Here’s an email forwarded from CWW board member Robin Chapman.
Dear Wisconsin authors, publishers, and other literary friends,It’s that time of year again: The Wisconsin Center for the Book invites you to join us in representing our state’s authors, illustrators, publishers, and literary orgs at this year’s National Book Festival!The thirteen annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, will take place September 21–22 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Free and open to the public, the Festival features more than 100 award-winning authors, poets, and illustrators in pavilions dedicated to book subjects ranging from history and biography to mysteries, thrillers, poetry and prose, and books for families and young people. The many thousands of festival-goers meet and hear firsthand from their favorite authors, get books signed, and participate in a variety of learning activities.At the Festival’s Pavilion of the States, people from every state provide information and answer questions about their states’ writers, libraries, book festivals, book awards, and reading promotion activities. The Wisconsin Center for the Book will be there to feature Wisconsin publishers and literary organizations. As always, we’ll have room on the table for a limited number of small giveaways—books, bookmarks, flyers, pencils, posters, etc. (Small trinkets that kids and families like to pick up work best; all items will be given away by the end of the day.) Along with small giveaway items, if you would like us to display a featured book/magazine/journal we can mark them “for display only” until the end of the day (believe it or not, we’ve been pretty successful in not allowing such things to “wander off” over the course of the day.).Please note: You will be shipping your materials directly to a holding area in Washington DC, at your organization’s expense. All packages must arrive in Washington NO LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 13, 2013.If you would like to provide a giveaway item (no more than 250, please!), please let me know by September 1, 2013, by return email or by phone at 608-264-6463. I will then provide you with complete shipping instructions.Please help the Wisconsin Center for the Book promote our state’s excellent books, writers, and literary heritage to the rest of the nation. And seize this opportunity to highlight your books or programs for a captive, captivated audience of more than 200,000 booklovers!I look forward to hearing from you.Kate ThompsonWisconsin Center for the Book608-264-6463For more information about the National Book Festival, including a complete list of participating authors, visit http://www.loc.gov/bookfest.The Wisconsin Center for the Book is an all-volunteer organization that celebrates books and the book arts, encourages the joy of reading and writing, and honors Wisconsin’s literary heritage. We are affiliated with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and with the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Information Studies.