I think that Sarah Moffet said it best in a comment here:

This weekend I visited the Twilight Zone. It was supposed to be the National Book Festival, but I must have made a wrong turn off Constitution Avenue. Instead of stumbling onto a somber, sparsely attended book fair, I found the Mall overtaken by the masses, who were beaten back from overrunning authors by platoons of Junior League members. Even more terrifying were the forty-people-deep lines for the vegetarian vendors (and believe me, half the people in those lines were not vegetarians), rivaled only by the wait to purchase books in the sales tents. People, everywhere, were carrying armfuls, bags, and strollers of books.

America reads. Who knew?

Yes folks, Sarah is talking about the National Book Festival. It's that one, special time of year when writers travel from all corners of the world and all walks of life to converge under large, outdoor tents with the sole purpose of speaking to their captivated audiences about the power of the written word. Well, and to promote their latest works, too. Let's be honest. :)

The 7th annual National Book Festival took place in Washington, DC this past Saturday. It was brought to you by first lady of these United States, Laura Bush, the Library of Congress, and Dr. Billington, the Librarian of Congress. Don't tell me you've never heard of the Library of Congress? Well, they're only just the BIGGEST library in the country! Here to preserve information and help promote literacy throughout our great nation, the Library of Congress is akin to... well... the mother ship of all Dewey's Decimals. But don't just take my word for it, here's what they have to say about themselves on their website:

"The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations."

Boo yah! Word. And so forth... At any rate, they're a really big deal.

This was WORD's second year in attendance and let me tell you, we were thrilled. To be able to sit on the outskirts of a book and listen to the person responsible for it is something no silly blog entry can relate to you. Who's your favorite author? Have you ever seen him/her in person? No? Oh, you simply must! Keep your eyes open for when they're coming to your town. Most authors have websites these days. You can track them down like the hungry bibliophile that you are. Just... be careful of psychotic tendencies. Please.

At any rate, WORD was there. It was a gorgeous late September day and the authors were in bloom. Mystery writers, biographers, fantasy word smiths, illustrators, poets, historians, young adult novelists, and plot maestros of all genres got up on stage, one by one, and spread their good words out to us--to all of us eager readers, who would love for nothing more than a good book to curl up with (and maybe a wasted cliche to spot every once in awhile just to say, "Hey! I got my eye on you... writer!").

You see, writers in general are an unpredictable brood. You never know when a writer is going to say something profound... or flake out. Public speaking is not always a writer's forte. But in this case, you're not going to show up to the National Book Festival and give a half-hearted shpeel like, "Well, duh, I dunno why I write books. I guess it's because I like... you know... like to uhhh, write... or something."

Oh no no no. These heavy hitters are the real deal. And later this week, you will see for yourself what I mean.

Stay tuned...

In the meantime though, you can check out last year's coverage of the 2006 National Book Festival by clicking here and/or here.

OR!!! ...

You can check out the National Book Festival Young Readers' Online Toolkit! Yah! Totally! Do that! Do that right now by clicking here!