PBS Books to Stream Interviews with Eight Featured Authors Beginning July 10;
Watch them Here

Throughout history, the art of reading has nourished the mind, sharpened perspective and inspired change. Books are foundational building blocks to learning and the preface to understanding one another, the human condition and lived experience. In so many ways, books build us up, and that’s the theme for this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival.

Beginning July 10, bookworms across the country can get a glimpse of the 2024 Library of Congress National Book Festival on PBS Books as it hosts a series of virtual interviews with some of the festival’s featured authors.  

This marks the ninth collaboration between the Library of Congress National Book Festival and PBS Books, a national programming initiative produced by Detroit PBS. The 2024 series highlights seven books with some of the festival’s featured authors including Sandra Cisneros, Max Greenfield, Susan and Lexi Haas, James McBride, Abby Jimenez, Tiya Miles and Renée Fleming.  

Free to the public, the 24th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival will be held on Aug. 24, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. (Doors open at 8:30 a.m.)  

The festival features 90-plus authors, poets and writers across many genres and welcomes thousands of readers for conversations with authors, panel discussions, book signings and other engaging activities. Throughout its 24-year history, the festival has become one of the most prominent literary events in the nation. 

This year’s theme, “Books Build Us Up,” explores how reading can help connect us and inform our lives. It is through books that readers can develop strong bonds with writers and their ideas — relationships that open the entire world, real or imagined, to us all.  

“Books truly build us up, and there’s no better way to realize the power of books than through compelling conversations with great authors, writers, poets and illustrators,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We’re proud to join with PBS Books to share the National Book Festival with readers and public television stations across the country. We’re inviting everyone to join us and find your next great read at the National Book Festival.”

“Books are an investment in learning and well-being, and libraries are their custodians, advocating for literacy and lifelong education,” said Rich Homberg, president and CEO of Detroit PBS. “It’s an honor to work with the Library of Congress National Book Festival again as we feature several of its illustrious authors and celebrate the diversity of literature.”   

Highlights from the PBS Books series include:    

Wednesday, July 10, 8 p.m. ET: Sandra Cisneros 

PBS Books, in collaboration with WTTW in Chicago, presents poet, short story writer, novelist and essayist Sandra Cisneros. Her numerous awards include National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, the PEN/Nabokov Award for International Literature, the National Medal of Arts, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award from the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. Her novel “The House on Mango Street” has sold over 7 million copies, has been translated into more than 25 languages and is featured at the 2024 National Book Festival for a special celebration of its 40th anniversary.   

Wednesday, July 17, 8 p.m. ET: Max Greenfield  

PBS Books, in collaboration with PBS SoCal, hosts children’s author and American actor Max Greenfield. Known for his roles in “New Girl” and “The Neighborhood,” Greenfield has also published picture books, “I Don’t Want to Read This Book,” “This Book Is Not a Present” and “I Don’t Want to Read This Book Aloud.” Featured at the 2024 National Book Festival, Greenfield’s latest picture book, “Good Night Thoughts,” is a bedtime story about acknowledging anxiety. 

Wednesday, July 24, 8 p.m. ET: Susan Haas and Lexi Haas  

PBS Books, in collaboration with Kansas City PBS, welcomes Susan and Lexi Haas, the mother-daughter writing team focused on disability education and advocacy. Lexi has a rare and severe form of cerebral palsy, and Susan is a disability advocate. Together they present to schools and organizations across the globe, helping others learn about disability from a first-person narrative. Their collaboration, “The Year of the Buttered Cat: A Mostly True Story,” is the duo’s first book and is featured at the 2024 National Book Festival.  

Thursday, Aug. 1, 8 p.m. ET: James McBride   

PBS Books, in collaboration with WHYY in Philadelphia, presents James McBride, The New York Times bestselling author, musician, composer and current distinguished writer-in-residence at New York University. He is the author of Oprah’s Book Club selection “Deacon King Kong;” “The Good Lord Bird,” winner of the National Book Award; “The Color of Water;” “Song Yet Sung;” “Miracle at St. Anna;” the story collection “Five-Carat Soul;” and the James Brown biography “Kill ’Em and Leave.” In 2016, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal. McBride’s most recent New York Times bestselling novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” is featured at the 2024 National Book Festival. 

