Calling All Librarians: Express Your Creativity in our New Display Contest
|
 As we get hyped up about the 10th Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival— and visits from some of the world’s best authors — we’re excited to introduce a new contest in which librarians and media specialists have a chance to win two tickets to our private, VIP author reception.
All you have to do is create an awesome library display promoting the Gaithersburg Book Festival, send us a picture, and then encourage your friends and family to vote for your library on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Full contest details can be found on our website.
|
|
The Long and Diverse List of
2019 Featured Authors
|
It seems like every day we have yet another great author join our line-up for the 2019 Festival. Here's a look at the latest:
~ Children's and Middle Grade ~
 Diana Harmon Asher is the mother of three grown sons, all of whom were cross country runners. Their ups and downs on the trails inspired her to write her debut novel, "Sidetracked." Diana graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English, and lives with her husband and their dog and cat in Westchester, N.Y. Her next book will move from running trails to the middle school musical stage. It will be published by Abrams in Fall 2020.
 Jessica Day George is The New York Times best-selling author of the Rose Legacy series, Tuesdays at the Castle series, the Twelve Dancing Princesses series and the Dragon Slippers trilogy. Originally from Idaho, she studied at Brigham Young University and worked as a librarian and bookseller before turning to writing full-time. She now lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and their three young children.
 Russell Ginns is a writer and game designer who specializes in puzzles, songs and smart fun. He has worked on projects for a wide variety of organizations, corporations and publications, including Sesame Workshop, Girl Scouts of America, Nintendo and Scientific American. Russell lives and writes in Washington, D.C. He is the author of "Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans" and "Samantha Spinner and the Spectacular Specs."
 Patti Kim was born in Busan, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States on Christmas Day 1974. Convinced at age five that she was a writer, she scribbled gibberish all over the pages of her mother’s Korean-English dictionary and got in big trouble for it. But that didn’t stop her from writing. She earned an M.F.A. at the University of Maryland and went on to author "A Cab Called Reliable," "Here I Am" and "I'm OK." Her books are targeted for young adults, tweens and early readers. Currently working on a middle grade companion novel to "I'm OK," Patti lives with her husband, two daughters and a ferocious terrier in University Park, Md.
 Paul Noth is a writer and artist whose cartoons appear regularly in The New Yorker and occasionally in other publications, including The Wall Street Journal. He was a regular guest writer for "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," for which he created the cartoon "Pale Force," and was an animation consultant for "Saturday Night Live." He has also written for CBS's "The Late Late Show" and other television programs. His latest book is "How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth."
 Ellen Oh is co-founder and president of We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) and author of the YA fantasy trilogy, the Prophecy series and the middle-grade novel, "The Spirit Hunters." She was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Notable People of 2014. Oh resides in Bethesda, Md., with her husband and three children.
 Zachariah OHora is the illustrator of The New York Times best-seller "Wolfie the Bunny," among many other beloved books for kids. The many accolades his books have earned include the Society of Illustrators Founders Award and Best Book of the Year honors from The Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, The New York Public Library and The Boston Globe. His book, "The Not So Quiet Library," hit shelves in 2016, and his latest book "Niblet & Ralph," described as parent trap for cats, was featured on "The Today Show." His latest book is "Bikes for Sale." He lives and works in Narberth, Pa., with his wife, two sons, two cats and a dog named Waffles.
 Barbara Carroll Roberts is a graduate of Hamline University's Writing for Children and Young Adults M.F.A. program. She played competitive sports in high school and always wished there had been books in her library about athletic girls. That desire — and the realization that there still aren't many books about girls who truly love sports — inspired her to write her first novel, "Nikki on the Line." She lives outside of Washington, D.C., with her family and their many pets.
 Gary D. Schmidt is the best-selling author of "Orbiting Jupiter," the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor book "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy," and the Newbery Honor book "The Wednesday Wars." His most recent works include the novel "Pay Attention, Carter Jones" and "So Tall Within," a picture book biography of Sojourner Truth illustrated by Daniel Minter. Gary is a professor of English at Calvin College.
 Eliot Schrefer is The New York Times best-selling author of "Endangered" and "Threatened," both finalists for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. His novels have also been named “Editor’s Choice” in The New York Times, best of the year by NPR, and have won the Green Earth Book Award and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award. He lives in New York City, where he is also on the faculty of Fairleigh-Dickinson University’s M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
 Ronald L. Smith is the award-winning author of the middle grade novels, "Black Panther: The Young Prince" and "The Mesmerist," a supernatural Victorian fantasy. His first novel, "Hoodoo," won the 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award, as well as the 2016 ILA Award for Intermediate Fiction. His latest is "The Owls Have Come To Take Us Away," a Junior Library Guild Selection, which features 12-year-old Simon, and his obsession with aliens and UFOs.
