The First International Summit of the Book Begins in a Couple of Hours at Library of Congress of Congress

The First International Summit of the Book is scheduled to begin in a few hours (2 pm EST) at the Library of Congress.

The two-day event will NOT be streamed live but will be live-tweeted using the hashtag #booksummit.

Speakers for the two-day event will include David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chief executive of the Carlyle Group and a major supporter of literacy initiatives at the Library of Congress; Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, who was instrumental in conceiving the summit; Ismail Serageldin, director of the Library of Alexandria and director of the World Digital Library Executive Council; Rep. Elizabeth Eisenstein, historian of early printing; Caroline Brazier, director of The British Library; Anton Likhomanov, director general of the National Library of Russia; Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, director of the National Library of Spain; Ramón Mujica Pinilla, director of the Biblioteca Nacional del Peru; and John Kgwale Tsebe, national librarian of the National Library of South Africa.

Also appearing will be rare-book experts Michael Suarez of the University of Virginia and Mark Dimunation and Daniel DeSimone of the Library of Congress; Marie Arana, an author, writer-at-large for the Washington Post and senior consultant to the Librarian of Congress; Tom Allen, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers; James Shapiro, vice president of the Authors Guild; Nan Talese, senior vice president and publisher at Doubleday; Geoff Kloske, president and publisher at Riverhead/Penguin books; Karen Lotz, president and publisher at Candlewick Press; and Niko Pfund, president and publisher at Oxford University Press.

You can review the complete schedule here.

Note: The “National Library Perspectives on the Past, Present and Future of the Book” panel is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m today.

Moderator: Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian, University of Oxford
Commentator: John Van Oudenaren, Director, World Digital Library
Caroline Brazier, Director of Scholarship and Collections, The British Library
Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, Director, National Library of Spain
Ramón Mujica Pinilla, Director, National Library of Peru
Anton Likhomanov, Director General, National Library of Russia
John Kgwale Tsebe, National Librarian of South Africa