National Book Festival 2011 Meetup

The National Book Festival is a little over a month away!

Dates:
Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 10AM-5:30PM
Sunday, September 25, 2011 - 1PM-5:30PM

Location:
The National Mall, Washington DC

Official Website:
loc.gov/bookfest/

Authors: (full list)
Amy Chua
Michael Cunningham
Eric Jerome Dickey
Rita Dove
Jennifer Egan
Dave Eggers
Eric Foner
Garrison Keillor
Hoda Kotb
Gregory Maguire
David McCullough
Edmund Morris
Toni Morrison
Linda Pastan
Katherine Paterson
Esmeralda Santiago
Neal Stephenson
Richard Thompson
Sarah Vowell
etc, etc.

Who else will be there?
When / where do we want to meet?

Oh wow, already?? I'll probably be there, but somebody else needs to plan. I've got a major project review the about 1.5 weeks later and I'm already up to my eyeballs... :)

Note: the Baltimore Book Fest will also be that weekend. We usually try to go to one on Saturday and the other on Sunday, so theoreticaly we could make it an extended meetup!

http://www.baltimorebookfestival.com/

I'm planning to be there. I just need to figure out what exactly is happening (i.e., day and time of meetup) and then I'll book my bus tickets. It would definitely be fun to do both festivals, but then I need to figure out about accommodations too.

Darn it, it's Homecoming at our local high school and my daughter needs to be taken to & fro ... maybe next time!

I'm more than happy to plan, but I'm going to be out of town from 5 Sept to 19 Sept and I don't know what my internet access will be like during that time.

I have no preferences as to date or time. I can't remember if they publish the speaking/signing schedule beforehand. It would be annoying if I decided to go one day and found out an author I wanted to see was speaking on the other day :-(

I'll probably be there. Day trip by train allows late morning to early evening in DC. I don't care which day, though I may develop a preference if a speaking schedule appears.

I cannot go :(

Looks like we're going to hit Baltimore on Friday afternoon and DC on Saturday. The author schedule looks really good both days, but Saturday's easier for us.

I don't think I'll be able to make it to Baltimore, but I'll be at the NBF on Saturday and Sunday.

Want to meet for lunch or dinner? That way folks can split up for talks at the different tents. Qebo was thinking of coming down - anybody else?

I still hope to drop in, either Baltimore or DC, whenever/wherever you decide. I don't much care about details; I can just make it a day trip and meander around.

ETA: It'd have to be lunch for me; dinner's too late for the train schedule.

I think Zoe is planning on coming down as well, but idk what her schedule is going to be like.

I'll be in DC on Saturday for sure and maybe Sunday. I probably will not be able to make the Baltimore festival on Friday.

From a chat on my thread - SqueakyChu and I are going to be in charge of organization for the meet-up.

We are currently debating whether to meet at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, or the steps of the National Gallery of Art.

Squeaky has suggested a time of 1:30 to 2:30 on SATURDAY for the meet-up. Does this work for other people? The schedule for the event has been posted, and you can find it HERE

I just moved to this thread.

*Listens*

I don't know Washington DC well enough to have an opinion about location. The earliest I can get there is noon. I want to see/hear Sylvia Nasar (author of A Beautiful Mind) at 12:45-1:30, and Candice Millard (author of The River of Doubt) at 1:40-2:55, alas the same time slot as Sarah Vowell. Jim/drneutron has expressed an interest in Candice Millard, and I'll bet he is also interested in Edmund Morris (author of a trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt) at 3:30-4:15. So... I'd vote for a meetup by 1:00 or so, or earlier for lunch, and then people can disperse alone or together for the afternoon speakers.

Cool! I'm glad y'all are planning on something!! I'm definitely wanting to see Millard and Morris. Wouldn't mind seeing Nasar either. I'll meet wherever folks want to congregate. Hirshhorn is likely not to be too crowded if that matters. Lunch would be awesome, but I'm up for bringing a picnic lunch with me.

BTW - we finished our dry run for the big meeting today. I think we're going to do well, but I've now got about 2 weeks of editing and refining to do on three days worth of powerpoint slides. :) Put in 97 hours over the last two weeks, and that doesn't count the holiday on Monday...

It seems that there is no good time for any meet-up as the day is booked solid with great speakers. Here's my plan. I'll be holding the Bookcrossing Meet-Up from 1:30 to 2:30 in the gardens of the Hirshhorn Museum. That seems to be the best time and place for the Bookcrossers.

I think that Nora should pick any place and time for the LTers that she likes best. I'll advertise both of the Meet-Ups together.

If people are not too tired when the day is over, a good place to gather/meet/greet/eat (and that is easy) might be the Food Court at Union Station (the intercity train station - on the Metro red line). In addition, if others from out of town are leaving that day, they can catch their trains from there.

Another idea is to meet somewhere for breakfast/brunch on Sunday morning since the festival that day is from 12 noon to 5:30.

