2009 National Book Festival

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival in the History & Biography pavilion on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographySue Monk Kidd is the author of the widely acclaimed nonfiction books “The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” (1996) and “When the Heart Waits” (1990). Her first published novel, the best-seller “The Secret Life of Bees” (2002), has sold more than 5 million copies, spent more than two years on the New York Times best-seller list and was made into a motion picture. She has recently collaborated with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, on “Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story” (2009).Ann Kidd Taylor has co-written with her mother “a spiritual memoir” about a series of pilgrimages the two made together through Greece, France, Turkey and Switzerland beginning the summer that Ann graduated from college in 1998 and her mother turned 50.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Judy Blume, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyJudy Blume has sold more than 80 million copies of such young-adult best-sellers as Blubber: Just as Long as We’re Together and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret as well as the adult titles Summer Sisters, Smart Women and Wifey. Her books have been translated into 31 languages, and she has won numerous awards for her writing, such as the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Library Association and the Living Legends award from the Library of Congress. Blume is the founder and trustee of The Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation. Her newest book is Friend or Fiend? With the Pain & the Great One (2009). She lives on islands along the East Coast.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Julia Alvarez, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyAlthough Julia Alvarez was born in New York City, her family moved to the Dominican Republic shortly after her birth, where she spent the majority of her childhood. In 1960, when Alvarez was 10, her family returned to the United States, fleeing the Dominican Republic because of her father’s involvement in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Alvarez calls herself an American, yet her writing bridges the realms of Latina and American culture. Alvarez’s latest books include Return to Sender (2009) and Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA (2007).

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Michael Connelly, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyAfter he read the books of Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly decided to become a writer. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., specializing in the crime beat. He eventually landed a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, bringing him to the city that his literary hero, Chandler, had written of. After three years on the crime beat, Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed up with many more Bosch books and other novels. The Overlook, Connelly’s 18th novel, was originally serialized in The New York Times Magazine. His 20th novel, The Scarecrow, was released in May 2009. He lives in Florida.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Walter Mosley, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyWalter Mosley is the author of the critically acclaimed Easy Rawlins mystery series (Devil in a Blue Dress, A Red Death, White Butterfly, Black Betty and A Little Yellow Dog). Mosley’s other books include the novels Blue Light and RL’s Dream (1995), which won the 1996 Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award. He has also written two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow: Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned and Walkin’ the Dog. Mosley’s latest book is The Long Fall: The First Leonid McGill Mystery (2009). McGill is a New York City private investigator. Mosley lives in New York.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Gwen Ifill, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival in the History & Biography pavilion on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyGwen Ifill says she always knew she wanted to be a journalist. The moderator and managing editor of Public Broadcasting’s “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” Ifill is the best-selling author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” (2009). She also moderated the vice presidential debates during the presidential elections in 2004 and 2008. Before coming to PBS, she was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, White House correspondent for The New York Times and a local and national political reporter for the Washington Post. She also reported for the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Boston Herald American.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Jodi Picoult, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival in the Fiction & Fantasy pavilion on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyJodi Picoult studied creative writing in college and had two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. Realism — and a profound desire to be able to pay the rent — led Picoult to a series of different jobs following her graduation: as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an ad agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an eighth-grade English teacher before pursuing a master’s in education. She wrote her first novel, “Songs of the Humpback Whale,” in 1992, while she was pregnant with her first child. She is now the author of 15 best-sellers, including her latest, “Handle with Care” (2009).

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Jon Scieszka, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyJon Scieszka is the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a program sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Children’s Book Council. He is the author of some of the best known and funniest books written for children, including The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, the Time Warp Trio chapter book series, the Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales and the Trucktown series. Among several books that Scieszka will soon publish is Robot Zot! (2009), illustrated by David Shannon. Scieszka is the founder of Guys Read External, a nonprofit literacy organization. He lives in New York.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Lois Lowry, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyLois Lowry describes herself as “a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.” A two-time recipient of the Newbery Medal for her novels Number the Stars (1990) and The Giver (1994), Lowry conveys through her writing her passionate awareness of caring for one another in a very complex world. In her first picture book, Crow Call (2009), Lowry pairs with acclaimed artist Bagram Ibatoulline to deliver a timeless story about the power of a very special relationship. Set in post-World War II America and based upon events in Lowry’s own childhood, Crow Call is a tender glimpse at 9-year-old Liz as she begins the journey of becoming reacquainted with her long-absent father after his return from the war. Lowry lives in Massachusetts.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with David Wroblewski, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyDavid Wroblewski grew up in rural central Wisconsin, not far from the Chequamegon National Forest, where The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is set. In high school, Wroblewski won a statewide arts competition with a story about a pack of wolves. At the University of Wisconsin, he became fascinated with the art of making software and earned a degree in computer science. Edgar Sawtelle is Wroblewski’s first book, was chosen for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club and is a New York Times best-seller. It is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Wroblewski lives in Colorado.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Junot Diaz, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyJunot Díaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and is the author of the short-story collection Drown and the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (hardback 2007, paperback 2008), which won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times said the novel is “so original it can only be described as Mario Vargas Llosa meets ‘Star Trek’ meets David Foster Wallace meets Kanye West.” Díaz’s fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, African Voices, “Best American Short Stories” (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), “Pushcart Prize XXII” and “The O’Henry Prize Stories 2009.”

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Nicholas Sparks, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyNicholas Sparks is the author of such hugely successful best-sellers as The Notebook, Message in a Bottle and Nights in Rodanthe – all of which have been turned into popular films. Sparks contributes to a variety of local and national charities and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships and a fellowship annually. His most recent books are The Lucky One, a New York Times No. 1 best-seller, and his newest, The Last Song (2009). Sparks lives in North Carolina.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with Rickey Minor, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyRickey Minor is the Emmy-nominated music director of television’s No. 1-rated show, “American Idol.” His résumé also includes the Grammys and the Super Bowl, and he has collaborated with major recording artists Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Ray Charles, Beyoncé Knowles and many more. The ultimate “American Idol” insider reveals what it takes to achieve your dreams, recalling his journey from South Central Los Angeles to center stage in There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile, Minor’s 2008 memoir. He lives in California.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with George Pelecanos, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyGeorge Pelecanos, the author of 15 crime novels set in and around Washington, D.C., spent years developing his writing talent and gathering his material from his life experiences in the national capital area. He was employed as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender and women’s shoe salesman before publishing his first novel. His novels have won several awards, including International Crime Novel of the Year for The Big Blowdown (1996) and The Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Hell to Pay in 2003 and again in 2004 for Soul Circus. His most recent novel is The Way Home (2009). He works regularly as a screenwriter and independent-film producer and was a writer and producer for the acclaimed HBO television series “The Wire.” He lives in Maryland.

Matt Raymond from the Library of Congress speaks with James Patterson, who will appear at the 2009 National Book Festival on September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.BiographyJames Patterson holds the New York Times best-seller list record, with 46 titles overall. He has sold more than 170 million books worldwide and is the only author to occupy the No. 1 slot on the New York Times Adult Fiction and Children’s Chapter Book best-seller lists at the same time. Maximum Ride, Patterson’s first young adult novel, spent 12 straight weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times Chapter Book best-seller list and, as a series, has now spent more than 90 weeks on New York Times best-seller lists. His latest adult novel is Swimsuit (2009), and Daniel X: Watch the Skies (2009) is his latest for young adults. His ReadKiddoRead website is “dedicated to making kids readers for life.”