With a theme of “Celebrating the Joys of Reading Aloud,” the 11th annual National Book Festival took place this past weekend, September 24 and 25, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., marking the first time the festival was spread over two days. An estimated crowd of 200,000 turned out to attend presentations and have books signed by more than 100 authors; children’s book authors in attendance included Katherine Paterson, Brian Selznick, Kadir Nelson, Tomie dePaola, Gary Schmidt, Jack Gantos, Cassandra Clare, Shelia P. Moses, and Susan Cooper. Read on for our photo tour of the country’s preeminent festival of books.