Are there any plans for Friday? If so, Jim could you handle those? Informally, of course. I doubt that I'll be able to make Friday's festival in Baltimore, though.

Jim...finish that project at work so you can rest and be ready for our big weekend!

maybe we could set up one major meet-up time and a few minor ones for the people who miss the major one and anyone else who is available at that time.

I like the idea of doing multiple meet-up times. My goal in making this trip is really to see LT-ers; I don't think I would travel so far just to listen to authors.

Sunday morning brunch sounds particularly good to me, since there wouldn't be any conflict with the author events so presumably everyone could be there. And I like the idea that we could then go off to author events together. And since it seems like I'll be making this a two-day trip (hooray for Madeline!) I'd be up for Saturday dinner as well. Again, there would be no conflict with events (it looks like the last one ends at 5:40?), so we could congregate at leisure, and having the two events on two separate days would accommodate anyone who was just coming for one day.

I just realized that I forgot to check the author list and bring books for signing from my parents' house. I may have to buy extra copies of some old favourites....

Hmm, well, time of day (noonish-5pmish) matters more than date for me, unless I decide to take a mini-vacation, so I'll just let this sort itself out among the locals, it's already complicated enough, and drop in when possible.

Maybe we should just skip all the authors and have meet-ups all day :)

I'd go for that!

ETA: I love the idea of Saturday dinner. There's tons of places to go and we wouldn't have to rush. I'll post which authors I'm going to see so if anyone else is going to see them, we can meet up.

How about posting a tentative schedule of what you're planning on this 6th Annual LibraryThing Meet-Up at the National Book Festival
Wiki? :)

I am taking myself out of the LibraryThing Meet-Up planning loop except for providing a place for Zoe to stay for Saturday night.

Nora, Jim, Zoe, Catherine et al, the planning for the LibraryThing Meet-Ups is now all yours.

I still will be doing the planning for my group's Bookcrossing Meet-up, though. Okay?

> 20

I just realized that I forgot to check the author list and bring books for signing from my parents' house. I may have to buy extra copies of some old favourites....

I'm not sure if the authors sign books you bring from elsewhere. I know there are books you can purchase at the festival. Does anyone else know for sure?

I avoid the signing lines as they are way too long.

From personal experience, the day can be very hot or (usually) very rainy. Dress accordingly!

Jim, should we add information to the above wiki for the Baltimore Book Festival, or would you like it to have its own wiki?

This is an FYI so you can see the forum thread on Bookcrossing through which I'm advertising the Bookcrossing Meet-Up part of the weekend.

>25 SqueakyChu: I'm almost relieved; that means I'm not missing out on anything!

Although I forgot my good rain coat too :/

The authors don't care where you got the books, but sometimes they will only sign copies of their most recent book

I've been feeling not quite enthusiastic enough about the book festival itself, or the constraints/uncertainties of an LT meetup, to commit to seven hours on the train for a half day in DC. However, I've been wanting to see the Holocaust Museum, which has required timed tickets whenever I've been spontaneously in the vicinity. Maybe with a bit of advance planning? Turns out that timed ticket season is March-August. And I found a hotel room that is conveniently located and not as insanely expensive as I'd feared. So, the upshot is flexibility. The idea is still to drop in and out of book festival / LT events, but now without constant clockwatching.

>30 qebo: Oh, good! So this means you'll be staying over for the Saturday night? That will make planning much easier :)

I've been slow to pay attention to this thread, but I am hoping to be able to attend parts of the Book Festival. What and when depend somewhat on family schedule, but since I live here I'm pretty flexible. So I'm inclined to leave it to others to pick times to meet.

31: Yeah. I'll still get there around noon on Saturday, be there until 5pmish on Sunday.

>33 qebo: Yay!

So I'll suggest again that we do two main meet-ups that don't conflict with the author events (though it seems that many of us aren't too concerned about the authors anyway): Saturday dinner (around 6:30?) and Sunday brunch (around 11?), with other mini-meetups and general wandering around together at other times. Is there anyone coming into town just for a day who wouldn't be able to get to either of those?

Sorry I'm a bit MIA right now; no internet or cell reception in the north cascades.

1 during-festival meet-up, Sat dinner and Sun breakfast sounds good to me.

Sounds like a plan to me!

>>34 _Zoe_: - I would miss those dates/times - I fly out of DCA at 4:10pm on Saturday - but it's going to be impossible to work with everyone's schedules, anyway. I'll just watch for the next get together in Chicago

37: What time do you have to leave the book festival area? SqueakyChu's BookCrossing meetup is at 1:30, so there's a possibility of LTers gathering there between author events, and/or people who want to see the same authors (or just want to wander around) could coordinate via cell phone if the formal LT meetup time isn't until later.

> 37

Patrick, if you're going to be at the festival, we're going to meet you! You just need to post on the wiki where you plan to be and when. We'll find you!

I'l make the next post the link to the wiki only. It will be easier to find that way. Just remember message #40 and bookmark it.

