[ Music ]
>> Sponsored by the
James Madison Council.
>> Carla Hayden: Good evening.
Marguerite de Angeli's book
Bright April had a huge impact
on me as a child.
When I checked it out
from the public library,
it was the first time
I saw myself in a book.
It started my journey to open
the world of books to everyone.
Good evening.
I'm Librarian of
Congress Carla Hayden,
and welcome to the 2021 Library
of Congress National
Book Festival opening
night celebration.
It's wonderful to
see so many of you
who are joining us live
tonight from across the nation.
We wish we could
do this in person,
but as the nation
continues to grapple
with the COVID-19 pandemic, we
want to continue to be safe.
We have a great event
for you tonight.
The talented writer,
actor, literacy advocate,
and quiz master, LeVar Burton,
will be joining us shortly
for a conversation, so please
get your questions ready
for him.
Also, we have a very
special guest tonight.
The theme for this year's
book festival is Open a Book,
Open the World, and we have
an amazing lineup of more
than 100 diverse authors
for this 10-day festival.
There's an author for everyone:
children, teens, and adults.
We have Michael J. Fox,
Chang-rae Lee, Isabel Wilkerson,
Jason Reynolds, Bill Gates,
Diane von Furstenberg,
Trisha Yearwood, and many more.
Also this year, the festival
is on multiple platforms,
so starting today, you
can create your own
festival experience.
You can watch live virtual
events like this one,
watch videos on demand,
listen to podcasts from NPR,
attend a ticketed
in-person event,
and watch the special PBS
broadcast Open a Book,
Open the World.
Here's a preview.
>> LeVar Burton: Hi, everybody.
I'm LeVar Burton, and this is
Open a Book, Open the World,
the Library of Congress
National Book Festival.
>> Kazuo Ishiguro: When I try
and create a work of fiction,
one of my big aims is to
create an entire world.
>> Sarah Pearse: And I think
that kind of fictional world
and how we see characters
express their thoughts
and feelings, that for me
is opening up the world.
>> Isabel Wilkerson: I believe
that narrative non-fiction
is the closest that many
of us will ever get to
being another person.
>> Viet Thanh Nguyen: And
that sense of empathy is good
for anybody, but it's also
particularly important, I think,
for writers because that's one
of our most important tools
is the capacity for empathy.
>> Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I
think there's many places
that I've met for the very
first time through a book.
>> Christopher Paolini: For me,
books were a way of learning
about the world and
experiencing things I had never
experienced before.
>> Roxane Gay: Books have always
just shown me just how big
and how small the world is.
>> LeVar Burton: A good book
can take you on a journey,
and after the last year, we are
all ready to plot a new course,
and books can be
an amazing compass.
>> Bill Gates: An addiction
to reading has been a
key secret of my success.
>> Yaa Gyasi: It was literature
that opened up so many pathways,
so many possibilities for me.
>> I read books so I
could discover new worlds
in those books.
>> Michael J. Fox: I had books
that I didn't even think of,
like this room I didn't think I
had books in, but I had like 50,
60 books in this room.
>> Diane von Furstenberg:
It's enlarging your horizon.
Books are everything.
>> Vashti Harrison: It gives me
more of a complex understanding
of humanity, which I think
is the power of stories,
that we're able to see
ourselves in all manner
of different character.
>> Chang-rae Lee: And that
I think is what I enjoy
from a great book.
>> LeVar Burton: Join me as some
of our nation's leading
literary voices bring us a sense
of renewal, discuss
their newest work,
and open up a whole new
world of possibilities.
[ Music ]
>> Carla Hayden: To start
your book festival journey,
visit the Library of Congress
website at loc.gov/bookfest.
None of this would be possible
without the generous
support from our donors.
We couldn't do this
festival without them:
our festival co-chair
David M. Rubenstein,
the James Madison Council, The
Washington Post, the Institute
of Museum and Library Services,
National Endowment for the Arts,
National Endowment for
the Humanities, NPR,
The New Republic, Capital
Group, Joseph and Lynn Deutsch,
the Library of Congress
Federal Credit Union,
and Tim and Diane Naughton.
We appreciate all of you.
Now please welcome the co-chair
of the National Book Festival,
Mr. David M. Rubenstein, who
will be announcing the winners
of the 2021 Literacy Awards and
introduce a very special guest.
David?
>> David M. Rubenstein:
Thank you, Dr. Hayden.
It is a pleasure to join
you and our virtual audience
from around the nation.
It is my honor to serve
once again as co-chair
of the National Book Festival.
The festival is not only
a celebration of books
and reading, but also
of literacy itself.
Life in these demanding times
can be very difficult for those
who have never learned to read.
Here at the Library of Congress,
it is an important part
of our mission to
combat illiteracy
and promote a culture
of reading.
Since 2013, I have
supported the Library
of Congress Literacy Awards
to honor the outstanding work
in the field of literacy
and to inspire organizations
to continue working
for this noble cause.
