Then library of librarian of congress and the current librarian of congress has continued. Carla it is so delightful to see people line up outside waiting to hear authors and get their books signed and all of these things. There is just so much excitement. After two years of being virtual, that was good for when we all had to hunker down, but being in person is just delightful. What is your role today . Carla my role is head cheerleader, and also to open up the main stage to actually get a chance to moderate a panel of young adult authors. This year we are having a stage for the young and young at heart, teenagers, specifically. The interesting part is we had a Youth Advisory Committee which could all happen during a pandemic, and they zoomed in through the country and gave us advice about authors they would like to hear from. They recommended the books and so i am just being led on to the stage but young people will be interviewing some of their favorite authors. How many authors are participating . Carla almost 120. To have that aspect of them being right here. People can buy the books. Some people i can tell have books from other times. They are bringing some hard read books to be signed you can also tune in at certain times to our website and some things will be livestreamed. So that is another opportunity. In all day long on cspan book tv. The theme is carla Books Bring Us together. Think about being all day long on cspan. People who cant make it in person and they can participate in my own mother said she is watching today she is 90 years old and she said she is going to do her ironing and watched cspan all day. The idea that it is bringing together people from all backgrounds, all places throughout this country is what we think really sizes the power of books. Last night was the opening of the National Book festival on live tv here what is the point of having that . Carla it is really a kickoff to the festival and started years ago. There was a tribute, and i hope you will get to see the rerun of that for David Mccullough, one of the people who suggested that we celebrate with the authors the night before the festival begins. So that special tribute to him really gave authors and illustrators who were there together because during the festival, it is hard because they are going to sessions in the pit interact as much, and to have the Library Staff member is there, sponsors, people there to just celebrate before the hustle and bustle of the day. Carla you became the librarian of congress in 2016 so you didnt get to work with laura bush on the founding. Carla what i had an opportunity to do was know about the texas book festival when she was the first lady of texas and the first to be a librarian. Then when she became first lady of the nation, she started with my predecessor the National Book festival and now we have a connection with her again because our new literary director was the person who helped her in texas and also starting the National Book festival. He joined us last years now clay smith is back so it is fullcircle. Misses misses bush contacted me personally to recommend him. How is that to have laura bush call and say you might be good . You brought some books. What do you want to show . Carla i cant get enough of David Maraniss in his new best seller about jim thorpe. It is a heart rendering story. Can we give a peek about it . He lost his olympic medals because of something other people were doing but he got caught because he told the truth. He went on to have a fantastic career. He has really been proclaimed one of the best athletes that ever lived. When you think about the inequities and the native american schools, that is part of the story. And then being an athlete at the wrong time in a way in terms of being recognized. Then it is just a page turner because you want to know, did he have happiness in his life and all of these things. So i would really recommend this. At 10 00 a. M. , David Maraniss is going to be live. Carla people should get the book. And then this one, he is an environmentalists. You can see tabs on this one because it speaks to what we are thinking about and going through right now in terms of our climate and environment and the local nature. Is there a reason you used different colored tabs . Carla yes, but i wont reveal right now. Rudy has their individual system. But as a librarian, you are seeing this being revealed. Sandy hook, in the news, but so Elizabeth Williamson in her book about it and lots of caps on this one. The audience will have a chance to chat with her later. Carla i hope that you will because it is in the news and has been in the news. Some people might not remember all of the things that were involved and the subsequent parts of it. Be prepared, it is heartwrenching in many ways, but it is something we shouldnt forget. She is an excellent writer. You brought to mark with you and we are not covering these two. Carla she came out with this cool cover. It is science fiction. But it is something. It starts off with this librarian. And then leslie jordan, he will be talking about his misadventures as he calls them. And he is being interviewed by Megan Mullally . Carla yes, because her husband is Nick Offerman to have that together is really going to be cool. There are childrens authors and i see a lot of young people waiting because they have favorite authors and want to get the book signed and talk to the author. It is a fun time it appeared you can look at the schedule online and two in right here. I am a history buff. Carla hayden will be back later joining us and taking your calls. Here is your chance to talk to the librarian of congress at the National Book festival. The full schedule of events is available at book tv. Org. It was september 8, 2001 at the first National Book festival sponsored by the library of congress occurred on the Capitol Grounds peered we caught up with the founder, laura bush. Is this day what you expected . I am thrilled and excited to be here. I want to thank cspan for covering this. Have a sunny day and i hope the camera shows behind me how huge the crowds are. We talked a lot that this idea came from the texas book festival here but where did the idea for the texas book festival come from . It came from the kentucky book festival. A writer came to me and said he had been to a book festival in kentucky and he knew that texans were part of our