It’s two days from now, September 26. Do you know where John Irving is?

The answer, naturally, is the National Book Festival, the literary-themed event that spreads across the National Mall each fall. Though Laura Bush founded the event back in 2001, the festival continues, with appearances scheduled this year with everyone from John Grisham to Jodi Picoult.

The author selection tends to be a mix of well-known writers, nostalgia-inducing teen and childrens’ authors, and celebrities who have happened to write a book recently. This year is no exception. Among the slated attendees: teen writers Lois Lowry and Judy Blume; frequent young fantasy collaborators Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (The Spiderwick Chronicles); popular paperback authors Nicholas Sparks, David Baldacci and James Patterson; documentary filmmaker Ken Burns; locally-grown George Pelecanos; butter apologist Paula Deen; poet laureate Kay Ryan; Junot Diaz of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao fame; and tons more. Here’s the full list.

Authors usually give a brief talk and also do book signings (not necessarily at the same time). Popular authors can command quite a line for the latter, though the lack of Neil Gaiman’s presence this year might thin out the goth-tastic crowd a bit. There’s also some fun activities for kids, and you can always get your picture taken with the PBS sloth Snook (yeah, I didn’t know he existed either) or the Magic School Bus. Books by the featured authors are on sale at the event as well.