The awards recognize the need
for the international community
to unite in achieving
universal literacy.
Here are the top winners
of the 2021 Library
of Congress Literacy Awards.
The winner of the 2021
International Prize is The
Luminos Fund of Boston,
Massachusetts.
The Luminos Fund provides
transformative education
programs to thousands of
out-of-school children,
helping them to catch
up to grade level,
reintegrate into local schools,
and prepare for lifelong
learning.
The winner of the 2021
American Prize is the Parents
as Teachers National Center
of St. Louis, Missouri.
Parents as Teachers build strong
communities, thriving families,
and children who are healthy,
safe, and ready to learn
by matching parents
and caregivers
with trained professionals
who make regular personal home
visits during a child's earliest
years in life from prenatal
through kindergarten.
And finally, the top prize, the
2021 David M. Rubenstein Prize,
goes to Dolly Parton's
Imagination Library
of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
The Imagination Library
is an initiative
of the Dollywood Foundation
founded by Dolly Parton in 1988.
Imagination Library is
dedicated to improving the lives
of children through inspiring
a love of reading by providing,
free of charge, books
to families
through local community
partnerships.
In 2018, Dolly Parton was here
at the Library of Congress
to dedicate the 100 millionth
book from Imagination Library
to the LOC collection.
To date, Dolly's library
has given away more
than 165 million books
worldwide, so it is my honor
to welcome global superstar,
songwriter, and philanthropist,
the one and only, Dolly Parton.
>> Dolly Parton: Hey, everyone.
This is Dolly, and I am so
honored to accept the Library
of Congress Literacy Awards
David M. Rubenstein Prize
that has been awarded to
my Imagination Library.
Isn't that great?
They say that great
minds think alike.
Well, I guess great
libraries think alike as well.
Seriously, though, this
award means a lot to me
because I started this
program in honor of my daddy
who never learned
to read and write,
and I know that he is smiling
from above on this one.
We've really dreamed
big, and I am so happy
that the Imagination Library has
inspired millions of families
to read together and help lay
the foundation for success
in schools and beyond,
but we're not done yet.
So with our team and over
2,000 community partners
in five countries who
have helped us gift more
than 170 million books
to children and families,
I am thrilled to share
this wonderful award.
You keep reading, and keep
dreaming, and remember
that I will always love you.
>> Carla Hayden:
Thank you, Dolly.
We love you too for your
support of literacy and reading.
It's such an inspiration,
and congratulations
to all three 2021 Library of
Congress Literacy Award winners
and the 14 Best Practice
honorees.
You can get more information
about the awards by
visiting loc.gov.
Now, before I introduce
our special guest tonight,
we have an announcement for you.
For the past two years, you
know we have missed an in-person
National Book Festival,
so I'm excited to announce
that we have scheduled a date
for the 2022 National
Book Festival back
at the Washington
Convention Center here in DC.
It will be Labor
Day weekend 2022.
We're excited to see
your smiling faces again,
and if you don't live in
the DC area, don't worry.
We will continue to make this
a virtual festival so everyone
across the country can
enjoy this literary event.
We can't wait to see you
both in person and online,
so mark your calendar,
Labor Day weekend 2022.
Now to our special guest.
He has been part of
our lives for decades.
We read with him on Reading
Rainbow; watched him in Roots,
one of the most viewed
miniseries of all time;
explored the galaxy with him in
Star Trek: The Next Generation;
and more recently watched him
host America's favorite quiz
show, Jeopardy.
And now he's the host
of the National Book Festival
PBS special Open a World,
Open the Book.
In fact, it's Open a
Book, Open the World.
So joining us from Los Angeles,
please welcome the
multitalented Mr. LeVar Burton.
>> LeVar Burton: Good
afternoon, Dr. Hayden.
>> Carla Hayden: How are you?
>> LeVar Burton: Indeed
well, indeed well.
>> Carla Hayden: And
thank you so much.
>> LeVar Burton: Thank you.
>> Carla Hayden: But
with our theme --
>> LeVar Burton: Open
a Book, Open the World?
>> Carla Hayden:
Yes, Open a Book.
I got so excited I twisted it up
because for me you could imagine
and you with your -- what book?
I have to start by asking you,
was there a particular book
that opened the world to you?
>> LeVar Burton: You know,
Dr. Hayden, when I was a kid,
the book I read that really
delivered the experience
of reading to me was Captains
Courageous, Rudyard Kipling,
and I remember upon finishing
the book, I closed it,
and I was met with this
profound sense of sadness.
I didn't recognize it then.
I do now as a minor
depression, and I was depressed
because I was leaving the world
that I had become so attached to
and characters that I
had really grown close
to in a very short
period of time.
So, today, when I'm reading
a particularly good piece
of fiction, I consciously slow
down the last chapter or two
to sort of forestall that
inevitable sense of sadness
that will descend and take hold
when the tale is particularly
engrossing and engaging.
>> Carla Hayden: You
are a true reader.
We can see some of
the books behind you.
What started you on this path
of loving reading and being
such a person who
just gets into books
and the whole world of reading?
>> LeVar Burton: My identity
as a reader, Dr. Hayden,
was forged by my mother, Erma
Gene Christian, E-R-M-A G-E-N-E.
Whenever I have the opportunity
to speak my mother's
name in public, I do.
I consider that I
am the man that I am
because she was the
woman that she was.
My mom was an English
teacher by profession.
Her second career was in social
work, and I grew up in a house
where reading was --
how do you say it?
-- mandatory.
I like to say that
in Erma Gene's house,
you either read a book, or you
got hit in the head with one,
but you were going
to have an experience
with the written word.
>> Carla Hayden: Wow, and so
was that part of you becoming
such a advocate for
literacy from Reading Rainbow
to your own book club now?
You were really on
the forefront.
>> LeVar Burton: My
mother not only read to us
when we were kids --
I have two sisters --
she read in front of us.
And so it was that
all important modeling
that really cemented
the behavior.
I grew up knowing that
reading was as essential
to the human being
as breathing, right?
>> Carla Hayden: Wow.
>> LeVar Burton: And so it
really has, in large measures,
shaped my life and my career.
Roots, based on the
Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel.
Star Trek, those
allegorical scripts
that Gene Roddenberry wrote
on the original series,
and that tradition continued
with the Next Generation.
They say in my business
it all begins on the page.
If it ain't on the page, it
ain't on the stage, right?
So literature and the written
word are critically important
to what I do, to storytelling
and the way I do
what it is I do.
>> Carla Hayden: And so as a
librarian, I have to ask too
about the role of
libraries because you had
to feed all that
love of reading.
So did libraries play any part?
>> LeVar Burton: Absolutely.
I grew up in Sacramento,
California.
We call it River City.
And during the summers, I
grew up in South Sacramento,
which didn't have its
own branch library.
It does now.
But the bookmobile
was the lifeline
for me during those summers
when I was a kid
growing up in Sac-Town.
The arrival of the bookmobile
in the neighborhood was cause
for celebration; at least
in my household it was.
I spent an awful lot of
time during the summers
on my bed reading,
AM radio tuned
to San Francisco Giants baseball
games, and just disappearing
into worlds that I
could not imagine.
It was -- I miss those
days tremendously
when I had infinite
amount of time
to read simply for pleasure.
>> Carla Hayden: So
the bookmobile was sort
of like the ice cream truck
when you could tell
it was coming, huh?
>> LeVar Burton: As good as the
ice cream truck, in my opinion.
>> Carla Hayden: As good as.
It was feeding you with things.
>> LeVar Burton: As good as.
>> Carla Hayden: Now, you still
-- I mentioned your book club.
You have a book club where
you select the books,
I've been told.
>> LeVar Burton: I do.
I select everything we read
in the LeVar Burton
Book Club on Fable.
I handpick.
We began this journey back
in May with Go Tell it
on the Mountain by
James Baldwin.
Our second selection was Parable
of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
I'm a huge fan of
speculative fiction.
She is the beginning and
the end of canon for me.
We followed that up, but
we went back to Baldwin
with The fire This Time, a
volume of essays and poems
that were edited by
the great Jesmyn Ward.
And we just announced
this week we are
on Deacon King Kong,
James McBride.
>> Carla Hayden: Oh.
>> LeVar Burton: That's
our fourth selection
in the LeVar Burton Book Club.
You can join us at
fable.co/levar.
That's how you find me.
I've never had a
book club before,
but this company has
developed a technology
that gives me a presence in the
virtual world right there along
with the readers in the club,
and I'm having a great time,
so come on over and
join us, fable.co/levar.
>> Carla Hayden: Now,
you mentioned Baldwin,
James Baldwin, twice, so I take
it you're a pretty big James
Baldwin fan.
>> LeVar Burton: I am indeed.
He is the alpha and the omega
where letters are concerned.
The man was not only
a brilliant writer.
He was a brilliant thinker,
and when Baldwin wrote those
many years ago, decades now,
it is astonishing to me that
he was speaking directly to me.
At least that's how it
feels when I read them.
Speaks directly to me about
the world in which I live
in this now moment, and so to
have a voice that is as clear
and as prophetic as
is his that is couched
in such beautiful lyrical prose,
his thoughts and ideas continue
to inspire me and
millions around the world.
He really is singular
in my view.
He occupies a place in the
pantheon that is all his own.
>> Carla Hayden: And you
mentioned one of my favorites,
Octavia Butler, and what
is so different in one way,
but also very compelling.
>> LeVar Burton: From her own
particular area of interest
and expertise, speculative
fiction, imagining the future,
she too has been eerily
prescient in her predictions
about the world that
we live in right now.
And I think that is, in fact,
part of the glory of literature
and having a relationship
with the written word,
to be able to enhance our own
understanding and reflections
of our world in addition
to stimulating
and exercising our
imagination muscle.