In addition, everyone (all LTers) are invited to join the Bookcrossing meet-up. Historically this has been a joint Bookcrossing-LibraryThing Meet-Up anyway.

SIXTH ANNUAL BOOKCROSSING MEET-UP AT THE NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL --- This is the planning wiki!

When: Multiple times over the two days of 9/25/11 (Saturday) and 9/25/11 (Sunday)

Where: National Mall, Washington DC - on the Red Metro line...
1. To be planned by Nora
2. Set one up yourself!

I will need to head to Reagan National by 2 (my flight is at 4:10) so as long as I can park near the Hirshorn, I'll make an appearance at the BookCrossing meetup (I do need to find out how to make the BookCrossing labels - I don't use it much, but I have about 10 ARCs that I refuse to sell, so I'd like to get them into the hands of BC.)

I'm not planning to commit to any authors or signings, so I'll just wander. I'll have to decide when I plan to get in - I need to drive in from Prince Frederick that morning, but if I can motivate myself to leave early, maybe I can "host" a breakfast or something for the morning crowd. I'll add something to the wiki once I figure it out

> 41

I seriously doubt that parking will be easy. That's why I never drive there. But, hey, go ahead and give it a try because we all want to see you. Just come early and leave early (so as not to miss your flight).

The easiest way to do Bookcrossing labels is to print them from the making labels page of the Bookcrossing website.

I like to use the pre-numbered labels because the process is so much faster, but that might be for winged members only (which I am).

If I know that others are getting to the mall early, then I, too, *might* get there early. I hate getting up early, but the day is so much fun. For me, it's a quick Metro ride to get to the National Mall.

What happened to the National Book Festival GROUP!

All this planning done in a Challenge group instead of the proper group. :P
http://www.librarything.com/groups/nationalbookfestival

#41 zomg! That's my neck of the woods, PF is...

I tend to take the Metro into DC. The traffic is horrid otherwise.
From down south, you have a couple metro stations - Branch Ave, Suitland/Silver Hill Rd, or if you want to travel around the beltway a bit, New Carollton, which is off Rt 50.

I'll probably go to the meet up, though I don't have an author screaming "Come listen to me" right now. So will be a wander/Smithsonian visit Saturday for me. Probably not doing both days this year. (Will also depend on the house repairs after Irene...)

> 43

What happened is that the National Book Festival group got overshadowed by the LT DC area Meet-Up group which met recently with plans to meet places other than just once a year at the National Book Festival.

D'oh. I guess we should just use one thread. Can we still use this one?

Can someone add me to the wiki when they have a second? For some reason wiki editing doesn't work well on my smartphone.

thanks!

#45

There's a DC area LT Meet up?
That's news.

>47 norabelle414: Done!

> 48

It just evolved informally on this group during the year, but was never officially founded. :)



Standing: SqueakyChu
Left to right, seated: norabelle, qebo, drneutron, _Zoe_
Not pictured: AnneDC
Venue: Soho Coffee & Tea (Dupont Circle): an official Bookcrossing zone! :D

Come join us!

What I found was that it was a lot more fun to meet up apart from a book festival so that we could actually have time to get to know one another. This group did evolve out of the 75 Books Challenge in 2011 group. There may be other local (to the DC area) LT meet-up groups, but I am not aware of them.

The National Book Festival will actually be only the second time we are planning to meet up.

ETA: No, we don't have a separate group on LT. Drneutron maintains this WIKI.

Ah. Saw the write up about that gathering, but had no idea it was happening...

Thought process: Maybe we could create a group for LT Meet ups - and threads would be specific to areas that wanted to gather. Maybe use some of the information from the Wiki to start things up?

I have no objection to anyone who wants to start a meet-up group. It will not be me, however, as I'm not looking for anything new to do. Are you volunteering, gilroy? If so, feel free to use information from my wiki to start things up.

Back in the earlier days of LT, I was always bugging Tim to work on ways of getting people to meet in real life. He did a little, but not much, in that direction, so I'm glad to see that meet-ups for LT people are starting to grow.

The members of the 75 Books Challenge group have had several very successful meet-ups, and the number of them are beginning to grow. Drneutron lists them all on the group wiki as they come upon the horizon. I'm not sure I'd look outside of this group for meet-ups, but there's always that possibility, so go for it!

By the way, I thought I'd post this picture for fun. This is from the 2008 National Book Festival...and the signs did work. We got our collections! :D



Left to right: SqueakyChu, stellar_dust, melannen, gilroy.

Still no Lists, though :(

> 54

We need more people to hold up signs. Perhaps if we all request the same thing this time...

Sounds good to me!

55: But all voted for lists: http://www.librarything.com/topic/112641#2700441 :-(

More people! More signs! Larger print! We can do this...

The problem with a Meet-Ups group would be getting people to pay attention to it, since so few threads would apply to any particular person.

#59

Well, you run into a similar problem with them being trapped in any one group (like a challenge group.) No one will pay attention to a thread in any one group. You'll find interested people in a gathering, but lose others because they didn't realize the group/thread existed.

