The 2011 National Book Festival, which is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, will take place on the National Mall in Washington, September 24-25.  President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are honorary chairs for the festival.  Participants will include authors, poets & illustrators, plus three new genre pavilions:  State Poets Laureate, The Cutting Edge & Graphic Novels.  
    There will be performances for all ages at the Family Storytelling Stage, plus special bookend events leading up to the festival. More than 100 authors will participate, including David McCullough, Russell Banks, Dave Eggers, Terry McMillan, Pulitzer Prize-winners Siddhartha Mukherjee and Jennifer Egan, Garrison Keillor, Amy Chua & Toni Morrison.

Visit www.loc.gov/bookfest/

    The Newseum will present Charles Gibson, Ari Fleischer, Victoria Clarke and Jim Miklaszewski in a Special Program: 9/11: Ten Years Later on Wednesday, September 7 in the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater.  The program will look back at the events of 9/11 and examine the impact of the terrorist attacks on life in America today.  Charles Gibson, who was formerly the anchor of ABC's flagship broadcast World News, will moderate the program. He was the host of ABC's Good Morning America on the morning of September 11 and began the network's coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 
    Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, was traveling with President George W. Bush on September 11. Victoria Clarke was formerly the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs and was the Pentagon spokesperson that day. Jim Miklaszewski, Chief Pentagon Correspondent for NBC News, was the first at the scene to report that the Pentagon had been attacked. The participants will share their unique perspectives and will discuss the state of the nation today.

Visit www.newseum.com/programs/2011/0907-special-program/9-11-ten-years-later.html

    The International Spy Museum will present a Spy School Workshop titled Surveillance 101 with Eric O’Neill on Friday, September 9.  Mr. O’Neill, as a young operative in the FBI, was assigned to spy on his boss, Robert Hanssen, when the latter was under suspicion of working for Russia.  O’Neill will share his expertise and knowledge of FBI survellance.  Participants in a small group of eight will be introduced to surveillance FBI-style and will learn the basics by conducting surveillance in the streets of DC. 

   The International Spy Museum will present Dinner with a Spy: An Evening with Jonna and Tony Mendez on Wednesday, September 14.  Called “the ultimate covert couple,” the two were formerly CIA chiefs of disguise, and will “share their stories of how they used their artistry to enable intelligence officers and agents around the world to slip away from surveillance, clandestinely infiltrate and exfiltrate denied areas, hide top secret information, and pass stolen secrets.”  
    They were career employees of the CIA’s Office of Technical Service and evaded the KGB, Stasi, and DGI.  Tony Mendez will discuss his most famous exploit, The Canadian Caper, which will be the topic of a movie starring George Clooney and Ben Affleck. The movie is set for release in 2012.  The evening will accommodate only 20 guests, who will enjoy a three-course dinner and wine-pairing at Zola and can talk with the Mendezes about their careers and hear their thoughts on today’s intelligence issues.

Visit www.spymuseum.org/Dinner_Spy_Mendez

    The National Building Museum will present a lecture by Greg Lindsay about his book titled Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next on Tuesday, September 27.  Aerotropolis refers to a new urban form in which airports are placed in the center with cities growing around them, connecting workers, suppliers, executives, and goods to the global marketplace. Mr. Lindsay will discuss “how and where we choose to live in an interconnected world.”  He will sign copies of his book after the lecture.

Visit http://go.nbm.org/site/Calendar/624579780?view=Detail&id=111163