[Instrumental music]
>> Please welcome the 14th
librarian of Congress, 
Dr. Carla Hayden.
[Applause]
>> Carla Hayden:
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you and welcome to the
opening celebration of the 2023
Library of Congress National
Book Festival. Now we clap.
[Applause]
Because the theme of this year's
festival is,
"Everyone Has a Story,"
and this theme is
reflected in the year's
distinguished author lineup,
which reflects the diversity of
voices throughout our nation
and celebrates the storyteller
in us all. This is the National
Book Festival's 23rd year, and
it remains one of the
preeminent literary events in
the United States.
It's also central to the
library's mission to expand our
reach and connect with all
Americans.
The Library of Congress is here
to share its rich collections of
treasures, and we inspire and
energize the next generation of
thinkers, artists, students,
public service servants and more
to continue to tell the
American story and our
collective history. As the
largest library in the world, we
have the opportunity to
champion reading and literacy.
And this weekend we are
bringing together an acclaimed,
diverse group of authors and
illustrators to our
nation's capital to celebrate
books and the essential place
they have in our lives.
We do this for the benefit of
tens of thousands of book lovers
who come in person and those
who participate virtually.
Now, I suspect that all of you
are book lovers or you would not
be here tonight.
You know how just a single book
can change a life and how books
unlike unlock life's wonders
and how they teach us to live
and flourish.
And tonight, we're excited to
hear from five of our
distinguished National Book
Festival authors.
Those who write and illustrate
books change our lives in ways
both profound and everlasting.
And assembled in this
auditorium tonight is an
extraordinary gathering of
talent.
But before we begin, we have
many to thank.
First and foremost, the United
States Congress, the library's
chief benefactor
since it was established in
1800. No library in history has
enjoyed such long lasting and
generous support.
However, without private sector
support, there would not be a
National Book Festival.
And our most generous supporter
is festival co-chair Mr.
David N. Rubenstein.
[Applause]
I've often heard David speak of
his belief that books and
reading are keys to success in
life.
And as some of you may know, we
share a history at the Enoch
Pratt Free Library, which was
David's library growing up in
Baltimore, in which I had the
honor to lead for more than 20
years. David has never
forgotten the seminal role
libraries played in his life,
and he demonstrates this through
his support of the Library of
Congress.
And David, we continue to be
most grateful.
[Applause]
We're also so thankful to all
of our sponsors who make the
festival possible, including
our charter sponsors, the
Institute of Museum and Library
Services, The Washington Post,
our patron sponsors General
Motors, the James Madison
Council, the National Endowment
for the Arts and the National...
[Applause]
I think a lot of them are here
and the National Endowment 
for the Humanities.
[Applause]
Here, here too.
And so are our champion
sponsors, Costar Group and the
John W. Kluge Center.
[Applause]
And we have many friends and
media partners and exhibitors.
[Applause]
Now, the National Book Festival
is and has been one of the most
inspirational free events in
the nation's capital.
And it's only possible because
of you our sponsors.
And it does take a village to
put on a festival like this.
So I want to acknowledge the
more than 1000 volunteers, most
especially the Junior League of
Washington...
[Applause]
which has supported the
festival since 2003 with over
40,000 hours, the equivalent of
$2.4 million of time. Thank you.
[Applause]
And hundreds of volunteers from
the general public and of
course, the hard working
Library of Congress staff who
are key and vital to the
festival's success.
So please, thank you and join
me in that.
[Applause]
So now it's my honor to welcome
the chair of the library's James
Madison Council and the
co-chair of the 2023 National
Book Festival, Mr.
David M. Rubenstein.
[Applause]
>> David M. Rubenstein:
So thank you all for coming.
And thank you, Carla, for the
kind introduction.
And I should say as well that
Carla's mother is here.
Thank you very much for coming
from Baltimore.
[Applause]
So how many people here have
read at least five books 
in the last year?
Okay. How many people here have
read at least ten books in the
last year? How many people have
read at least 20 books?
How many people have read at
least 30 books in the last year?
Oh, wow. How many people have
really honestly read 50 books?
Anybody read 70 books in the
last year?
Okay, anybody read 100 books
last year? Okay. 
Well, congratulations.
[Applause]
Sadly, 44% of Americans did
not read a book last year.
44% of American adults did not
read a single book last year.
Now, that is not a good thing
for our country.
Our country is not the leading
country in the world in
literacy. In fact, we are 150th
in the world in literacy
percentages, 150th.
And why is that? Well, there's
lots of reasons for it, and we
can't describe them all now.
But it's a sad fact that we are
not very good in literacy.
People who can read choose
often not to read books, and
people, sadly, who can't read
can't do very much about it.
130 million adults in this
country cannot read a book to
their children.
One of the best ways to teach a
child how to read is to read to
the child yourself.
And that's how many children no
doubt many of you have learned
how to read books from your
parents reading to you.
But 130 million Americans
cannot do it.
21% of all adults in this
country are functionally
illiterate, 21%, which means
that they can't read past a
fourth grade level. So 21% of
Americans can't read essentially
at all. So what does this
really mean for our society?
Well, of course, it doesn't
help you get a job if you can't
read. And it turns out that
you're going to be very involved
in the criminal justice system
if you can't read. 85% of people
in the juvenile delinquency
system in this country are
functionally illiterate, which
means they can't read past the
fourth grade level. Two thirds
of the people in the federal
prison system are functionally
illiterate.
So obviously, if you are
functionally illiterate, you
probably resort to things that
aren't great things for our
society. And as a result, you
often wind up in the juvenile
delinquency system or in the
federal prison system.
So we have to do much more
about this.
And no book festival is
going to solve all these
problems. But the National Book
Festival is designed to make
people realize that we in
Washington, D.C., and
representing all of the country
believe that it's important to
have a festival where the
leading authors in the country
come to meet with children, to
autograph their books, to read
from their books, and to
explain the importance of
reading. Now, it's not called
the National Tweet Festival or
the National Memo Festival.
It's called the National Book
Festival.
Now, why is that? Because books
have a way of focusing the brain
in a way that a tweet honestly
doesn't
or maybe it's an X now.
I don't know. But whatever it
is, books have a way of focusing
the brain because you have to
spend time,
you have to really be
concentrating for quite some
time to read a book.
And that really helps the brain
evolve.
And really, our civilization
has evolved from reading not
just tweets but reading books.
And so what we're trying to do
with the National Book Festival
is to say to people, "Come here,
it's for free.
Come here and meet the great
authors and learn more about
books and bring your children
so they can see how important it
is to adults to have other
people read."
And also, we want people to
come here because we wan