~ Teen/Young Adult ~
 Dhonielle Clayton is the co-author of the "Tiny Pretty Things" series, The New York Times best-seller "The Belles" and its sequel "The Everlasting Rose." She grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and spent most of her time under her grandmother's table with a stack of books. A former teacher and middle school librarian, Dhonielle is co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative development company whipping up decidedly diverse books for a wide array of readers, and COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She's got a serious travel bug and loves spending time outside of the USA, but makes her home in New York City, where she can most likely be found hunting for the best slice of pizza.
 Amy Ewing is the author of The New York Times best-selling Lone City Trilogy and the Cerulean series. She grew up in a small town outside Boston, where her librarian mother instilled a deep love of reading at a young age. Amy earned a B.F.A. in Theater from New York University, working a series of odd jobs before the lack of creativity in her life drove her to begin writing. Amy received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Children from The New School, where her first book, "The Jewel," began as a thesis project. She lives in New York City.
 Monica Hesse made her young adult fiction debut with "Girl in the Blue Coat," which was named an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2016 and won the Edgar Award for mystery writing. In 2017, she further established her writing career with "American Fire," published for the adult non-fiction audience. With "The War Outside," a timely and important look into a terrible part of America’s past, Hesse uses her expert research acumen to prove she is on the literary scene to stay.
 Lizzy Mason grew up in Northern Virginia before moving to New York City for college and, later, a career in publishing. When not reading or writing, Lizzy loves to travel; she has visited 40 states and 11 countries. She has a bad habit of reading while walking and of taking too many pictures of her cat, Moxie, sometimes in hats. She lives with her husband in an apartment full of books in Queens, N.Y. "The Art of Losing" is her first novel.
~ Non-Fiction ~
 Jonathan Eig is the author of five books, three of them New York Times best-sellers. His most recent book, "Ali: A Life," won the PEN/ESPN Award for best sports book of 2018. Jonathan is a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal. His books have been published in 13 languages. Jonathan has appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" and in two Ken Burns documentaries. He is currently working with Burns and Florentine Films on a Muhammad Ali documentary. His next book will be a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 Ida E. Jones, Ph.D., is the archivist at Morgan State University. She is a published author and book reviewer. Her research interests are African American biography, Christian/church denominational and organizational history. Ida is an avid fan of documentary films and historical fiction. Her work seeks to provide a platform for historic voices to speak and encourage ordinary people to action. Ida is a native New Englander. She came to Washington, D.C., to attend Howard University, where she graduated with a B.A. in News Editorial Journalism and a Ph.D. in  American History.
Claudia Kousoulas worked as a planner in Montgomery County for more than 20 years and lived in the county for 30 years. She is also a freelance writer and editor whose work covers architecture, urbanism, design, cooking and culinary history.
Ellen Letourneau lives and works in the Agricultural Reserve, where she is an event planner, weaver and baker.
Katherine Reynolds Lewis is an award-winning journalist based in the Washington, D.C., area, who  regularly writes for The Atlantic, Fortune, USA Today’s magazines, The Washington Post and Working Mother. Her story about school discipline was Mother Jones' most-read article ever. She is a certified parent educator with the Parent Encouragement Program in Kensington, Md.
 Abby Maslin is a writer and a D.C. public school teacher. She currently serves as a regular contributor to the website Brainline.org and has been published in The Washington Post. Through her speaking and activism, she is passionate about bringing awareness to the challenges of traumatic brain injury and caregiving. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and children. "Love You Hard" is her first book.
 Joy Thomas Moore is a Peabody Award winner and president and CEO of JWS Media Consulting. Prior to starting her consulting business full time, she worked for 15 years with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, located in Baltimore, Md. Before joining the Foundation in 1992, Joy was a television freelance writer and field producer for local and nationally syndicated programs in the New York City area. Earlier in her career, Joy served in a variety of editorial positions at WMAL-AM radio, the ABC-owned and operated station in Washington, D.C. She has three grown children — including best-selling author, Wes Moore — and two grandchildren and she resides in Pasadena, Md.
 David Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has been affiliated with The Washington Post for more than 40 years. He is the author of 11 books, including the critically acclaimed best-sellers "When Pride Still Mattered," "First in His Class," "They Marched into Sunlight," "Clemente," "Once in a Great City," "Barack Obama: The Story" and "Rome 1960." He is a visiting distinguished professor at Vanderbilt University and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Madison, Wisc., with his wife, Linda.
 Randon Billings Noble is an essayist. Her full-length essay collection "Be with Me Always" was published by the University of Nebraska Press in March 2019 and her lyric essay chapbook "Devotional" was published by Red Bird in 2017. Individual essays have appeared in the Modern Love column of The New York Times, The Massachusetts Review, Brevity, Fourth Genre, Creative Nonfiction and elsewhere. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she is the founding editor of the literary magazine After the Art.
