2004 NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL TO BE HELD OCTOBER 9, 2004

The fourth annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by the first lady Laura Bush, will be held on Saturday, October 9, 2004 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th Streets from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (rain or shine). The festival is free and open to the public.

"As America's library, the Library of Congress is pleased to welcome people from around the country to this widely anticipated national cultural event," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "Our goal in sponsoring this annual celebration of books, reading and creatively is to help create a nation of readers who use and appreciate the rich resources in our country's libraries."

The 2003 Festival attracted 80 award-winning authors, illustrators, poets and storytellers, and a crowd of more than 70,000. This year's Festival is expected to be even bigger. Author pavilions returning for the 2004 National Book Festival include Teens & Children, Fiction & Imagination, Mysteries & Thrillers, History & Biography, Home & Family and the Pavilion of the States, representing reading programs and literary events in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the trusts and territories. The Library of Congress will once again have its own pavilion with demonstrations of a wide variety of services such as a conservation clinic for family photographs and letters and virtual tours of its online collections at www.loc.gov.

Festival goers may bring books, or buy them at the festival, for authors to sign. Children can meet some of their favorite storybook and television characters, who will appear on the festival grounds throughout the day.

The 2004 National Book Festival will be made possible through the generous support of the private sector.

For more information about the 2004 National Book Festival, call toll-free 1-888-714-4696 or visit the Festival's website at www.loc.gov/bookfest.

-reprinted with permission