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 8 p.m. ET: Abby Jimenez  

PBS Books, in collaboration with Virginia Public Media, hosts Abby Jimenez, a No. 1 New York Times bestselling romance author. Her novels have sold over 1.5 million copies and been translated into 28 languages. She has earned a Good Morning America Book Club pick, a Book of the Month’s Book of the Year Award and a Minnesota Book Award. Before her writing career launched, she was in the national spotlight as a “Cupcake Wars” champion and founder of Nadia Cakes bakery, which has won numerous “Food Network” competitions and has garnered an international following. Her latest novel, “Just for the Summer,” is featured at the 2024 National Book Festival.  

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 8 p.m. ET: Tiya Miles 

PBS Books, in collaboration with Maryland Public Television, presents award-winning author Tiya Miles, the Michale Garvey Professor of History at Harvard University. Miles is the author of five prize-winning works on the history of slavery and early American race relations. She is a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship recipient and author of the National Book Award-winning, New York Times bestselling, “All That She Carried.” Her book, “Night Flyer,” is based loosely on Harriet Tubman’s life. The fictitious adaptation probes the ecological reality of Tubman’s surroundings and explores her kinship with other enslaved women whose travels are recorded in profound and moving memoirs. “Night Flyer” is featured at the 2024 National Book Festival.  

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 8 p.m. ET: Renée Fleming 

PBS Books, in collaboration with WETA in the Washington, D.C., area, welcomes Renée Fleming, opera singer, arts advocate and editor, who has received many honors and awards, including five Grammys, the National Medal of Arts and a Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award. A prominent advocate for research at the intersection of the arts, health and neuroscience, Fleming serves as an artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where she launched the first ongoing collaboration between the Kennedy Center and the National Institutes of Health. She is a 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree and serves as a World Health Organization goodwill ambassador for arts and health. She is the editor of the new essay collection, “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness,” which is featured at the 2024 National Book Festival. 

For more information on the virtual interviews at PBS Books, visit: pbsbooks.org/loc-bookfest-2024/

Select programs during the festival will be livestreamed online, and videos of all programs will be available shortly after the event for on-demand viewing. The complete schedule and more information about the 2024 Library of Congress National Book Festival can be found at loc.gov/bookfest.  

Authors will be participating in book signings at the festival, and the public can purchase books by the featured authors from Politics & Prose, the official bookseller of the 2024 National Book Festival, in advance at politics-prose.com and onsite at the festival.  

The Library’s National Book Festival was co-founded in 2001 by first lady Laura Bush. It is made possible by the generous support of private- and public-sector sponsors who share the Library’s commitment to reading and literacy, led by National Book Festival Co-Chair David M. Rubenstein. Sponsors include General Motors, James Madison Council, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, CoStar Group, the John W. Kluge Center, AARP, Friends of the Library of Congress, Diane and Tim Naughton, the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union and the Junior League of Washington. 

C-SPAN’s Book TV will return to the National Book Festival as a media partner to livestream select events and interview featured authors. Media partners also include NPR and The Washington Post. 

Library of Congress 

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov. 

PBS Books

Started in 2014 by Detroit PBS, PBS Books is a trusted national brand and a multiplatform initiative connecting diverse audiences to books through PBS stations and programming, daily and original content, book fairs, conferences, live performances, screenings and other book-related events.  The vision of PBS Books is to foster a community of people engaged in unique literary experiences that spark their curiosity, promote dialogue and inspire learning. PBS Books aims to provide context for complex issues — both national and local. In early 2019, with the support of the Knight Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation, PBS Books launched a free Library Engagement Program, which now has over 2,000 library partners. Today, PBS Books produces regular virtual content promoting critical dialogue about current topics and important issues in communities across the U.S. To learn more, please visit: www.pbsbooks.org.  

Detroit PBS 

Detroit PBS is Michigan's only community-licensed public television station, operating independently of any educational institution or governmental entity. With more than 2 million weekly viewers across its five TV channels, Detroit PBS is the state's largest and most watched public television station, reaching the most diverse public television audience in America. Formerly known as Detroit Public TV, Detroit PBS reaches nearly 4 million visitors on average each month through its websites, YouTube channels and social media platforms. Its listener-supported radio station, 90.9 WRCJ, is Detroit’s only classical and jazz station, reaching a local and worldwide audience and averaging 280,000 streams per month. Licensed to Detroit Public Media, Detroit PBS is governed by a volunteer board of trustees representing the local business, civic and cultural communities. For more information, visit detroitpbs.org.