"I am having a great time! This is as good as it gets!" These were the opening words from Robert Newlen, the acting Librarian of Congress, to a packed ballroom of book lovers who had lined up for hours for the first main stage headliner of the 25th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, September 6.

Newlen had just presented Geraldine Brooks with the 2025 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Now, he was about to introduce a conversation between Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett—appointed to her high court post by President Trump, who fired Newlen's boss and has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to replace Newlen as well—and festival co-chair David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist booted from the Kennedy Center board of trustees when Trump named himself chair of that board.

About a mile away, thousands of protesters, outraged by Trump's surging armed National Guards into the District, ostensibly to quell crime in the nation's capital but actually to round up immigrants for potential deportation, were holding a rally calling for an end to "the occupation." And traffic was snarled not only by the rally but also by the DC State Fair at the northern end of DC, and the DC Bike Ride Day route that snaked 20 miles through the city and forced numerous street closures.

What could go wrong? Evidently, nothing much. LOC spokesman Brett Zongker tells PW, "We can estimate we had tens of thousands of attendees. It was another very successful festival for the 25th year."

A capacity crowd of 2,200 festival-goers swarmed to hear Barrett talk about her book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution (Sentinel), share her life story, and describe life on the high court. Barrett was relaxed and unflappable, although two hecklers shouted at her and were immediately escorted out of the convention center by security guards. Barrett later observed that a justice must "be willing to be unpopular." She added, "I just tune it out and try to do the right thing anyway."

Deborah Salerno and Barry Ryder, who traveled to the fest from very "blue" Ann Arbor, Mich., had Barrett's talk checked on their program list because, Ryder said, "I like to keep an open mind." The couple also headed to hear actor Geena Davis share her debut picture book, The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page (Philomel), followed later in the day by a talk from author Fiona Davis on her latest work of historical fiction, The Stolen Queen (Dutton).

LOC literary director Clay Smith told PW that the festival this year would be highlighting more genre fiction. That strategy drew in readers such as Amy Maki, from Richmond, Va., who plotted her path to hear V.E. Schwab (Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil) and Nnedi Okorafor (Death of the Author) discuss their speculative fiction, as well as romance novelist Kennedy Ryan (Can't Get Enough) in conversation with Alexis Daria (Along Came Amor). But to hear them, she would have to reach the hall early because by the time of their midmorning conversation, the 1,000-seat room had overflowed.

The biggest draws of the festival were quite possibly Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking mid-afternoon about her new novel, Dream Count, and a 6 p.m. talk by John Green, the popular YA novelist turned non-fiction writer, for his latest book, Everything is Tuberculosis. Both filled the main stage room beyond capacity, so many who had hoped to attend were shut out.

Children's authors and programming to promote reading were, as always, major attractions at the festival. Authors including Mac Barnett, the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Kwame Alexander, Katherine Applegate, Jerry Craft, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Ransom Riggs were just a few of those onstage at the NBF.

Northern Virginia public school teachers Jessica Devoti and Brian Cafferky shepherded their two sons and friends to the cavernous book sales area to glean titles by favorite authors. Devoti, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the slogan "Protect Public Education," bought something for her sixth-grade classroom with two new-to-her-school students in mind —Fresh Start by Gale Galligan (Graphix), a graphic novelist who shared the NBF stage with J.E. Thomas (The AI Incident).

Military occupation? Nowhere in sight. Militant politics? Not much. If asked their views on the president's pressure on the LOC, people sighed. But Saturday morning, when Newlen mentioned Carla Hayden, who served 10 years as Librarian of Congress until she was summarily terminated in May, the audience applause was loud and long. And the Library of Congress was always mentioned with pride.