Shoot, I've only missed one Festival Meet up in all the years we've been doing them. I almost missed this one, because the discussion never made it to the group I expected it to be in when planning it.

So perhaps it would be better to give the concept to Jeremy once we start it, so LT can advertise it better than a simple member could...

Well, I asked Jeremy to blog it (which he did promptly), and yours was the only response outside of this group so far.

I must add, too, that I didn't start planning it until this week. With previous festivals, I had begun weeks earlier. In addition, I no longer wanted to host the LibraryThing part of the Meet-ups so I passed that along to norabelle when she agreed to do it. I am marketing the festival to everyone, though, as I'll be participating in the LibraryThing meet-up as well as hosting the Bookcrosing meet-up at the festival.

If you follow LT Local, news about the meet-ups (LT and BC) at the National Book Festival appears there as well.

So perhaps it would be better to give the concept to Jeremy once we start it, so LT can advertise it better than a simple member could...

Two thoughts on this. Jeremy and Tim have always blogged our meet-ups when asked - either within the 75-ers group or for the entire LT. I also don't want to add more "duties" to what Jeremy has to do.

I hear what you're saying, though, gilroy. It's not fair to pull this meet-up into just one challenge group - no matter how large the challenge group is.

If you follow LT Local, news about the meet-ups at the National Book festival appears there as well.

Actually, no it didn't, until I expanded to the 100 mile radius.
Besides, I avoid local because its too graphic intensive for my usual connection speed.

So...for next year...where to post the National BookCrossing Festival news

Does no one on Book Crossing read that group on LT any more? If yours will be BC specific, why not post it there? Besides, the BC people from LT tended to show up more than the LT people did in years past anyway.

Are groups specific to such small subjects becoming like dodo birds and going away, so you have to belong to a monster group to do things such as this? How many people do we miss because the group overwhelms some others and they don't want to dip their toe into the ocean?

*feeling slighted now*

*pats gilroy on the back*

I don't want to belittle your participation over the years. You hung in there - even in that horrendous rainstorm! It has been fun to have you join us each time.

Does no one on Book Crossing read that group on LT any more?

Very few Bookcrossers hang out on LT. Most hang out on Goodreads. :(

If yours will be BC specific, why not post it there?

I absolutely do. I post it here also just in case I can catch another Bookcrosser.

Are groups specific to such small subjects becoming like dodo birds and going away, so you have to belong to a monster group to do things such as this?

Small groups not used much have a tendency to become dormant. With the new talk, I very frequently have difficulty following threads - even my own. I use the stars, favorites, and groups features, but threads are not as easy for me to follow as previously.

How many people do we miss because the group overwhelms some others and they don't want to dip their toe into the ocean?

My idea is to market to either the biggest audience *or* to the group of people I find most receptive.

In addition, I wanted to capitalize on the more intense and fun meet-up hosted on the 75-ers group in DC by drneutron this past year. It allowed more time for all of us to actually have time to sit, talk, and get acquainted.

Last year's meet-up at the NBF was very frustrating for me. The LT meet-Up group was there for just too short a time, and then all were off somewhere else. In the meantime, I totally lost the Bookcrossing group and never got to meet with them at all. :(

Plus...there is also the Baltimore Book Festival that happens this same upcoming weekend. Perhaps drneutron will host something for Friday, but he's tied up now with work and can't plan it presently.

The bottom line, I think, is that suggestions continue to be welcome as to how to make book festivals the most enjoyable experience for all LT-ers. I think, next year, the beginning of the plans should definitely go into the NBF group right away. However, a better plan might be the Meet-Ups group - as you suggested. Do you want to start that group? You never said.

By the way, melydia (who posted in the NBF group) is in my local BookCrossing group so she always knows exactly what I'm doing with Bookcrossing as I post to their Yahoo group which goes directly to everyone's email*.

*ETA: NBF info has now made it through another BC member to an invitation on Facebook to all BookCrossers in our local group. BookCrossing members don't miss a beat when it comes to marketing!

I'm leary of creating a new group if it won't do anything. Plus if it lacks the Staff support, half of the battle is lost.

I think having a core group of people who are excited to get together just helps the meet-up as a whole, regardless of where that core starts out. The key is just to advertise it in other places in the end, as Jeremy did in this case.

I know I was hesitant about travelling 4+ hours each way for a one-hour meetup, especially having heard about the problems last year; it was really the people in this group who drew me in more than the event itself. It sounded like qebo was having similar thoughts, too.

I do think Talk has sort of failed for smaller groups. I know the 75 Book Challenge can be overwhelming, but it's also a great social place, and it might be worth giving it a try....

I like having a social incentive to get to Washington DC, which otherwise is kind of perpetually there, and not difficult, but not so easy that I'll spontaneously hop on a train for a day trip.

Re a meetup group, I think it'd be a useful thing to have as a central location. Even if the planning occurs mainly in other groups, a group dedicated to meetups could be a known place for people interested in such things to check for announcements and links. It's excellent that Jeremy posts (before and after) to the LT blog, but this is more ephemeral, and not under the control of LT members.

