Durham, N.C. - The 2006 North Carolina Festival of the Book's final schedule of 80 writers includes Tom Wolfe, Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, Pat Conroy and Pearl Cleage.

The festival, which is divided into 40 separate programs, takes place Monday, April 24, through Sunday, April 30, at Duke University and other venues in Durham. The majority of events will take place at Duke on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30.

"I'm thrilled that we at Duke can play host to such an exciting event," said Cynthia Brodhead, honorary chair of the festival. "North Carolina is home to a great community of readers, and the festival will bring a fabulous assortment of writers to that audience. There is truly something for everyone."

Instead of simply having writers read their work, the N.C. Festival of the Book will offer writers in conversation with each other, "in groupings that will inspire great performances," said festival director Aaron Greenwald.

The festival will feature solo talks by novelist and essayist Barbara Kingsolver, who will speak on social justice, and writer Tom Wolfe, who will address "What is Southern today?"

Some participants are scheduled to appear with long-time confidants, such as cartoonist and author Doug Marlette and novelist Pat Conroy. Others will make their private conversations public, such as Nashville residents Tony Earley, author of the novel "Jim the Boy," and Alice Randall, who wrote the "The Wind Done Gone." And some, like novelists Lewis Nordan and Olympia Vernon, will be meeting for the first time onstage.

Greenwald said he hopes the pairings of authors will give festival-goers a sense of who the writers are as well as an opportunity to hear writers discussing issues that concern them.

"I learned, for example, that Alice Randall and Tony Earley had been having a fascinating conversation about race, limited to cocktail parties, for years," he said. "I thought that it would be exciting to have them continue that conversation on stage at the festival. They are going to talk about race, but specifically as it pertains to the twin topics of NASCAR and football."

Other conversations include:

-- Fiction writers Allan Gurganus and Ann Patchett, on the relationship between teacher and student;

-- Novelist Kaye Gibbons and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, on the creative process;

-- Novelist, playwright, poet, essayist and columnist Pearl Cleage and novelist Tayari Jones on mentoring young writers;

-- Novelist Daniel Wallace and Will Blythe, author of "To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry," on North Carolina basketball;

-- Humorist Roy Blount Jr. and poet James Seay, on fishing and friendship;

-- Writer and Duke professor Reynolds Price and chef and food writer Bill Smith on Southern food.

Thirty-three of the events will take place on the Duke campus, including a Saturday session during which National Basketball Association stars will read to children.

Events during the first three days of the festival will take place off-campus in Durham, including:

-- On Monday, April 24, local artists Dasan Ahuna, shirlette ammons, Kim Arrington, Jaki Shelton Green and the hip-hop group Language Arts will offer a series of spoken word pieces about home performed in styles ranging from poetry to hip-hop, at the Durham Arts Council's PSI Theatre, 120 Morris St.

-- On Tuesday, April 25, the 1962 film "To Kill a Mockingbird" will be shown at the Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan St. The film will be preceded by a conversation with novelist Randall Kenan and civil rights attorney Alvin Chambliss.

-- On Wednesday, April 26, poet Quincy Troupe, jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon and poet and scholar TJ Anderson III will present a program on jazz poems at North Carolina Central University's B.N. Duke Auditorium.

Launched in 1998 as the North Carolina Literary Festival, the gathering is a collaboration of the libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke. North CarolinaCentralUniversity is a new partner this year.

All events are free and open to the public. Parking at Duke will cost $5. For a full list of participants and schedule, go to the festival website.