I think that the imagination is
the superpower of human beings,
and it is through our
engagement with literature,
mostly fictional literature,
that we really exercise
that imagination muscle.
I say one of the reasons
that I continue to read
to the generation of adults now
who grew up on Reading Rainbow
through my book club and my
podcast LeVar Burton Reads,
I feel a responsibility to help
this next generation develop
their imaginations
because the problems
that my generation is
leaving them are myriad,
and I think chief among the
tools that they will rely upon
to solve these very complex
problems going forward is
their imagination.
And so a healthy relationship
with an imaginary world,
with our imaginative
selves, I think is critical
to the human being,
to the successful human
being, in any case.
>> Carla Hayden: Now,
with your podcast --
>> LeVar Burton: I
think it's important --
It is impossible really to
really reach your full potential
in life unless you are literate
in at least one language
because if you can read, right,
then you have the opportunity
to be a learner for life,
and that's what we try to do
on Reading Rainbow, take a child
who could read, and turn them
into a reader for life.
That's where the opportunity
to become a lifelong learner
really exists in that realm
of being a reader,
identifying --
self-identifying -- as a reader.
>> Carla Hayden: Now, back
to the podcast, though.
With your podcast, you
select short stories, so --
>> LeVar Burton: Yes, ma'am.
>> Carla Hayden: -- what's
the strategy with that?
>> LeVar Burton:
What's the deal there?
>> Carla Hayden: Yeah.
>> LeVar Burton: I have a
lot of help with the podcasts
and finding the right story.
It is a podcast that
features short fiction,
so in every episode I
read a different piece
of short fiction
that I've handpicked.
There is a process
that we go through --
my producers Julia
Marie Smith --
I say in every episode
[inaudible] best
in the business, and we
have a research assistant,
LaKeisha Lewis [phonetic].
They source the stories, and
they give the first pass.
They read them first -- those
that they feel are candidates --
they funnel to me,
and I read them
and make the final
determination.
>> Carla Hayden: I know
you're a true reader,
but how do you find the time?
I know, during this past year,
books probably meant a lot
to you during the pandemic.
You read a lot.
>> LeVar Burton:
Absolutely, yeah.
Well, it's a habit, right?
Right now, most of my --
In fact, for the last
several years, we're in --
I'm recording -- I've
begun recording episodes
for the 10th season
of LeVar Burton Reads.
We have over 100 episodes of
content, of short stories.
And I introduce the book and the
author, and then read the story,
and then I do a little
postscript at the end,
talk a bit about what
or how the author
or the author's story
impacted me.
I love it.
Reading aloud is one of my
favorite ways of storytelling,
taking an author's words
and interpreting
them for an audience.
I just -- I love it.
Doing all the voices
and, you know,
playing the different
characters,
it really is joyful
noise for me.
>> Carla Hayden: Now, you also
mentioned in terms of Roots,
and that's a book that was
made into another medium.
Do you find that that's
a difficult thing to do,
or do you enjoy seeing books
being made into films or?
>> LeVar Burton: I enjoy
it when they're done well.
They're not always done
well, those adaptations,
but when they're done right,
I believe that they really
can enhance the audience's
appreciation of the story
and storytelling in general.
I think Roots was incredibly
well done, both the original
and the revisiting of
the story, and I was --
One of the executive producers
on the retelling of Roots
because I felt it important
to keep this story alive
in American culture, the
original miniseries aired back
in 1977, 45 years ago, and
so there's a whole generation
of Americans who had
not seen the original,
who I believe really do
need to have that as a part
of their understanding of what
it means to be an American.
>> Carla Hayden: And so when
that transition from book
to film is not successful,
what would you say,
or how would you characterize
failure in that sense?
>> LeVar Burton:
Failure is a failure,
but failure can also be
a very powerful teacher
and really informative.
You know, I've seen some
adaptations, and I think, well,
that was just a bad
idea from the beginning,
and I don't know why
they didn't see that.
But then again, you
know, books and movies,
like most things objective,
are a matter of taste,
and so not everyone feels the
same way about everything,
and that's the beauty
of living in a world
of infinite variety like we do.
>> Carla Hayden: So did books
and reading help you during
this past year and a half?
>> LeVar Burton: They did
tremendously, Dr. Hayden.
At the beginning of the
pandemic, I made a decision,
a choice, to try and contribute
to the moment by reading
over the internet, and so I
did -- for a couple of months,
I did three sessions a week.
On Monday mornings, I would
read books to children.
On Wednesday afternoons,
I read YA selections,
mostly from my friend,
Jason Reynolds.
And on Friday nights,
I read to adults.
I read short stories to
adults, and so that's just --
In a time when, you know, we
were locked down and at home,
it felt like something that
I could do to contribute
to the moment that we were
all sharing in common.
>> Carla Hayden: I had to
give a little shout-out
to Jason Reynolds
because he's the Library
of Congress's Ambassador for
Young People's Literature,
and he's been so active just
like you during this time,
so that partnership with you two
I'm sure was very, very strong.
