Washington ? Surrounded by a roomful of distinguished authors and devoted readers, first lady Laura Bush took a rare turn in the spotlight Friday to kick off a celebration of the power of books to transform, transport, enrich, entertain and even console.

“There is nothing more vital than the life of the imagination and the accumulation of knowledge and experience that comes through reading,” Mrs. Bush told a black-tie audience gathered in a Library of Congress auditorium for an evening of reading and dining ahead of the second National Book Festival.

Today’s daylong event on the grounds of the Capitol, sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by Mrs. Bush, is modeled after similar festivals she arranged while first lady of Texas. Since President Bush took office last year, Mrs. Bush, a former teacher and public school librarian, also has led three White House symposiums on American literature, showcasing the works of Mark Twain, the writers of the Harlem Renaissance and female authors of the West.

The evening placed Mrs. Bush in an unusual role: as the marquee speaker on stage getting all the hoots of praise while her husband watched silently and largely unnoticed from the front row.

Even an event dedicated to a love of books could not shake the current preoccupation of official Washington much of which was present at the Friday night gala. Talk of the terrorist attacks, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq kept creeping in.

A small knot of protesters shouting “No War for Oil” greeted the motorcade that carried the Bushes to the Library of Congress.

“A Perfect Storm” author Sebastian Junger, picked as one of three readers to entertain the crowd before dinner, selected an essay from his new book, “Fire,” on the liberation of Afghan capital of Kabul from the rule of the Taliban militia.

“What happens out there matters here,” Junger told the audience. “The chaos in the rest of the world will come back to bite us.”

Mrs. Bush invoked books as a source of solace.

“Since last Sept. 11, we have needed the added comfort of good books to read, and family to read with,” she said.

The topic is a favorite one of the first lady’s, earning her an introduction from Librarian of Congress James Billington as “a lover of literature, an evangelist of reading.”

Today, Mrs. Bush is formally opening the festival in an East Room ceremony. Her special guest and fellow speaker was to be Lyudmila Putin, the wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin.