E.L. Doctorow to Receive Top Honor at the 2014 National Book Festival

Posted on August 28, 2014

E.L. Doctorow will be honored at this weekend's National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. The festival takes place on Saturday, August 30, 2014, and has a very interesting lineup of events.

Doctorow will receive the highest honor at the festival: the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Doctorow, the author of such works as Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, and The Book of Daniel, will be presented the prestigious award by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington at a reception on Friday. Four authors will speak about Doctorow and his work, but no announcement has yet been made as to whom will be speaking.

The festival on Saturday will be open to the public and events are free. The festival will be at the Washington Convention Center from 10 in the morning to 10 in the evening. President and Mrs. Obama are the honorary co-chairs of the event, so they will be in attendance.

The dinner presentation ceremony is invitation only and is being held in the the Thomas Jefferson Building. The public can hear Doctorow speak at the opening of the festival on Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Fiction & Mystery room. He will speak and sign books. His books will be available for purchase, but it's okay to bring your own copies of his works for him to sign.

Many authors are attending, including Paul Auster, Ishmael Beah, Paul Bogard, Jules Feiffer, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Alan Greenspan, Michio Kaku, Eric Litwin, Alice McDermott, Sandra Day O'Connor and Lisa See. It's expected to be a great festival this year with lots of panels, booksignings, readings and many more events.