next weekend is one of my favorite events of the year. joining us this morning on news 4 this sunday today we get to talk about an event where writers are treated like rock stars. deservedly so. more than 100 authors and illustrators will be talking about kids books, thrillers, biography, and much, much, more. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> this is such a cool event. really is. tell us about the history of the book festival. >> this is the 17th annual national book

laura bush. she came to washington d.c. and saw the library of congress wasn't producing a book festival so they decided to work together and to this day we have been keeping the tradition going and as you mentioned have a lot of great authors and keeping literacy alive. >> we love that. and so exciting to bring so many different mediums from one place. >> be streaming us loif on facebook so all will be accessible to anyone around the entire world. if you're here in the area we come out and we'd love to have you otherwise. we can

facebook. >> and it isn't a conversation about each author's book and the issues around what they're writing about. >> absolutely and because of the great names we have there they have great topics that they're bringing forward and it's really the highlight of the national festival. >> so give us details. everyone wants to know where and when. how do you get there, that sort of thing. >> it's absolutely open and free to the public and that's largely due to our sponsors and great donors. david rubenstein is our co-host. it's open 8:30 on saturday at washington d.c., washington convention center and we are opening the programming at 9:00 p.m. or 9:00 a.m. excuse me and it ends at 7:30 p.m. >> sunday as well. >> no, just saturday. >> just saturday. one full day. >> one fun filled full day. >> if you get off at the metro stop you're

>> this is an event where it's popular. there's long lines. is there a way to navigate the space. >> the book signings are opening at the lower level and the best way to ensure that you're able to get an autograph is to go to lot..gov/bookfest and that will show you when your author is scheduled to be at a specific table. >> plan ahead. >> plan ahead. that's the best way. >> what about the kids? there's always so much fun for the family. my take my kids when they don't have sports or something else conflicting and it's so fun. it's not just for adults. there's a lot of kids events. >> absolutely not. this is the second national book festival where the librarian of congress wil t

there's been a lot of work since the first event to expound the children's programming. we're trying to focus on our children's activities. everything from selfies to literary characters. there's a lot of activities. it's absolutely a family friendly event. >> literacy is important. there's so many opportunities for people to read a book these days. literacy is a necessity at a young age because it builds an interest in finding the creative funny bone or however you want to put it for those that want to continue the reading process. >> and am i allowed to ask you who you're looking most forward to seeing? >> i am very excited for our main stage line-up. they are the rock

going to be a great collection of presentations. >> stay right there. we're talking more about the library of congresses national book festival when we come right back. stay with us. fios is not cable. we're a 100% fiber optic network. and with the new fios gigabit connection... you get our fastest... internet ever. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month online for the first year. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com

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welcome back. thank you for being here. they join jared mcneil that is the director of the festival. first of all, tell us about this contest. >> it's been going on for years and it's a great partnership. it takes place on september 2nd at 6:00 p.m. on our teen stage and it's an hour and a half long contest where we have students from around the united states coming to compete together. >> that's very exciting. just tell us about how it is that you get involved in the festival and why is this so

>> so split this rock is a nonprofit that deals with poetry and social justice and we have been working in d.c. and we do a festival every two years. next one is coming up in april and we decided that this partnership was so important to us because it gives us an opportunity to reach an entirely different audience. we have the people we work with to be doing slams and open mikes around the city. we have an opportunity to meet people in love with books and literature and we gain new fans and we bring our art form to a whole new group of people. >> tell us about why you wanted to compete at this contest. you're going to be up on stage on saturday night. >> i'm super excited. i think i wanted to compete because it's a entirely new audience of people. i'm used to performing in front of people that share my craft and write poetry so

poems in front of people that write books and book lovers is going to be a completely new experience. >> is there a secret for performing poetry versus writing it? what are your methods. >> just knowing that i'm speaking my truth and that i am hoping that i'm touching someone in the audience so to per forl every time like your performing just to touch at least one person in the audience. >> and that one person could make all the difference right? >> exactly. >> talk about that correlation between the social justice piece of what you do and the creative part of what you do. >> so we think it is the artist responsibility to sort of speak truth to power in as many opportunities as possible and we take social justice issues, things that are effecting our world right now and we encourage people to write about those things.

feelings out about it but also as a way to sculpt a narrative that could possibly effect government and the way the world is moving right now. it is imperative that, you know, all of these people that are so talented at taking their creative parts of their brains to come up with creative solutions. >> that must be very exciting, right? >> yes. definitely. as young people we don usually get a chance to be a part of movement for social change but through poetry i found my ability to be a voice in the community. >> you have your own poem that you arranged to resite for us for this program as well. can you do that for us? >> my body has never been much of a safe space. can't find refuge in a place always viewed as war zones but these days it's wo

butterflies black bodies got to stay still. don't move. maybe if we stand still long enough we can disappear but these feelings, there's always a bullet comes to the make a vanishing act out of us. there's nothing mystical about my complexion. i have strip searched this body for magic. tried translating inscribed into my bones but whatever words they may say they are only words and even when this face, this body glows nothing supernatural in this skin. it's hard to separate life and god in a world of shadows. >> wow. that is so powerful and beautiful. what is that titled? >> it's entitled and is a snipet of a group poem we did at the international festival a few

weeks ago. >> thank you for sharing that. when we come back we're talking to two authors that will be part of the book festival. this kid makes stains like you would not believe so when we had him, we bought one of those he washing machines

