>> The ninth annual National Book Festival will take place September 26. Organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, the event will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public.

Participating authors include Julia Alvarez, Judy Blume, Ken Burns, Paula Deen, John Grisham, Gwen Ifill, John Irving, and Walter Mosley. A full list of the 70+ participating authors and illustrators is on the festival’s website, in addition to a book signing schedule and a map of the pavillions, such as those dedicated to Mysteries & Thrillers and Teens & Children.

After each author’s appearance at the National Book Festival, their page on the event’s website will be updated with links to the webcast. There is also a collection of podcasts, featuring interviews with festival authors from 2009 and previous years, which can be downloaded from the website or through iTunes.

To get updates about the National Book Festival, you can follow the Library of Congress on Twitter (@librarycongress, hashtag #nbf) or become a fan on Facebook. There are also text message updates available for your cell phone.

2009 National Book Festival poster by Charles Santore

>> Publishers Weekly is drumming up support for the first annual National Bookstore Day on November 7. The magazine created the celebration with the intent of driving customers to bookstores:

We recognize that most stores already do wonderful promotions on their own throughout the year, but we want to enhance those efforts by banding together and thereby building visibility nationwide on a single day. If just 10% of independent bookstores participate in National Bookstore Day, there will be over 200 celebrations across the country.

Publishers Weekly is contacting national bookstore chains to request their involvement and is also contacting publishers to encourage special bookseller discounts on select titles on National Bookstore Day.