's a pretty interesting author list! I'll have to plan ahead to make sure I see as many of the authors of interest as I can.

Thanks for posting! I think I can attend this year and would love to meet for breakfast.

I continue to not go because it went indoors. The press of people just isn't for me.

Though looking at the list, I see 4 authors I'd like to see... maybe 5 but that last one will be CROWDED...

Well, that Le Pain Quotidien is now closed as of last week. Super.

I'll find somewhere else for us to go, probably near Gallery Place Metro stop.

Huh. Well how about that? I wonder why - seemed like a decent spot for a place like that.

I imagine it's because that building was the last holdout on the block, all the other buildings have been replaced with tall mixed-use developments.

>4 gilroy: Same here. I find it a difficult hearing environment since it went indoors. The crowds are too massive for popular authors (if you can even get tickets for some!) for me to find a decent seat to see and hear. I'll stick to the Kensington International Day of the Book street festival and the Gaithersburg Book Festival. I'm making it a point to try to avoid situations which just frustrate me.

Jim, when is the Baltimore Book Festival this year?

Everything about the festival has been much better the last few years than it was when it first moved indoors. They now have designated line-up areas for every room and there is no more crowding in the hallways or jostling to get seats. They only had the ticketing once, for Stephen King, and have not had it since. There are assistive listening devices available in the lobby. I have never had any trouble getting into an author session as long as I arrived before the session began (and often I could still get in after the session started). They also don't require everyone to leave the room between sessions like they did the first year. It's not as special as it was when it was on the Mall, but I think it works well if you're planning to see 2 or 3 authors. How well it will work when you're interested in seeing *counts fingers* 17 authors? We shall see.

>9 norabelle414: Assistive listening devices usually don’t work well for me, but I’ll think about attending. No promises, though. :)

>8 SqueakyChu: Well. Looks like The Powers That Be have combined the Baltimore Book Festival with City Lights (an arts festival) over 10 days in November (1st-10th). Events are scattered through those days and are at various venues in or near the Inner Harbor. No idea if there will be the usual book buying spread.

>That sounds pretty cool. I’ll have to keep track of it to see if I want to come up.Thanks for letting me know.

>11 drneutron: Oooooo... Birthday trip...

Time has gotten away from me, I apologize!

Looks like the Panera next to Gallery Place Metro has *also* closed, so let's meet here:

A Baked Joint
440 K St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(this is next door to Busboys and Poets, where some of us met up for ALA Annual in June)

Here's the full schedule with times: https://www.loc.gov/events/2019-national-book-festival/schedule/time/

Is everyone okay with meeting at 9am?

If I can clear the calendar, 9 will work.

Works for me. Thank you for setting up the time and place. Coming up a lot quicker than I realized.

Looks like it's just the three of us for tomorrow (norabelle414, drneutron, WildMaggie)

Anyone else who sees this, you're welcome to join!

Unfortunately, I have a washer and dryer being delivered tomorrow, so I'm not going to make it.

>18 drneutron: We'll miss you but enjoy your new washer and dryer!

Oh, we will. Especially since laundry's been piling up for a week and a half since the old washer quit on us... 😀

I expect to have a plus 1, maybe 2.

I think I'll pass on the book festival this year. Have fun!