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15 captivating portraits of the women behind books you love

The authors of ‘The Baby-sitters Club,’ ‘The Incendiaries’ and other books gathered at the National Book Festival

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September 5, 2019 at 4:03 p.m. EDT

At the annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., thousands of book lovers and more than 100 authors descend to share a love of literature, nonfiction and poetry.

This year, we teamed up with photographer Jesse Dittmar to take these portraits of women we admire in the world of books.

They are debut novelists, illustrators, young adult authors, writers of children’s books and Pulitzer Prize nominees.

Susan Choi, author of ‘Trust Exercise’

Angie Kim, author of ‘Miracle Creek’

Madeline Miller, author of ‘Circe’

Gale Galligan, illustrator of ‘The Baby-sitters Club’ graphic novel series

R.O. Kwon, author of ‘The Incendiaries’

Laila Lalami, author of ‘The Other Americans’

Renée Watson, author of ‘Some Places More Than Others’

Lydia Millet, author of ‘Fight No More’

Reyna Grande, author of ‘The Distance Between Us’

Ann M. Martin, author of ‘The Baby-sitters Club’ series

Mitali Perkins, author of ‘Forward Me Back to You’

Aminatta Forna, author of ‘Happiness’

Rebecca Makkai, author of ‘The Great Believers’

Sigrid Nunez, author of ‘The Friend’

Gale Galligan and Ann M. Martin of ‘The Baby-sitters Club’ series