There's no telling whether a new group will attract attention or go dormant. Whoever sets it up would have to be vigilant about contacting active groups and LT staff, and meetups would have to actually occur often enough for people to think of it as viable. But a group definitely won't attract attention and support if it doesn't exist.

Well, at least one good thing has come from our conversation. I found out there's a National Book Fest group and have joined it. Had no idea it existed! :)

Okay, I've gone ahead and created the group:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/librarythinggatherin

Librarything Gatherings and Meet ups

Please let me know if I need to adjust the description.

While I created it, I don't have the time, or knowledge, to do a wiki any justice. So if someone wanted to create the associated wiki, I won't object. Just let me know the URL so I can add it to the description.

I've left a comment for Jeremy about possibly putting the URL into the State of the Thing or into a blog post. We'll see what happens from here.

To bring it back to the topic of the Festival...

I've done some Metro research because the Smithsonian station will most notably be extra busy these two days.

Other stations:
L'Enfant Plaza - Any of the four colored lines
Federal Center - Orange Line
Navy Memorial/Archives - (Drawing a blank on the color right at the moment.)

All of the stations required about a two block stroll to reach the festival.

Wear comfortable shoes for all the walking!
Bring bottled water, as well, as the vendors are expensive and they run out of free water quickly.
Might want to bring a chair if you don't stake out a spot in a tent and never leave.

Um, running out of suggestions. :>

More suggestions:

1. Bring a light (but large) bag to carry items as they often run out of souvenir bags, and there are fun items to pick up in the States tent or books to buy (and have signed).

2. If it looks like rain, bring an umbrella. It often does rain during this festival. It's just that time of year.

3. If it's bright and sunny, use sunscreen.

4. Bring a cell phone to locate your lost friends. The National Mall is HUGE and the National Book festival is CROWDED.

If you're debating about whether or not it is worth it to try to get to this festival, know that it certainly is! It is the premier book festival of the Washington, DC, area.

Here is my proposal:
Main meet-up at 1PM in the Hirshhorn Gardens (wherever Madeleine decides for the BC meet-up). Note this is half an hour before the BC meet-up. You can stay for the whole hour and a half, or not.
Dinner Saturday night at 6PM at Teaism (just north of the Navy Memorial)
Brunch Sunday morning at 11:30AM at Au Bon Pain (6th and D Streets, NW)

Link fairy: Teaism

The dinner location looks great, time is fine with me, but also fine if someone else wants to change it.

I'm not committing to anything on Sunday yet, but will be happy wherever there's coffee.

The proposed meetup time conflicts with Sylvia Nasar, but any meetup time during the day will conflict with something, and and it's sensible to cluster the LT / BC meetups in time and place. I'm not expecting to be avidly attentive to the presentations, see them more as potentially interesting spots to pause while wandering about.

I'm in for Saturday. Mrsdrneutron will be with us too!

Thanks for helping me out with the link, Katherine.

Catherine
K!

Oh no! Sorry :-(

78: :-)

I'm in for Saturday, with my mom in tow. Glad to finally be able to make the meet up this year - my festival schedule has been too packed in previous years.

>>73 norabelle414: - I was planning on stalking the BC meetup a little early anyway since I'll be so tight on time for my flight back to Chicago. So I'm all for the mini-LT meetup at 1pm Saturday at the Hirshorn.

It's nice to be able to travel to DC for work but be able to plan something fun for myself while I'm here. I flew in early today to do the Kalorama Embassy Walk this afternoon, I'm attending an event at the Russian Embassy Thursday night, and the Book Festival on Saturday - almost a perfect week...if I just didn't have to work through the middle of it :)

Sounds good to me!

For those of us who are completely clueless about DC, which of the Teaism locations is the one "just north of the Navy Memorial"?

Penn Quarter

Penn Quarter

Rats! Now I owe you a coke! :)

Ok, it looks like my proposal is what we're going to do. Could someone update the wiki for me? Thanks!

> 86

Done!

Wish I could be there! Looking forward to pictures though. :)

attention, attention!

The layout of the National Book Festival has been completely changed from last year! It's now at the OTHER END of the Mall, and is not directly in front of the Hirshhorn gallery like it was last year. (Of course, it is now in front of the Natural History Museum, where the meet-up was last year)

The Hirshhorn sculpture garden is about one city block from the eastern end of the festival. The western end is more like 7 blocks. Do we want to change the location of the meet-up(s)?

Is this the current map? http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/images/NatBookFest2011-sitemap.pdf (Warning: 8MB!)

I don't care where, so long as I know by Friday night.

Yes. The Washington Post had a much better version this weekend, but I can't find it online.

On the above map, the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden is just about where the circle with the Capitol in it is.

Let me go reresearch metro stops then... Smithsonian will now dump directly into the festival, but that will be so busy it may be worth the extra couple block walk anyway.