And there are so many
[inaudible] who that --
>> LeVar Burton: That
man is one of my heroes.
>> Carla Hayden: -- yes, he --
who also found books comforting
and provided context
for a lot of the issues,
just general issues
that were going on.
Did that -- did you go to
Baldwin for some of that?
>> LeVar Burton: Baldwin was a
real balm certainly during the
protests and demonstrations for
peace and justice in America.
Baldwin, he spoke directly about
this moment, and it is amazing
to me that some of the dynamics
that Baldwin wrote about
and spoke about so
eloquently are unchanged,
virtually unchanged, all
of these years later.
And it really is indicative
of the need and necessity
for America to finally
turn and face ourselves,
face the real story, not
the fictionalized version
of who we are as a nation,
but just tell the truth
about who we are and how we
got here so that, you know,
we might be able to look one
another in the eye from a place
of honesty, and only
then, I believe,
is reconciliation a
possibility for this nation.
We have to be honest about
who we are as a nation,
the choices that we've made
to get to where we are.
You got to take the good
and the bad together,
and when we do that, I believe
that we will be much better off
and much stronger as a nation
when we can own up to all
of our history, not
just the history
that makes us feel
good about ourselves.
>> Carla Hayden: And
another author you selected
for your book club, James
McBride, weaves history
and fiction, and his
musical background comes in.
>> LeVar Burton: Yeah, the
man is so remarkably talented,
it makes me want to slap him.
He's that good at
so many things.
I think that -- My introduction
to James McBride was
through The Color of
Water, which is sort
of an auto-biographical look
at his life, and the thing
that really jumps out to me
about James's writing is
the deep sense of humanity
that he infuses all of his
characters with in the stories
that he writes, and that
humanity springs directly
from him.
He is one of the most
present empathetic,
compassionate people
I've ever met,
and those qualities just rip
off the page of his novel.
>> Carla Hayden: And you have
inspired so many young people
with Reading Rainbow, and
you mentioned that earlier.
Want message would you say --
would you give to them now?
>> LeVar Burton: Well, to
the generation of adults now
who grew up on the show,
I'm still there as a part
of your lives, introducing
you to new authors
through either the book club or
the podcast, and still engaged
in a relationship with you
around good books
and new authors.
And to succeeding generations,
I think the song said it all.
Butterfly in the sky,
you can go twice as high.
Take a look.
It's in a book, a
reading rainbow.
The idea that you can pick
up a book and travel anywhere
in the universe or beyond
in your imagination is a pretty
powerful statement to make.
>> Carla Hayden: And before
we open it up to the audience,
I just like to ask you
[inaudible] another message you
might want to give because
there's been a lot of talk
about Jeopardy lately, and I
just wondered if you would just
like to tell -- use this
opportunity to tell your fans
and thank them for the
support that they've shown you.
>> LeVar Burton:
Thank you, Dr. Hayden.
I really appreciate that.
Yeah, I have been
overwhelmed by the support
from the people,
from folks out there.
They saw that I put
myself out there.
I wanted the gig.
I said that I wanted the
gig, and I went for it.
It didn't work out that
way, but, you know,
when one door closes, they
say another one opens,
or a window at least
becomes ajar.
So opportunities
that are in front
of me right now would never
have been possible had I gotten
that job.
I do believe -- I'm
one of those people
that believe everything happens
for a reason, in its own time
and timing, and oftentimes
it's the fullness of time
that reveals, you know,
the true purpose for events
as they unfold in our lives,
and I just try and be patient
and wait for that which
is to be to reveal itself.
And in this case, I didn't
have to wait very long.
I'm really excited
about the opportunities
that we're looking at right now.
>> Carla Hayden: Well, I'm
sure we're all excited too,
and we want to know as soon
as you could let us
know what's going on.
>> LeVar Burton: I
will keep you posted.
>> Carla Hayden: We
have -- Keep us posted.
Now we have some
questions coming in,
and I want to just start
with the question from John,
and John wants to know --
and this I think I want to hear
your answer about this too --
when reading a new book
that you are unsure about,
how much do you read before
deciding you can't continue?
>> LeVar Burton: You know, it's
funny because we live in a world
where it is possible
to get plenty
of information before you
open the book and start
with Chapter 1, so it is --
I can't remember the last
book I began that didn't come
to my attention as a
recommendation from somebody
who I know and trust or
something that I've read
about the book or the author
that peaked my interest,
so it's been very few times.
I think I've only ever
started one novel in my life
and not finished it,
and that was way back
in the day when I was in school.
Norman Mailer's Armies
of the Night, I just,
for some reason,
couldn't get into it.
You know what?
I should actually probably give
that book another opportunity
and see if I don't
feel differently
about it all of these
years later.
>> Carla Hayden: Like brussel
sprouts, give it another shot.
>> LeVar Burton: Yeah.
