The National Book Festival was today in DC. I attended for the second year in a row. Perhaps it was more apparent this year, as the venue was indoors rather than out on the national mall, but the festival was incredibly well attended. I sat through four packed presentations and spent the rest of my time weaving through crowds to get to signing tables and water fountains.
While the Contemporary Life pavilion plays hosts to a smattering of writers who are employed primarily outside of writing (this year those visitors included Sandra Day O’Connor and Cokie Roberts) overall the festival is about the writers who show up. I was thrilled to both listen to and speak with E.L. Doctorow and Claire Messud. Both gave talks that were entertaining and engaging. I hope, when I have to do a reading some day, I can be one quarter as amazing as these two were. Not only did they connect with their audiences but also, when signing copies of their work, they spoke with and acknowledged the readers who had come to see them.
The longest lines of the day were for Kate DiCamillo and Jeffrey Brown, authors of Because of Winn Dixie, and Vader and Son respectively. That’s right; children’s authors had the best showing, the greatest number of groupies. Jacqueline Woodson’s reading in the teen pavilion was full of humor and advice for young writers. “If you write it down,” she said, “It’s not a lie anymore, it’s fiction.” I have said before that I enjoy writing for young people because they are the most enthusiastic, they embrace, and love, and live their literature more than any other group. This was obvious today. It was great to see that books, not movies or games, were attracting kids to listen, participate, and enjoy a Saturday.
Yet, while children stood out as attendees today, the point is that every pavilion I saw was packed. There is passion amongst readers of all ages, and today they were out in force. Comic con and movie premieres may get most of the press, but that doesn’t mean that the written word alone has lost its power. There were no clips or power points today, only words and voices.