I know that L'Enfant Plaza should still be valid, as it drops you behind the treasury building and Air and Space museum. Will get back with others in a few.

Further Metro Research complete:

Smithsonian Station - Orange or Blue line (Dumps directly into the Festival)
L'Enfant Plaza - Orange, Blue, Green, or Yellow lines (about a two block walk along 7th street)
Federal Center - Orange or Blue Line (Dumps down to festival between two Smithsonian Museums.)
Navy Memorial/Archives - Green or Yellow Lines (two block walk along 7th Street)

If you're traveling the Red Line, its suggested to switch at either Gallery Place or Metro Center to one of the other four lines for the shortest walking distance.

It is supposed to rain cats and dogs tomorrow. Do we want to come up with some kind of contingency plan for if the Hirshhorn sculpture garden is flooded? It is probably too late to build an ark.

On the plus side, no one will be able to miss me, because my umbrella is bright purple with yellow flowers.

Eee, I'm so unprepared! What do I need to bring?

*umbrella
*maps (which ones, in particular? general map, subway map, book festival map, maybe print off some individual maps for meet-up locations?)
*camera (be sure to charge and make room on memory card)
*cell phone (be sure to charge, add in contact numbers)
*extra bag for carrying souvenirs?
*reading material for the trip there
*bus tickets

Since I'm staying overnight, I also need:
*change of clothes (but I only have one LibraryThing shirt! What to do?)
*PJs
*toothbrush etc. (including hairbrush, which I often tend to forget)

> 95

_Zoe_,

Travel *LIGHT*. I can't stress this enough. You'll have to be carrying everything all day (both days!)

1. Umbella - Yes!! My umbrella is purple (medium purple/no flowers). What color is yours? Maybe we need to ask Tim/Jeremy for LibraryThing umbrellas as this festival always seems to take place in the rain?

2. Maps - Not sure. What bus are you coming in on? You'll need to get to the Smithsonian Metro stop (site of the festival) where you can get all the free (and discardable) maps you'll need.

3. Camera - Definitely!

4. Cell phone - Definitely! Text me when you arrive. You have my number. Don't worry if I don't answer as I might not hear my phone. I have a new phone, and I'm not used to it yet. I'll set it on vibrate. Maybe that will help. I will catch up to you at some point! Enjoy the festival until I find you.

5. A *very* light bag. They give away free souvenir bags if we're early enough to get one.

6. Register your books on Bookcrossing before your trip so you can wild release them or give them away while you're at the Festival (and then not have to carry them home).

7. Bus tickets - Definitely!

8. Change of clothes - Definitely! Wear your LT shirt on Saturday. You can add a name label (i.e. masking tape!) to another shirt on Sunday. My washing machine has been weird lately so we'll skip doing laundry on Saturday night! :)

9. PJ's - Definitely!

10. Tootbrush/Hairbrush - That's it! I probably have anything else you'll need (toothpaste, towels, etc.)

See you (and everyone else) there!

> 94

For now, let's just plan on going inside the Hirshhorn museum at that time if it rains. When we've all gathered, we can choose what to do. The problem is that if we change venues because of the rain, we'll most likely miss other folks who will be coming later. That's happened before. :(

I have to admit, travelling light has never been one of my strengths! When faced with 9 hours on a bus, it's so easy to bring an overabundance of books. I'll try to limit myself to one fiction and one non-fiction, plus some photocopied pages of school reading. (*pushes aside little voices asking what will happen if I'm not in the mood for any of them*)

Oh, that reminds me of something else--food! I should at least have some sort of snack for the trip, and water, and it will be good to have a water bottle at the festival anyway.

I may get a new umbrella tonight, so no comments on the colour yet ;). I can't find my favourite light umbrella, and my un-favourite light umbrella is so light and not good that it broke a bit in the wind a couple of days ago, and my favourite heavy umbrella is also sadly deceased. It's surprisingly hard to find a good umbrella, at least for those like me who don't do much shopping other than for books. I don't even know what store I'd go to for an umbrella around here.

I have everything except an LT t-shirt. Ordered a couple weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived yet. :-(

> 98

I can't find my favourite light umbrella

Get a LIGHT umbrella (...in case it's sunny, and all you'll be doing is carrying it!).

> 99

I have everything except an LT t-shirt

No problem. Do wear a name label. Masking tape with your screen name is good. Or even an Avery label! :D

We need to ask Tim/Jeremy to create name buttons we can wear. I have a great one from Bookcrossing. I just don't trust if I'll like what LT designs or not. I don't particularly care for the LT tee shirts. Can we design one of our own? I'll probably be wearing one of my TIOLI tee shirts to the book festival.

Maps: book festival map will be provided at the festival. If you have a smartphone I recommend the "DC Metro Transit" app. If not: Metro Map. The dinner and brunch locations are only ~2 blocks away from each other, so if you want to print a map of the National Mall and the area immediately north of that, it would be helpful. But downtown DC is easy to navigate, because it's just a Letter x Number grid. Plus you have several people who would love to show you around :-)

I'll PM my cell phone number to whoever wants it, just let me know.

