Join Us At the National Book Festival on August 22, 2026.
Details for the 26th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival:
- Location: Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C
- Date: Saturday, August 22, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (doors open at 8:30 a.m.)
- The event is free and open to the public.
A selection of programs will be livestreamed online and videos of all programs will be available shortly after the Festival.
This year, the National Book Festival will be ticketed for entry. Tickets are free, but you must register to attend. Please click the button below.
About the Festival
The Maryland Center for the Book is one of 56 Affiliates of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, joining other affilaites in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and Northern Marianas. These affiliates carry out the center’s mission of promoting books, reading, libraries and literacy, as well as their local literary heritage.
During the 2026 National Book Festival, on Saturday, August 22, each Affiliate Center has a table at the Festival’s Roadmap to Reading in the Washington Convention Center. Attendees can visit each state and territory table and learn about their state’s literature, including their “Great Reads” selections. Both books will be featured and sold at the Festival’s bookstore. This activity has been a part of the festival since 2002.
Discover Great Places Through Reading
The Maryland Center for the Book, a program of the Maryland Humanities, has selected two books as the “Great Reads from Great Places” for the 2026 National Book Festival of the Library of Congress.
As an affiliate of the Library of Congress, Maryland Center for the Book selects two titles each year in the Adult and Kids categories as a representation of the state’s literary heritage or talent.
Follow the Roadmap to Reading
Maryland Humanities will be representing our state at the National Book Festival at the Roadmap to Reading.
Take a literary trip around the country by visiting the Roadmap to Reading, sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The Roadmap to Reading will feature tables with representatives from 54 Centers for the Book: one for each state as well as tables for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas.
Pick up a Great Reads from Great Places brochure and visit each table in the Roadmap to Reading to explore each state’s great reads and receive a unique ink stamp; those who collect all of the stamps can receive a special giveaway at the IMLS booth!
“Great Reads from Great Places” 2026 Selections
Each year, each local Center for the Book or state library selects a children’s and adult book to represent that state at the National Book Festival in the Great Reads from Great Places list.
2026 Adult Selection
Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free
Author: Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson
Award-winning journalist and author Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson brings audiences the story of one of history’s most influential designers in Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free.
Claire McCardell’s story as a woman who challenged existing norms of feminine clothing, as well as becoming one of the first renowned American designers in the European-dominated fashion world, was a resoundingly appropriate choice.
McCardell is also a Maryland native. Born and raised in Frederick, she attended Hood College before traveling to New York and Paris to learn her trade. We are excited for Marylanders to interact with the book that tells the story of Claire McCardell’s life and her lasting impact on fashion. The book was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2025 by the New York Times.
2026 Youth Selection
Miles of Style: Eunice W. Johnson and the EBONY Fashion Fair
Author: Lisa D. Brathwaite
Illustrations: Lynn Gaines
Eunice W. Johnson’s work with the EBONY Fashion Fair is one that showcases change and transformation through challenging racial attitudes both in the US and abroad, offering valuable context to how we view this history as both national and personal. Author Lisa D. Brathwaite is a University of Maryland alum. Miles of Style was the winner of Lee & Low’s New Voices award and was included in the stacks of the Obama Presidential Center.
About the Authors and Illustrator
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson is the author of the critically acclaimed book Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free, which was named one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2025 and was hailed as a best book of the year by NPR, Time, The Washington Post, Kirkus, and The New York Post, among many others. Her first biography was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and it earned an Amazon Editor’s pick for Best History and rave reviews from The Atlantic, Elle, Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, and on All Things Considered and Morning Edition to name a few. The New York Times Book Review calls it an exceptional and essential read that “puts the American fashion icon Claire McCardell back in the pantheon.” Elizabeth is working on her second book—a true crime object biography about the world’s most famous shoes, the Ruby Slippers from the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” The book is being published by Dutton.
Elizabeth’s writing career encompasses cultural criticism, narrative nonfiction, investigative journalism, short fiction, and memoir. She’s been widely published in places like The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post Magazine, and The Southern Review, among others. Her nonfiction has earned recognition in The Best American Essays anthology and she’s a two-time recipient of the Independent Artist Award for fiction from The Maryland State Arts Council. She’s been a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow, and in 2023, Elizabeth became the first literary artist to win Maryland’s prestigious Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize, given in recognition of artists who demonstrate excellence in mastery of craft, depth of artistic exploration, and unique vision. Elizabeth also teaches graduate level writing at universities in Baltimore, where she lives with her family and a very opinionated corgi named Buddy.
Author photo credit: Stefani Foster LaBrecque
Lisa D. Brathwaite is a purveyor of creative self-expression, biographer, author, and public library advocate whose work is rooted in a simple belief: Reading never goes out of style. Her award–winning book, Miles of Style: Eunice W. Johnson and the EBONY Fashion Fair (Lee & Low Books, 2024), celebrates the visionary founder of the EBONY Fashion Fair, weaving together African American fashion, art, and identity in a story designed to spark joy and affirm self-esteem in young and nostalgic readers.
She studied family and community development at the University of Maryland at College Park, graduating with a degree in Community Studies and a concentration in public policy and the Black community. She has since been designing her adult life in Atlanta, GA, but frequently flies back to Maryland for Terp love and her authentic crab cake fix. When not in the stacks, you might find her playing dress-up, writing whatever suits her mood, or losing herself happily in an art space. LisaDBrathwaite.com
Author photo credit: Alex Johnson III Photography
Lynn Gaines loves creating characters, storytelling, and picture making. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she spent her childhood drawing and making doll clothes–following in her mother’s footsteps, as she was an artist and seamstress herself. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Gaines has been illustrating for more than thirty years. When she’s not working, she is looking for a beach, baking, sewing, or roller skating! She lives in Cleveland with her husband, Mel, and her two fur kids, Harry and Charlie.
The National Book Festival Roadmap to Reading is made possible by the generous support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from Chief Officers of State Library Agencies.