 Keith O’Brien is a best-selling author and award-winning journalist. His stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine and on National Public Radio shows, such as "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition" and "This American Life." His latest book, "Fly Girls," was named one of The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2018. Keith lives in New Hampshire with his wife and children.
 S. Michael Scadron is a retired senior trial counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice with a background in civil rights and tort law. Since his retirement in 2006, he has turned to writing. An avid runner and hiker, Michael was struck with a neurological condition that rendered him quadriplegic at age 52. The story of his illness and struggle toward recovery is the foundation of his recent memoir, "Two Mountains: Kilimanjaro to Quadriplegic and Back." He currently lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife, Terri.
 Rob Scheer is the founder of Comfort Cases, a charity whose mission is to inspire communities to bring dignity and hope to the nearly 438,000 youth in foster care in the United States. He lives with his husband and children in Maryland. His book is "A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time."
 Julian Voloj was born in Germany to Colombian parents. He's the author of a number of graphic novels, including the critically acclaimed "Ghetto Brother," which told the story of a historic gang truce that paved the way for hip-hop, and "The Artist Behind Superman: The Joe Shuster Story," which has been translated into six languages. He lives with his wife and two sons in New York City.
~ Fiction ~
 Sarah Blake is the author of the novels, "Grange House," and the internationally best-selling "The Postmistress;" a chapbook of poems, "Full Turn;" and "Runaway Girls," an artist book in collaboration with the artist, Robin Kahn. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, the poet Joshua Weiner, and their two sons.
 Sarahlyn Bruck writes contemporary women’s fiction and lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter. She is the author of "Designer You," her debut novel. Her short fiction can be found in publications such as Flash Me Magazine, Daily Flash Anthology and Boston Literary Magazine. When she’s not writing, Sarahlyn teaches composition, creative writing and literature at Bucks County Community College, and serves as a book coach for Author Accelerator.
 Angie Kim moved as a pre-teen from Seoul, South Korea, to the suburbs of Baltimore. She attended Stanford University and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, then practiced as a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly. Her stories have won the Glamour Essay Contest and the Wabash Prize in Fiction, and appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Salon, Slate, The Southern Review, Sycamore Review, The Asian American Literary Review and PANK. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and three sons.
 Julie Langsdorf is the recipient of four individual artist awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and her short stories have appeared in several literary magazines. "White Elephant" is her first novel. Julie lives, writes and teaches yoga in Washington, D.C.
Melissa Scholes Young is the author of the novel  "Flood," which won the Literary Fiction Category for the 2017 Best Book Award from American Book Fest. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Narrative, Ploughshares, Poet Lore and Poets & Writers. She’s a contributing editor for Fiction Writers Review and editor of "Grace in Darkness: D.C. Women Writers." Scholes Young was named a Bread Loaf Camargo Fellow and a Quarry Farm Fellow at the Center for Mark Twain Studies. She is an associate professor in the Department of Literature at American University in Washington, D.C.
 Christopher Tilghman is the author of two short-story collections, "In a Father’s Place" and "The Way People Run," and three previous novels, "The Right-Hand Shore," "Mason’s Retreat" and "Roads of the Heart." He is a professor of English at the University of Virginia and lives with his wife, the novelist Caroline Preston, in Charlottesville, Va., and in Centreville, Md.
 Jenni L. Walsh worked for a decade enticing readers as an award-winning advertising copywriter before becoming an author. Her passion lies in transporting readers to another world, be it in historical or contemporary settings. She is a proud graduate of Villanova University, and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, daughter, son and furbabies. During the Festival, she'll be talking about both her adult fiction novel "Side by Side," as well as her Scholastic non-fiction children's series, "She Dared: Malala Yousafzai."
~ Mystery ~
 E.A. Aymar’s most recent novel is "The Unrepentant." He has a monthly column in the Washington Independent Review of Books. He also serves on the national board of the International Thriller Writers and is the managing editor of The Thrill Begins, ITW’s online resource for aspiring and debut thriller writers. He runs the Noir at the Bar series for Washington, D.C., and has hosted and spoken at a variety of crime fiction, writing and publishing events nationwide. He was born in Panama and now lives and writes in the DC/MD/VA triangle.
 Andrea Bartz is a journalist and essayist, as well as the author of "The Lost Night." Previously, she was a senior editor at Glamour, Fit Pregnancy, Psychology Today and other magazines. She grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee and graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Journalism, and in 2010, she co-authored the blog and book, "Stuff Hipsters Hate." Andrea lives in Brooklyn. Her second novel, "The Herd," will be published in 2020.
