National Book Festival

 Where can you find over 100,000 book lovers in a single location?  The 10th Annual National Book Festival, of course!  Since the first Festival in 2001, which drew a small crowd of 30,000, the National Book Festival has grown in the last ten years to attract an estimated 130,000 people in 2009. Organized by the Library of Congress and hosted by the President and First Lady, the National Book Festival draws an abundance of internationally recognized authors for readers of all ages to the National Mall each year. The Pavilion of the States houses booths from every state Center for the Book in the nation, including Missouri. Delegates from the Missouri Center for the Book distribute and display materials about Missouri authors and Missouri’s literary heritage, alongside all of the other state centers.  In addition to a children’s pavilion, which features readings and storytelling, one of the most popular activities for young readers is obtaining stamps from all the affiliated Centers on the “52 Great Reads” map distributed at the Festival. This year, children’s author and illustrator, Cheryl Harness of Independence, is being featured on the map for her beautifully illustrated book about the Pony Express. Visit the website of the National Book Festival  to learn about this and other great literary events.
 

The Missouri Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and is sponsored, in part, by funding from the Missouri State Library, a division of the office of Secretary of State. The Center houses the Missouri Author Collection within the state library and includes books by writers living in Missouri at the time of publication.