story set he thought texans could put on a great festival. We researched a lot of festivals. We saw what they were like and then we started hours. In texas, it is the third year in november. Will you be back . I am looking forward to it. What i like about the National Book festival and the texas book festival is that it is right in the capitol. I like the symbolism and the ideas in books with the National Government and our democracy because the ideas in books are so important to our democracy. Last night you quoted her, why . Her mother took her to the library and introduced her and said she is nine years old and she has my permission to check out any book on these shelves. And then she wrote this in her biography that she went to the library as often as she could and she put her books in her bicycle basket and she read. Was set similar to your experience . Absolutely. I went to the library at the Midland County courthouse. To have a library be in the center of town in the Center Square of my town showed me how important reading and libraries were to everyone in the town of midland. When we interviewed you in july, you named the writer she would want around your dinner table. Anyone you would like to add . We have a lot of great people at this table and i hope everyone who sees this who is anywhere in the area comes down. They can meet David Mccullough and hear him read from his books and john adams with his new about new book. I love the idea of the new book about the second president. I hope people will read that book but also other American History books. We have great childrens writers here today peered chris curtis the first africanamerican to win the newberry award is here reading from his book. We have been number of storybook characters. 77 gate out i am the south is that you can get your picture made with clifford the big red dog. I hope people come out and do that. We want to give you a book to be mug. Thank you so much and thank you for covering the National Book festival. We are back live at the Washington Convention center the 22nd annual library of congress National Book festival. Ive covered all day, full schedule available at booktv. Org. Some of the authors you will be able to interact with today include novelist geraldine brooks, clint smith, Elizabeth Williamson, jack davis talking about the bold people, will bunch on the Higher Education system and cochair of the National Book festival and cochair of the carlyle group, david rubenstein. These are some authors we will have here on set that you will be able to talk with. Just a few minutes David Maraniss will kick off talking about his book about jim ford. Jim thorpe. Both carla hayden and laura bush mentioned David Mccullough who passed away. He was a guest on cspan many times in was a guest of ours at the National Book festival on several occasions. Here is a quick montage of some of his visits. Mr. Mccullough is here for his sixth National Book festival appearance and we hope you will continue to make this a habit. David mccullough came into my office two days after the First National festival to say how important it was to continue to do this kind of event nationally and offered to help in any way. It was here in this Great Library of congress while i was employed in a government job as a young man that i first discovered the pole of history pull of the street and found out what i wanted to do. I could never express sufficiently my gratitude for the library of congress or to the Library System overall. When you think of what we had in this country in our public Library System, there is nothing like it in the world. When you walk through the doors of the Public Library anywhere in the country, when you walk through those doors, you are walking through the portals of freedom. Curiosity is one of the essential elements of being a human being. Curiosity is what separates us from the cabbages. It is like gravity. The more we know the more we want to know. I applaud those teachers who encourage their students to ask questions, not just to know the answers but to ask questions peered by asking questions, you find things out. If i tell you the king died and the queen died, that is a sequence of events. If i tell you the king died in the queen died of grief, that is a story. I am moved by the story and if i am excited to pursue that story for three, 4, 5 or more years, then i cant pull back. It is not a question of what is going to be on peoples minds are what subject has it been done, but do i want to do it, am i burning to do it . I know it when it happens. So far it has happened many times. This was a young mans revolution, cause. Washington being a member of congress was known by the others in congress and they picked him because of his character. They knew the man and knew they could trust him. When the war was over and washington did return the command to the congress, he did something that had never been done before. When george the third was told washington might do this, george the third said if he does that he will be the greatest man in the world and he stood back from power as he promised to do in the beginning. But the real story is with those men and rags who marched with him. When his army finally got to the Delaware River and crossed the Delaware River at night, trying to put the river between them and the oncoming british army, they were men who were heartily exhausted, sick, hungry, cold. Many of them at their feet wrapped in rags because they had no shoes in the stories of men leaving bloody footprints in the snow from their bare feet are not mythical. That is the truth. We must never forget them. We must never not recognize what we owe to them and among the things that we must do is know about them, learn about them, tell our children and encourage our children and grandchildren to read about them and to know what they went through. These were not characters in a costume hasnt. They were human beings, israel and life as we are and all the state did for our three is also part of what is stirring much of the world. August 22, after having attended church all day which was to be a lifelong habit for john adams, he went out under the stars and so inspired by the sermon he said in a state of euphoria, and it would also seem in the intention closer the intense pleasure they evoked, the amazing concave of heaven sprinkled and glittering with stars and he wrote