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>> it's so important to hear from diverse voices. tell us what inspired you to write. >> i started writing when i was 6 or 7 years old. reading is what inspired me to write. my mother would read the newspaper every day and i would follow her and read the paper with my siblings so i fell in love with reading before i started writing. >> writing is hard though. >> writing is hard. so i started writing any own little paper writing notes on the side of the old newspapers

start writing and that lead to poetry and poetry lead to short stories. >> what about you. >> i was a kid of the library some so my kids liked the library as a baby sitting tool but i fell in love with books and it was something for me to be that matilda girl walking with a little red wagon full of books except i didn't have a nice red wagon i had a shopping cart. they became my solace. really difficult times when you can't find yourself and your identity i had a book that i could always find myself in in the story but i realized later on that i was missing something all my life which is not something i thought of and that was the moment for me when i realized all my life i had been missing seeing my true self in

became my mission to find books that would be representative of me and my experience. >> why is that so important? so add you back into the conversation, to have books that represent the diversity of our culture and people. >> some day, some day, somebody will write about me. i guess it will be me. i want black girls and black boys, people all colors to walk into the bookstore and see a book that they can relate to. i think it's very important and as you know we lost an icon this week dick gregory. i wrote his memoirs but a children's book about him. young people don't know who dick gregory is. he is an icon they never heard of. they know who malcolm is but they don't know who dick

that's important to me. it's important to me that they can look at the television and see an african american man or woman that they can relate to that they can know that. >> what do you think he would want people to remember about him since you wrote his memoirs. >> oh i know. that he tried to help the homeless, the poor. that he was a voice for the voiceless. that he was fearless. that he wanted people it shall he said to me one day, in my darkest hour when the soldier is down you're not supposed to cry. you're supposed to pick up the sword and carry on. that's what he wants for little whietd girls blarks girls, chinese girls, people all over the world.

>> you din find books that represent you. i'm also korean american. there just aren't that many of them. we need diverse books. tell us about that. >> i was one of 20 people that got together and decided enough was enough. the studies that show that less than 10% of books are about children of color. not only are kids from marginalized communities unable to see themselves in books but also kids, like white kids are not reading about black kids and latino kids and asian kids are not reading enough about l arat kids and black kids. it's learning about the human experience for all of us. it's important. >> what a wonderful gift. still looking r forward to your presentation at the national

to be a part of the book festival. i'm mcing the summer writing contest at the festival and hopefully we'll see you there. >> thank you.

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i love this event because i feel like authors should be treated like super stars because of what they offer for young readers. tell us about what you plan to present at the book festival this year? >> i'll be reading from two books this year. and my dick gregory book as a b biography and i wanted to read from both because during the times that we're

think it's very important for people to know more about dread scott. with the monuments coming down and they want to replace the dread scott monument in maryland. i want to talk about that it's important but it's also important not to statue of dread scott but the dread scott decision and who he was. i want to talk about harriet. i want a 4th grader to know who dread scott was. i want regarding dick gregory, because of the internet people know who he is that did not know ten years ago but i want them to know his legacy. i want them to know not only was he a comedian and activist he was a nutritionist. he was a track star in high school when he was their age. >> sounlds very exciting. what about you. what's your

>> i'm going to be on the panel. they all wrote stories and what i love about it is its kind of like a book filled with stories that every single one of these authors probably wish they had available when they were young. like stories about regular kids. it's a stories of fun, sad, beautiful, heartbreaking funny stories. >> so what age group? i want to know if i can make my kids read that. >> it's for middle school. like middle grades but i think everybody should read it myself. i think adults get a kick out of it and everyone will love it. it's awesome and there's something for everyone. so quality stories

and i could go on and on. there's no favorites. i just love every story in here. >> adults should read that book. >> yes. >> earlier you were telling me about everybody wants to get in. work on workshops but you have to start with trahe reading and the book festival tries to foster the love of books and literature and literacy. >> you'll be surprised when i'm teaching a workshop, in middle school, young children tell me that they don't have books at home. only the books they have in the media center. they're not purchasing books, they're purchasing toys so when i'm trying to talk to them about finding voice, how to start your first book and i encourage them to read a book before we start writing because i started my journey at reading. reading the newspaper. i want them to find an

searching for. every time i start a book i read the color purple. every time. i read the color purple first. i have to get maya angelo if my soul before i start a book. >> that just prepares you. >> it prepares me. that's what i tell young people. read a book before you start writing. look for your voice. this is not, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. find someone that you feel that you have something in common with and it will help you to find your way to your next chapter. >> what great advice. even if it's not a full book just a poem. >> you live in the area. >> yeah. >> tell us about what you like about living here and what your audience here is like as a writer. >> well, my audience is a lot of my kids own

my books i had my daughter's friends read, be beta readers and give me their feedback. >> are they tough critics? >> oh, yeah. you can't fool kids. writing for kids is heard than writing for adults. i don't care what anybody says. you can't fool them they're honest and they can kind of see through any kind of fakeness, they're there for the story and experience and not for the language. they want a good story so i think that writing for kids, especially picture books which i still can't do is very hard but i was in bethesda, a really diverse and amazing community in d.c. and montgomery county area and that's been amazing. t'

at the book festival. good luck we're looking forward to it. >> thank you. >> thank you for joining us today.

>> announcer: "news4 today" starts now. it's not over yet. right now on "news4 today," catastrophic flooding from the eye of the store to a state of emergency across 50 texas counties. harvey brings downpours and disaster. good morning to you on this sunday. i am adam tuss. i am megan fitzgerald in for angie goff. >> so far two people have died from the storm. >> and officials say a home caught fire during the storm and that person couldn't make