>> Carla Hayden: -- with
cheese because they're
such -- [inaudible] yeah.
>> LeVar Burton: He was
a celebrated author.
It's just at the time,
it just didn't --
it didn't seem to have
anything to offer me,
and that's the other
thing about books.
There is a gift in every
book, in every novel,
and there is something that
we take away that is a gift
from the story, from the author,
and I look forward to those,
you know, those gifts,
those gems,
those presents, in my life.
>> Carla Hayden: Yes,
because there's book guilt
that so many of us grew up with.
You have to finish it.
So we have a question --
>> LeVar Burton: Yeah.
>> Carla Hayden: -- now from
Melinda, who wants to know
and she says I love that
you also use your talents
as a narrator.
And can you tell us either
about your experience narrating
or your personal
experience with audio books?
They're very popular.
>> LeVar Burton: It's
a great question.
Personally, I love
audio literature,
and for me if I've
listened to a book,
I really do consider
that I've read it.
The thing about audio literature
and me is, like I said,
that opportunity to really
perform a story using the clues
that the author gives
in the text is just fun
to connect those dots and from
a few phrases of description,
create a character
or set a scene,
bring the correct
emotional note to the moment.
And we live in a society
where we are multitasking.
We're doing several
things at the same time.
Reading a book forces me to
stop and be completely present,
but I find that I can
still enjoy a story
when it's being told to me, and
who doesn't like being read to?
I spend a lot of time
reading to folks.
I am no different.
I like to be read to as well.
>> Carla Hayden: And audio
books give you a lot of freedom
to do those other things,
but still hear the story.
>> LeVar Burton:
Still be engaged
in the story, that's right.
>> Carla Hayden: Now, our
question from Michelle
that relates to where
I am right now says
when you visited the
Library of Congress
for your Reading
Rainbow episode,
you got to see some pretty
cool behind-the-scenes places,
so do you have any fond
memories of that day?
>> LeVar Burton: I do indeed.
The maps room, seeing ancient
documents that, you know,
that delivered information
that shaped the decisions
that people made.
Maps are really incredible
documents and full of stories,
and it was just really exciting
to be able to be that close
to documents that were so
rare that they're only pulled
out on special occasions, and
you have to wear, you know,
special gloves in
order to handle them.
In fact, I didn't touch anything
on the day, but it was just --
it was thrilling to just be
that close to documents that old
that were as important
as they were
in the moments of
their creation.
I mean, they were
really critical to,
as I say, things that happened.
Historical moments were
based on those maps.
Kind of crazy.
>> Carla Hayden: And you were
looking at the real thing.
That's why the gloves.
>> LeVar Burton: The real thing.
>> Carla Hayden: Now, there's
the question from Beatrice.
LeVar, you have had a huge
impact on my love of reading.
Just wondering, what's
next for you in addition
to your new book club?
Anything on the horizon?
>> LeVar Burton: Yes, you know,
one of the ways I love being
a storyteller is as a director
of television and films, and
for the past several years,
I've been in the directing
rotation on a show called NCIS:
New Orleans, starring my
old friend Scott Bakula.
And that show was cancelled
last year, but the producing
and writing staff has moved over
to another CBS show called NCIS:
Hawai'i, and in about 15, 16
days time, I'll be heading
over there for my first
directing assignment
on this new season of NCIS, the
first season of NCIS Hawai'i.
>> Carla Hayden: Great
because John has a question.
He wants to know are there any
books you've read that you'd
like to see yourself playing
a character in a film version?
>> LeVar Burton: Wow.
Well, you know, I think like
everybody, when I read novels,
if there's room for it, I
certainly imagine myself
as the hero, as the protagonist,
but there are a couple.
There's a book by Walter Tevis
that I would really like to make
into a film, and
the lead role is one
that I think I would
really enjoy playing.
The role is that of an
artificial intelligence,
a very sophisticated AI, who is
actually in charge of the world
as it has survived
in this novel,
in the timeframe of this novel.
And when we meet this
character, he is in the process
of trying to end his existence.
The whys and the wherefores
I won't spoil for you,
but he's unsuccessful
in that attempt,
and the story becomes sort
of a love story, a triangle,
between this character
and two other characters.
Phenomenal story.
Walter Tevis, man who
wrote The Hustler,
and that film adaptation
starring Paul Newman,
Jackie Gleason, Rip Torn, one
of the best book adaptations
into a motion picture
that ever was made.
I think The Hustler and then the
follow-up, The Color of Money,
where Paul Newman played
the same character,
Fast Eddie Felson, both great,
great films from the
source material, a book.
>> Carla Hayden: Wow.
Now, I know people are going
to start looking at the movie
and the book, The Hustler.
They're going to do it
because of that recommendation
>> LeVar Burton: I hope so.
I hope so.
It's a phenomenal,
phenomenal ride.
Walter Tevis, he passed
on some years ago,
but he left behind a body of
work that is substantial and,
in my estimation, formidable.
