LINE-UP SET FOR NATBOOKFEST: From the Washington Post: Novelists John Irving, Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Safran Foer are among 80 writers and artists scheduled for the fifth annual National Book Festival.... Organizers hope to draw 100,000 book lovers to the Mall during the day-long festival Sept. 24; attendance has climbed steadily since the first festival was held in 2001 with a crowd of 25,000…. The festival is “a pet project of first lady Laura Bush, a passionate reader who started a similar event in Texas when her husband was governor. She is the official hostess and suggests to the organizers which authors to invite.” Among the scheduled writers are astronaut Buzz Aldrin, biographer David McCullough, and novelist E.L. Doctorow, the renowned author of "Ragtime" and "City of God," who, according to the Post, “was nearly booed off Hofstra University's commencement podium last year for making anti-Bush statements.” Replied Doctorow: "I thought we were all supposed to speak out. Isn't that what this country is about?" Obviously he was misinformed. I have a question for NatBookFest organizers: what about including more writers from the Rocky Mountains? A quick glance of the presenter list shows New Mexico writers George R.R. Martin and Tony Hillerman and a fiction writer from Arizona, Diana Gabaldon. WYO native and UW grad Lynne Cheney is a presenter in the “teens and children” category, but her official bio says nothing about her home state. Surely not all the best writers in the U.S. of A. are based on the East Coast. (And don’t call me Shirley!)
