Sir Salman Rushdie is probably best known for his fourth published novel, "The Satanic Verses," which resulted in death threats and a public declaration from Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini calling for his execution. The Indian-British novelist and essayist was awarded knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in early 2008 for his contributions to literature.

Geraldine Brooks is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, who covered Bosnia, Somalia and the Middle East before turning to fiction. She won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for her second novel, "March."

Jon Scieszka is a former teacher who is the author of some of the best-known children's books, including "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales," which is a Caldecott Honor book.

The three authors have little in common aside from their chosen profession. But on Sept. 27, Rushdie, Brooks and Sciezka will be among 70 award-winning authors, illustrators and poets participating in the National Book Festival, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Thousands of book lovers will join them for the event, now in its eighth year.

First Lady Laura Bush will host the book festival, which is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress each year. In a related press release she notes, "There are activities for all ages at the National Book Festival. Readers can explore genres from history and mystery to romance and cookbooks. Children can meet their favorite storybook characters. And visitors can learn about the extensive resources offered by the Library of Congress."

Authors who will speak at this year's festival include Rushdie, R. L. Stine, Neil Gaiman, Sandra Brown, Marisa de los Santos, Brad Meltzer, Alexander McCall Smith, Paul Theroux, Kimberly Dozier, Michelle Singletary, Arthur and Pauline Frommer, Walter Isaacson, Immaculée Ilibagiza, Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, singing star Dionne Warwick, football hero Tiki Barber and journalists Daniel Schorr, Bob Schieffer and Cokie Roberts.

"Everyone knows this is the granddaddy ... this has been built into something that truly is an event. Other book festivals mark themselves as an event, but this is truly the premiere event in the country," said Meltzer, a New York Times best-selling author. "I think it is so important for the Library of Congress to be doing something like this because it is the ultimate America's library."

A mall full of books

The event will be divided into pavilions, which will be set up from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. along the National Mall, between 3rd and 7th streets in Washington. The event will be held rain or shine.

Pavilions will be designated with specific topics: history and biography, children, teens and children, fiction and mystery, home and family and poetry. There will also be a Pavilion of the States, which will feature reading and library promotion programs in each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

Another pavilion, called "Let's Read America," will feature reading activities for the entire family, according to a Library of Congress press release. And a Library of Congress pavilion will showcase the library's collections of rare and unique books, manuscripts, maps, films, prints and photographs, and sound recordings. The pavilion will be like a huge cybercafé, since the Library of Congress has gone digital. Stations will be set up for use of the interactive tools myLOC.gov and Knowledge Quest, which allow greater access to very fragile documents and books.

Those who attend the festival will have the opportunity to not only hear the featured authors speak about their works and read from their books, but will also have the chance to have books signed by the authors.

Children will have the chance to see storybook and television characters, as there will be several on the festival grounds during the day.

One children's author and illustrator, Jan Brett, will have another reason to be excited about the festival. Brett, who has written and/or illustrated more than 30 books, is the artist for this year's festival poster. The poster features a parade of animals and birds on the National Mall.

Gaiman, who is possibly best known for his book "American Gods" and the monthly DC Comics series "Sandman," will be returning to the festival to speak again this year. After last year's festival, he expressed his excitement at being able to interact with readers.

"I think anything that gets people reading, anything that gets people excited about books is important," he said. "The joy of this for me is that I've just been signing for two hours for 500 people who didn't know what it was like to meet an author and they were excited and it made magic for them.

"I think anything that focuses attention on books, on reading, on literacy, on libraries has to be absolutely important and wonderful."

The National Book Festival 2008 will be held 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 27 in Washington D.C., on the National Mall. It is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.loc.gov/bookfest.

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