Really enjoyed his
work an awful lot.
>> Carla Hayden: Well, Robert,
who is one of your biggest fans,
said I am one of so very many
people who grew up watching you
on Reading Rainbow
and being encouraged
to read from an early age.
What would you tell
me today at 42?
>> LeVar Burton: I hope
you're still reading, Robert,
and if you aren't, why not?
I think that, you know, so
many of us because we live
in such a fast-paced universe,
we feel like we don't have time
to read, that that's
something that we can sacrifice
when in fact I think
it's quite the opposite.
I think that time spent
in the imaginative space is
really critical to human beings
and our overall mental health.
That's one of the things
that I love about being
on the Fable platform.
This company and its
founder, Padmasree Warrior,
their research reveals that
reading at least, you know,
an hour a day or not even --
just spending some time in the
activity of reading is good
for our mental health, and,
boy, I think we could argue,
you know, some --
we could all step
up our mental health
game these days.
We are all under an
awful lot of stress,
and reading for pleasure, for
enjoyment, if you prioritize it,
if you make it a part of
your self-care routine,
you will derive the benefits
from that, you know, as I say,
relationships with the written
word and your imagination.
>> Carla Hayden: I really love
how you characterized reading
as part of self-care,
and that's something
that we should consider it as.
It's not a luxury or anything.
It's really taking care of
yourself to expand your mind.
>> LeVar Burton: It is for me.
>> Carla Hayden: From John --
>> LeVar Burton:
It's not optional.
Like I said.
It was never optional
in Erma Gene's house,
and it's not optional
in my house either.
You got to read.
I mean, I don't hit
folks with books,
but my threats are a
little more subtle.
You do need to read in this
house, you absolutely do.
>> Carla Hayden: And that's
how you encouraged your
own children?
>> LeVar Burton: The
cattle prod wasn't necessary
for Ward or for Mica.
They both love it.
I was able to read a lot to
Michaela when she was a kid.
We read Goodnight Moon
to her every night.
I read Harry Potter with her.
My wife's definitely read
Lemony Snicket with her.
We've watched Jeopardy
every night as a family,
and we had just so much
fun as she was growing up,
trying to guess the
answers to the questions.
And, you know, it's
amazing to have seen her go
from not knowing anything and
just guessing to actually,
you know, knowing the answers.
So they say that, you know --
I like to say that all
media is educational, right?
All TV is educational.
The question is what
are we teaching?
And for me, that show
really was a high mark of
and really reflected my love
of curiosity and information.
In fact -- I mean, for half
an hour every night, America,
everyone could agree
on the facts
as they were presented
on Jeopardy.
There was no arguing them.
There was no such thing
as alternative facts.
When you're talking about
the answers on Jeopardy,
they are truth, and
that truth is immutable.
So there's, I think,
at least for me,
there was a certain comfort
that came from watching
that show night after
night when Alex was alive.
>> Carla Hayden: And bringing
so many people together,
looking at the same
thing, and trying to --
>> LeVar Burton: Right.
>> Carla Hayden: -- answer the
questions was something too.
And so your friend, John, wants
to know have you ever read any
of the Star Trek novels
that feature Geordi La
Forge as a character?
>> LeVar Burton: I have not,
John, and I know there's a --
>> Carla Hayden: Maybe that's
who he wants you to be.
>> LeVar Burton: Well, that's
a character that I played
on the show, and I know there
are so many titles out there.
But I got to tell you,
John, there are episodes
of Next Generation
that I have not seen.
We shot 179 of them.
No matter -- depending upon how
you count, there are almost 100
that I haven't seen yet.
When we were making the show,
it was just impossible to keep
up with watching it, and
I just stopped trying,
knowing that for the rest of
my life, I'd be able to tune
in every day, practically,
somewhere on the dial
and catch an episode
of Star Trek,
so that's what I'm doing now.
I'm enjoying watching
them pop up.
I did a lot of directing on
Voyager and Deep Space Nine
and Enterprise, and when those
episodes pop up, you know,
they're -- was such an
amazing period in my life,
and the storytelling that
was done on those shows was
of a really high caliber.
And when you think about
it, for most of the time,
we started Next Generation,
and then we were
followed by Voyager.
And then there were two Star
Trek shows on simultaneously
for the next couple of decades
because then it was Voyager
and Deep Space Nine,
and then Deep Space Nine
and Enterprise were
on concurrently,
so in those periods were
26 episodes of seasons.
We shot 10 months of the
year, 12 to 14 hours a day,
five days a week for
10 months of the year.
That kind of -- it was a
factory, a high-quality factory
for storytelling, the like of
which we will never see again.
That was a pretty
phenomenal output
of really high-quality
storytelling that went
on on the Paramount
lot for years and years
under the direction of Rick
Berman, the executive producer.
>> Carla Hayden: Based on
books, which is something.
>> LeVar Burton: Yes, ma'am.
