It’s August, and that means that the National Book Festival, presented by the Library of Congress, is right around the corner. The National Book Festival will take place in person on Saturday, Aug. 22, from 9 a.m.-8 p.m., at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees must have a ticket to enter. Tickets can be reserved for free here. A selection of programs will be livestreamed online, and videos of all programs will be available shortly after the festival. If you love books and reading, then this festival is for you!

Over 80 of the nation’s best authors, poets, illustrators and more will discuss their work and answer questions at the National Book Festival. Featured authors from Indiana include Meg Cabot, Craig Fehrman, Elana Arnold and Caroline Brewer.

You can find the Indiana Affiliate Center for the Book from the Indiana State Library at the festival by visiting the Roadmap to Reading area of the festival. Representatives from all of the Affiliate Centers of the Book from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Island, Guam, American Samoa and Northern Marianas will be available to talk to visitors about their community’s local literary heritage.

Each year, the Affiliated Centers for the Book participate in the National Book Festival. Each Center for the Book Affiliate will staff a booth in the Festival’s Roadmap to Reading area to promote reading, libraries and literacy in their state. The Indiana Affiliate Center for the Book is housed at the Indiana Young Readers Center at the Indiana State Library. The Indiana Affiliate Center for the Book has several exciting programs that Hoosiers can get involved with to promote literacy. We jury the Firefly Early Literacy Book Award; we have interactive displays and kiosks to teach about the Library of Congress and literacy; we host the Indiana Statehood Day writing contest and the Letters About Literature writing contest; we manage a program to offer story time, STEAM, book, Lego and escape experience kits for teachers and librarians across the state; we host events and author visits; we created the Indiana Literary Places Map; and we support a collect of materials for young people written and illustrated by Indiana authors and illustrators.

Annually, these Affiliated Centers for the Book select Great Reads from Great Places books. Each affiliate chooses two titles. In most cases, these books – one for youth and one for adults – are written by authors from their state or territory, take place in their state or territory or celebrate local culture and heritage. In addition, this year, in honor of America’s semiquincentennial, affiliate centers were encouraged to choose a title that connects to that theme in some way. The Indiana Affiliate Center for the Book works with Indiana Humanities to select titles.

Indiana is celebrating two books at this year’s festival. “Imogene’s last Stand” by Candace Fleming is the youth selection from Indiana and “Last Adieu: Lafayette’s Triumphant Return, the Echoes of Revolution, and the Gratitude of the Republic” by Ryan Cole is the Indiana selection for adults. Cole will be present at the Indiana booth at the festival.

Fleming is the author of more than 50 books for children and young adults, including the 2021 Sibert Medal-winning “Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera” and the 2021 American Library Association YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award-winning “The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh.” Fleming’s book, “Imogene’s Last Stand,” illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, fits perfectly with the America’s semiquincentennial theme. It highlights how young people, like Imogene, can make a difference as she fights to preserve history and save the local historical society from demolition.

Cole, an Indiana University graduate, has delivered talks at venues such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the Library of Congress and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal. “Last Adieu: Lafayette’s Triumphant Return, the Echoes of Revolution, and the Gratitude of the Republic” also fits perfectly with the semiquincentennial theme. When the Marquis de Lafayette returned to the U.S. in 1824, the aging hero of the American Revolution was defeated politically and distraught over the fate of liberty in Europe. He set sail one last time from France for America after an absence of 40 years. He was welcomed with the grandest celebration the young republic would ever stage as he traveled to every state in the Union and met with parades and delirious crowds.

Candace Fleming.

In addition to attending the National Book Festival, the Indiana State Library Affiliate Center for the Book will be hosting two Festival Near You events at the Indiana State Library! Fleming will be visiting the library on Saturday, Aug. 8. Fleming will read from her book and share her passion about storytelling, writing and history. She will offer time for questions and a book signing following her presentation. Books will be available for purchase.

Ryan Cole.

Cole will visit the library on Saturday, Sept. 12. Cole will discuss “The Last Adieu: Lafayette’s Triumphant Return, the Echoes of Revolution, and the Gratitude of the Republic.” He will offer time for questions and a book signing following his presentation. Books will be available for purchase.

Both events will be live streamed and in person. Click the author’s names for more information about each event.

The Indiana booth at the National Book Festival is always exciting. Last year, Indiana had a “stars” theme to celebrate Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s book, “The Night War.”

Suzanne Walker, former director of the Indiana Affiliate Center for the Book, at the 2025 festival.

Please reach out to Tammie Buchanan, director of the Indiana Affiliate Center for the Book, with any questions or queries you might have about the National Book Festival and happy reading!

This blog post was submitted by Indiana Young Readers Center librarian Tammie Buchanan.