“Talk, talk, talk,” you say.  “That’s all Matt does is talk to the 2008 National Book Festival Authors.  But when will we, the readers and fans of those authors, get a chance to ask the questions?!”

Well, you can come in person, of course, to the National Book Festival on Sept. 27, 2008, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the National Mall in DC.  But if you just can’t wait that long, our longtime charter sponsor, The Washington Post, has begun to schedule online chats with National Book Festival authors.

The first three have been scheduled, and are as follows:

Bob Schieffer (CBS newsman and author), Monday, 9/15 at 2 p.m. EDT

Arthur and Pauline Frommer (noted travel writers), Tuesday, 9/16 at 10 a.m. EDT

And Alexander McCall Smith, (prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction), Friday, 9/19 at 11 a.m. EDT

You can follow the links above and start submitting your questions now, or anytime up to and even during the chats.  We expect to be able to announce at least a couple more in the days leading up to Sept. 27.

(By the way, two years ago we did about six author podcasts. In 2007 we doubled that. This year, I expect we’ll get pretty close to, if not more than, 20! To subscribe in iTunes, go here.)

Carol Highsmith reports in with images from last night at the convention in St. Paul:

Former Sen. Bob Dole chats with the North Carolina delegation

Gov. Sarah Palin takes the stage

The delegates react

Sen. John McCain joins the Palin family on stage

(Pictures from Denver can be found here and here.)

Carol Highsmith sent some images from yesterday’s final day of convention festivities in Denver:

In case you missed it, Wednesday is here.

As the Gulf Coast holds its collective breath in preparation for Tropical Storm Gustav, it does so with an eerie sense of deja vu: It was exactly three years ago today that Hurricane Katrina made its devastating landfall.

The Digital Reference Team at the Library of Congress has updated the Today in History page for Aug. 29 in acknowledgment of that anniversary. The page includes many compelling historical resources about New Orleans, the Gulf states, hurricanes and related topics.

And it begins with haunting personal recollections from Storycorps (an oral-history project that is archived in the Library’s American Folklife Center):

I don’t b’lieve that was no dream. And you know what? It’s gon’ linger with us, it’s gon’ be with us, until the rest of my life i’ gone, y’know, it gonna linger, it gonna be there with me.

(Thanks, Colleen!)

UPDATE: The Preservation Directorate has launched a new Web page, “Learning From Katrina,” which deals with preservation issues in the wake of disasters. The page is here.

UPDATE 2: The Geography and Map Division has updated its “Places in the News” page with an Atlantic hurricane tracking chart.