>> Carla Hayden: Now, LaVern,
more advice because she says my
family enjoyed you tremendously
on Reading Rainbow.
Please provide some tips
to encourage a child
who is not an avid reader.
>> LeVar Burton: Parents ask me
all the time how can I get my
child to read more?
And I generally ask
them two questions.
Number one, does your
child see you reading?
It is that very important
modeling
that I think really needs to
be a part of the equation,
part of the solution
to the problem
of getting our children
to read more.
The second question I
ask is what is your child
passionate about?
Because it's our passions that
drive our reading appetite.
I've said for years if your
child loves superheroes,
then buy your kid a comic book
because I don't care what the
gateway drug is to reading,
right, comic books are
legitimate storytelling.
So we need to go
and meet our kids
where they are before
we can take them
where we want them to go.
Discover what your child
is passionate about,
and then find reading material
on that subject or idea.
>> Carla Hayden: I'm so glad
that you endorsed allowing
young people to read comic books
as that gateway because that has
proven, in so many instances,
to be that hook and graphic
novels and everything,
so to be able to hear you
say use that is very good.
>> LeVar Burton: Comic books
had a really important part
of my childhood.
I'm an army brat, so we lived
overseas, and we were posted
to Germany when I was in the
third and the fourth grade,
every Saturday, we would go
around to the different
apartment blocks on base
and trade comic books because a
comic book you hadn't read was a
new comic book to you.
And, you know, this was
the 60s, and everything had
to be shipped over, right?
So we were behind in
terms of what was new
and happening in
popular culture.
All the television at that
time was in German, so I --
we ended up listening to
the radio for entertainment
and reading, and so my
childhood was full of books,
and comic books was
certainly a large,
large part of that for me.
>> Carla Hayden: Well, I'm
also pleased to hear you say
that because the Library of
Congress, as you probably know,
has the largest comic
book collection --
people might not realize
that -- in the country.
So we definitely want --
>> LeVar Burton: I think
that when I come --
my next visit, I want to take a
look at the comic book stacks.
I want to see what y'all got.
>> Carla Hayden: Good.
We have it.
>> LeVar Burton: Yeah, I
think that would be awesome.
>> Carla Hayden: We have it.
We have it.
>> LeVar Burton: That
would be awesome.
>> Carla Hayden: And
people are really interested
in the podcast too, Levar Burton
Reads, and Kay wants to know,
specifically now, how do you
choose which stories you feature
because there are
so many good ones?
You mentioned a funnel, but
how do you make that selection?
>> LeVar Burton: Kay, my
criteria is really simple.
When I get excited --
when I begin to get excited
about wanting to share
that story, wanting
to read it aloud,
when I begin imagining what
the characters sound like,
when I really begin to immerse
myself from the point of view
of performance in the story,
I know it's a pretty
good candidate.
That's always an
indicator for me.
When I get excited about
wanting to read it aloud,
that's a sure sign for me
that the story is a contender.
>> Carla Hayden: And
that's what you say, okay,
this is one I want to pick
because there are so many.
>> LeVar Burton: This is one
I want to pick, yeah, yeah.
>> Carla Hayden: Well, this
has been a very hard year,
and John sent in one
of our last questions,
and it really speaks to, I
think, what we all want to know.
What books have you found
to offer direction forward
and an uplifting mindset?
>> LeVar Burton: I'm
going to mention a couple.
When talking about favorite
literature for kids,
I always cite Amazing
Grace by Mary Hoffman.
I also love Derek
Munson's book Enemy Pie.
Those are two terrific
stories that have a lot
of value cover to cover.
We talked earlier about Jason
Reynolds for the YA set.
He's just brilliant.
He gets teenagers.
He hasn't forgotten what it
feels like to live in that skin.
He's brilliant.
I'm going to mention a book
The Road Less Traveled.
You mentioned something that
helped me along my journey.
This is non-fiction, but The
Road Less Traveled M. Scott
Peck, MD.
It was a book that I read
at a pivotal time in my life
when I was really looking
for answers about how
to be the most effective
human being I could be,
and I got an awful
lot from that book,
The Road Less Traveled
by Dr. M Scott Peck.
>> Carla Hayden: I'm definitely
getting it, so thank you LeVar
for your support of the
festival and, most importantly,
your devotion to
books and reading.
You've inspired us all, and we
love spending time with you,
and we look forward to seeing
you in Washington, DC soon.
We'll bring out the good silver,
all the comic books you want.
>> LeVar Burton: And, of
course, we look forward
to Labor Day weekend 2022
where we can gather --
>> Carla Hayden: Yes.
>> LeVar Burton: -- again
as well as virtually
and celebrate the great
literary tradition
that our nation is known for.
>> Carla Hayden: And on behalf
of the Library of Congress,
thank you for joining
us tonight.
The National Book Festival
is off and running,
so go to llc.gov/bookfest to
start your literary journey.
Have a great evening,
and take care.
>> LeVar Burton: Peace
and blessings, everybody.
[ Music ]