I would actually recommend *not* getting off the Metro at Smithsonian. It is crowded and not well laid out and has two exits - one deposits onto the mall and the other on the street a block or so away. But it is up to you. I prefer L'Enfant Plaza or National Archives.

PM me your cell phone, Nora. Just remember to text me, not call me. Thx!

Bring a hat--helps with sun or rain. And bug spray. Since Irene the mosquitos have been as big as B2 bombers. And we have the nasty day time biting ones too.

Sending all good wishes for a wonderful time! Please post photos!

What?! You're not coming? Come down with qebo, Linda!

> 103

Since Irene the mosquitos have been as big as B2 bombers

What? There are mosquitoes on the mall, too?! I thought they were all in my back yard. :O

Now my Saturday has gotten completely scrambled with events beyond my control. I may still try to make dinner at Teaism, but as of now I'm more likely to hit the festival on Sunday with kids.

Count me as another who may have to skip Saturday but will try to make Sunday. Flu is my least favorite part of fall.

Forecast now says: overcast, but minimal chance of rain.

Folks, I hope you all are having (have had) a good time. I was hoping I would be able to make it but since I probably would not, I refrained from posting. Unfortunately I will not make it today, once again there is always next year.

I'm just about to leave home--meaning I'll probably get there just before dinner. I was going to see about taking an earlier bus, but it seems like it won't be happening (though there's always a chance that the earlier bus will be delayed and I'll catch it after all). Anyway, in my defense, I did run a 1-mile race this morning so I wasn't just being lazy!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon :)

Ok, we will look for you! If you're coming straight to dinner, the best place to get off the metro would be gallery place (red line) and then walk south to 8th and D st.

For those of you who did not make it to the National Book Festival for the LT Meet-Up today, it's not too late.

Please join us for an LT Meet-Up Brunch starting 11:30am at Au Bon Pain on 6th and D Streets, NW. From there, we will walk over to the National Mall to once again enjoy the National Book Festival.

I did not meet anyone named spacestationmir today. Were you at the book festival? Will you be back on Sunday? Please join us for brunch!

AnneDC, we missed you! Sure hope you can join us tomorrow morning.

Our LT Afternoon Meet-Up in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Gardens of the Hirshorn Museum:



Pictured: qebo, norabelle414, SqueakyChu, gilroy, and Tanneitha.
Not pictured: pbadeer (heading back to Chicago)

I remembered to have this picture taken about two minutes after pbadeer left to catch his plane. We'll get him in the picture next year, though!

Thanks for stopping by, pbadeer! It was fun to finally get to meet you. I and Norabelle414 brought your books home to give them BCID (BookCrossing ID) numbers and are returning them to the National Book Festival tomorrow when and where we will wild release them.

By the way, pbadeer, there is an option to get pre-numbered labels on BookCrossing website. Check it out on this page. http://www.bookcrossing.com/labels
Scroll down to where it says to download 10 or 100 pre-numbered labels. You may want to start with 10. This saves tons of time!

Our LT Dinner Meet-Up at Teaism in NW DC



Pictured: Norabelle414, drneutron, mrsdrneutron, _Zoe_, Soraya71, qebo
Not pictured: SqueakyChu (taking picture)

40% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow

I'll tell Zoe to bring her (new) black umbrella! :)

Also my tiny fold-up poncho :)

Cool to see the pics - thanks for posting them! Hope you are all having a great time.

We are! Hope we draw a larger LT crowd next year...

Oops! I forgot to take a picture at Au Bon Pain this morning. We were there, though. I had lox and bagel with cucumbers and wasabi mayonnaise. It was weird and wonderful!

Notice the coffee cup from Au Bon Pain in this fountain picture...


Pictured: norabelle414, _Zoe_
Not pictured: qebo (already left), SqueakyChu (taking picture)

Hehe! Here's one of me doing a Bookcrossing wild release! No, the park police did *not* see me doing this...

Some presentations I liked follow. Sadly the pictures of Dave Eggers (who was great) did not come out well. My favorite speaker of the weekend was Sherman Alexie. He was hilarious! My favorite cuties of the weekend tied between Dave Eggers and Joshua Foer. :)

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Eric Wight, graphic artist

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Joshua Foer

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Sherman Alexie

Thanks to all Bookcrossers and LTers who came this weekend to share in such a fun time!

Looks like you all had a great time! So sorry I couldn't make dinner Saturday. I did FINALLY make it to the Festival Sunday afternoon, but I knew brunch was not going to work out today. Next year!

Next year, for sure! We missed seeing you. :(

You should add the Joshua Foer pic to his author page. The only other one he has is mine, which isn't as good as yours.

We were planning to go, but started at the Solar Decathalon - which was so cool that we closed it down. Need to plan better next year...

Thanks for the lovely pictures!

> 127

You should add the Joshua Foer pic to his author page.

Okay. Will do.