into a transport and that such wonders that were the guests of god, expressions of gods love. But the greatest gift of all was the gift of an inquiring mind. He has given us reason and to find the two end of our existence, it will be hard, he wrote, meaning the study still have him, but the point is now determined and i shall have the liberty to think for myself. I think the first page of a book is critical in one of my favorite endings is when the Wright Brothers put on their exhibit of what they can do at home off at the cowpasture where they had been experiencing all of those years. He wanted to take his father up and he was in his 80s and up they went. All of the time they were up there, he cap sent higher, oral, higher he kept saying, higher orville, higher. Wilbur said, no bird ever soared , you have to have adversity against you to lift off that is so very true. If everything were easy and we did nothing but sit around, we would not only not accomplish much of anything, i dont think we would be very happy. There is always something that needs fixed and people who need help and advances that are exciting. What is happening in medicine will be written about for years and years and maybe one of the most important events of our time. It is all human ingenuity and perseverance and admirable use of the mind in working together. But would you be most proud of being achieved . Tried to do his best. That was the story of David Mccullough talking up the National Book festival. He appeared about seven times. You can see in different locations. The festival used to be held at the mall, the capitol but now for the last several years the Washington Convention center. In just a few minutes the first author will begin talking david , maraniss well be talking about his book about jim thorpe. There is an Opening Celebration and is storing candy small lard was one of the speakers and historian candace lard and we wanted to share it with you. It is an honor to be in the library of congress to be the rare ian of congress who is a National Treasure and to be with all of you. Thank you for having me. One of the great regrets of my life happened at the National Book stubble 11 years ago. It was the book festival 11 years ago. It was under big beautiful tense, history, humor, every category. Then there was an authors tent where others could hang out. After my even i went into that tent and i was talking with one of volunteers and she asked me if there were any others i would like to meet. I am pretty shy so i was about to say no thank you, but just then i looked up and saw David Mccullough. I will never forget it. You couldnt assume. It was tall, straight back, whitehaired, elegant, smiling. Before i could chicken out i said yes, is any chance i can meet David Mccullough . Like many people, i had long admired his writing and read his book for enjoyment and to try to understand how he wrote them to try to learn from them. I wanted to thank him for that. But the real reason i wanted to meet him was because his work had helped me through one of the most difficult times in my life. Six years earlier when i was finishing work on my first book i had a child that was born with stage iv neuroblastoma. It is a common Childhood Cancer but extremely rare to find it in utero. Even though we found it so early, it had already spread to the babys liver. She was given a 30 chance of survival and we started down this road it would last for two years. Eight rounds of chemo, multiple surgeries, and a lot of nights in hospital rooms, sleepless and scared. The only escape i had, the only thing that helped at all was books. At night my husband was home with our older daughter and my baby was asleep in the crib hooked up to machines and monitors and i sat in the corner of her room with a penlight in a pile of books and realize that along with all of the other magical things they do for us, books give us one more gift, they remind us that we are not alone. My sister sent me some books to take with me to the hospital, books that i will always love and be grateful for, but i also took a few of my own. One of one was the great bridge by David Mccullough. It was a page turner and exactly what i needed. For just an hour or two every night to forget, to forget and to remember, to remember that this might be hard and scary, but there are a lot of things in life that are scary and you have to be brave or at least pretend that you are. Fast forward six years and i am standing in front of David Mccullough at the National Book festival and my daughter is a healthy, silly six year old. [applause] and i have a chance to thank someone who is not only my hero and although he could not have known it, helped me through this terrible time. Instead of telling him what his books to me, i froze. He was so kind and gracious and i was just nervous and starstruck, i couldnt do it and i never did. I never told him and i have regretted it ever since, no day more than the day just a few weeks ago that i heard he had died. But i can learn from my mistakes, especially when given another chance. This is another National Book festival and another rare opportunity to thank the people i admire, whose work has inspired and educated me, look in my heart, and given me hope. So if you will indulge me, i would like to tell you what your books, your poetry is, your histories, novels, illustrations, words of advice and comfort have meant to me. They are essential and irreplaceable. They are what makes us human and lets us understand each other. They make us better than we were before we pick them up and i am deeply grateful for you. If you ever have one of those days that we all have when you think no one is listening, no one is paying attention, no one cares what you are creating, remember this, you are wrong. There is always someone on the other end. It might be in a library, office cubicle, farm, or in a hospital room with a sick child, it doesnt matter, because for that person, your work is a lifeline. As a grateful reader, i thank you and i think David Mccullough. I am only sorry i didnt say it sooner. [applause] david good morning and welcome to the history of biography state at the National Book festival. The theme of this years book festival, books brings us gather , let me say how wonderful it is to see you all here together in person for the First Time Since we gather here last in 2019. [applause] we are