As if my own encouragement to attend the 9th annual National Book Festival on the Mall were not enough, Washingtonian also recommends the event.

The magazine lists several headliners:

novelists John Grisham, John Irving, and Jodi Picoult; children and tween favorites Sharon Creech, Judy Blume, Jeff Kinney, and Jon Scieszka (currently the Library of Congress’s national ambassador for young people’s literature); nonfiction authors Ken Burns, Gwen Ifill, and Jon Meacham. Others to look for include Paula Deen, Lois Lowry, Jerry Pinkney, David Shannon, Sue Monk Kidd, Douglas Brinkley, and more.

James Patterson, author of the Washington-centric Alex Cross thrillers, will pull double duty in the mysteries-and-thrillers and teens-and-children pavilions. The District serves as the backdrop for many of George Pelecanos’s crime novels as well—look for him in mysteries and thrillers.

A “star-studded lineup” indeed!