> 129

You're welcome. I hope my pictures entice more of you LT-ers out there to come to the National Book Festival Next year. It's quite a celebration of books and reading. The price is right, too. It's all FREE!

It was really a ton of fun. And for anyone who thinks it's too far away, qebo came by train, Zoe came by bus, and pbadeer came by plane. So no excuses!

Also, we ended up having GREAT weather.

...and we each brought an umbrella!

That was why we had good weather. Everyone had their umbrella, so the clouds got discouraged. :>

We definitely had a blast at the Fest and dinner afterward. Here's hoping we get a few more next year!

Sorry I missed Sunday with LTers, but I did get to the Holocaust Museum, and it was well worth the trip.

Dinner after the festival was a fantastic idea, it's true.

I'm glad you had a good time at the museum, Katherine! Sorry I was late to breakfast and missed you :-(

137: You weren't late (or maybe you were, but it's irrelevant), Madeline and Zoë were early! And I left before 11:30 to meet my niece for lunch.

Love the pictures! Wish I could've been there. :)

Zoe got the first (and only) Bookcrossing catch so far from the National Book Festival weekend in DC! See it here.

Congratulations, Zoe! :)

I never knew you could release Bookcrossing books in the water, until I saw this thread! :)

It was a first for me. :)

One of my Bookcrossing buddies (KateKintail) keeps wanting to do it but fearing it. Actually, it wasn't so hard because the fountain itself forced the book back out to the side. It did not float away into the middle of the water. I did take one picture of it for dramatic effect, though.



Needless to say, I don't think it would make park rangers very happy. On the positive side, it's definitely not litter! :)

ROFL!!

I was just asked to submit my photo of the floating book to the Flickr photo album of the National Book Festival 2011.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1814274@N22/

Thanks Madeline for posting all those great pictures. I can tell by the big smiles that everyone was having fun. What a delightful book-filled week end. I'd love to attend some year.

You should get all of your meet-up group to come here en masse, Donna. We could have a mini-convention! :)

Whoa! Nice catch of the Bookcrossing book you released to that seat, Zoe!

That's terrific! Just one catch like that really makes it all worthwhile :)

That's the hook that makes people want to continue to release books.

That reminds me, are any of you planning to attend the potential Boston meet-up that Jeremy proposed? I know it's a bit of a trek, but it could also be a lot of fun. Expedia shows round trips from DC for as low as $123.... Or if you want to spend two full days in travel, you can go by Megabus for around $45. But irritatingly, it's significantly cheaper to book two separate tickets through New York than one direct one.

The budget is shot for my sake, so no travel outside of the state. :(

Though I'd be more inclined to grab the Amtrak to Boston if I ever travel that way...

Yeah I've taken the Amtrak to Providence and it was a lovely and relaxing trip.*



*except for New Jersey.

Oh, I always forget about Amtrak. It's definitely a nice way to travel, but more expensive than flying in this case at least.

Ooh, but does that mean you'd be willing to do it again, Nora?

Boston is tempting... I used to live there... But I was just there in August to visit friends, and it's not really worth the trek for less than 2-3 overnights, and it's expensive... So almost certainly not.

Well, I fear flying more than I do trains. Plus, the train allows more movement than a bus. :> It helps that I'm a major train buff too. If they ever get Thomas and Friends to the Festival, that would be a totally Awesome thing for me...

>153 _Zoe_: I'm considering it, but I'm not making any committments now. I love Boston, but I'm not sure what my work situation is going to be like at that point.

Unless someone else wants to take the train with me, I'll probably fly.

I would love to go back to Boston sometime, but that weekend will not work for me. I already have so much going on that I won't know if I'm going or coming most of the time.

Thanks for posting the lovely photos. Next year will be a healthier one for me and I'll travel more. In the meantime, thanks again for sharing the delight!

You're welcome, Linda. Be well and, hopefully, we'll soon get the chance to meet in real life.

I hope your health improves soon!

One thing we talked about was a potential Philadelphia meetup. I think that would be a relatively easy day trip for everyone.

I also have a Pennsylvania booksale marked in my calendar for late April :D

Zoe

April 28th is the date! I'll post more later!

April 28th is my cousin's wedding in Houston :-(

I'd do a Philly meetup in the spring. Maybe Darryl could come up from Atlanta. I think he's got family or friends there.

Oooh! A BookCrossing catch by an Anonymous Finder. Hooray!

Another Bookcrossing book caught!

Nice!

I just realized that I had never even put my pictures from this event onto my computer. While doing that, I figured I might as well post a few of my favourites here, even though they're almost identical to Madeline's ;)




Such a guilty expression!




Sherman Alexie

Cute pictures, Zoe!

That picture of me pointing to the coffee cup was proof that we had been at Au Bon Pain for brunch because we all forgot to take an "official" picture there. :)

ETA: Too bad we didn't have pictures of the cupcakes. :(

I missed cupcakes?

We bought those at Au Bon Pain! You left too soon... :(