 Rick Campbell attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and spent more than 30 years in the Navy. Retiring as a Navy Commander, his tours of duty include four nuclear powered submarines, the Pentagon and the Undersea Weapons Program Office. On his last tour, he was one of the two men whose permission was required to launch the submarine’s nuclear warhead-tipped missiles. Campbell is the author of "The Trident Deception," "Empire Rising," "Ice Station Nautilus" and "Blackmail." He lives with his family in the greater Washington, D.C., area.
 John Copenhaver is the author of the historical crime novel "Dodging and Burning." He writes a crime fiction review column for Lambda Literary called “Blacklight” and is the five-time recipient of Artist Fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He is a Lambda Fellow, a Larry Neal awardee and has completed residencies at VCCA, VSC and Ragdale. His work has appeared in CrimeReads, Electric Lit, Glitterwolf, PANK, Washington Independent Review of Books, New York Journal of Books and others. He chairs the 7-12 grade English at Flint Hill School and lives in Washington, D.C., with his husband.
 Jeffery Deaver is an international best-selling author, whose books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. He is the author of 40 novels, three collections of short stories and a non-fiction law book. He also is a lyricist of a country-western album. He’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards. "The Bodies Left Behind" was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller "The Broken Window" and a stand-alone, "Edge", were also nominated for that prize. He’s been nominated for eight Edgar Awards. His book "A Maiden’s Grave" was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel "The Bone Collector" was a feature release from Universal Pictures starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. NBC Television is currently filming a pilot of a TV show called Lincoln based on Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme. He has served two terms as president of Mystery Writers of America.
 Julie Maloney is a poet and writer and the founder/director of Women Reading Aloud, a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of women writers. Since 2003, she has guided women writers throughout the U.S. and across the Atlantic through writing workshops, retreats and special literary events in the U.S. and Europe. Her debut novel, “A Matter of Chance,” published in April 2018 and was selected by US WEEKLY Magazine as a trending book.
 Tj O’Connor is the author of "The Consultant" and four mysteries. He is a security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism—life experiences that drive his novels. As a former government agent, combined with years as a consultant, Tj has lived and worked around the world. "The Consultant" is a Gold Medal Winner from the Military Writers Society of America. Tj has also received the 2015 Gold Medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY) for mysteries and has been a finalist for the 2015 Silver Falchion Award and the 2014 Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Mystery Book of the Year.
 Matthew Quirk is the best-selling author of "The 500," "Dead Man Switch," "Cold Barrel Zero" and "The Directive." He spent five years at The Atlantic reporting on crime, private military contractors, terrorism prosecutions and international gangs, and still uses his reporting and sources to inform his fiction writing. He lives in San Diego.
 Tom Rosenstiel — a novelist, journalist and media critic — is one of the nation's most recognized thinkers on the future of media. He is author of seven non-fiction books, including "The Elements of Journalism," translated into 25 languages. "The Good Lie," a political thriller from Ecco, was published in February 2019. His debut novel, "Shining City" (2017), about Supreme Court nomination battle, was an NPR Book of the Year. Tom is executive director of the American Press Institute, and was a co-founder and for 16 years a director at the Pew Research Center. He is a non-resident senior fellow at Brookings.
~ Poetry ~
 Dan Brady is the author of the poetry collection "Strange Children" and two chapbooks, “Cabin Fever / Fossil Record” and “Leroy Sequences.” He is the poetry editor of Barrelhouse and lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife and two kids. Previously, Dan served as the editor of American Poets, the journal of the Academy of American Poets, and worked in the Literature Division at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he received a Distinguished Service Award for work on the Big Read, the largest community reading initiative in U.S. history.
 Alan King is a Caribbean-American whose parents emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to the U.S. in the 1970s. He’s a husband, father and communications professional who blogs about art and social issues. Alan is the author of "Point Blank" and "Drift." A Cave Canem graduate fellow, he’s a recipient of a Michael J. Clark Award from Little Patuxent Review and holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Program. Alan lives with his family in Bowie, Md.
|
|
|
|
10th Annual Gaithersburg Book
Festival
____
Saturday
May 18, 2019
____
On the Grounds of
City Hall in
Olde Towne Gaithersburg, Md.
|
|
Poetry Contest:
Deadline February 21
|
If you're a high school student in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., who loves to write poetry, the deadline for submitting your favorite work to the Festival's first-ever poetry contest is fast approaching.
Full rules and guidelines can be found here.
|
|
Exhibitor and Vendor Applications
Due March 25
|
Whether you’re an author, poet, publisher, literary non-profit, rock star food vendor or have a business that relates to reading or the book industry… the Gaithersburg Book Festival provides you with a great opportunity to connect with book lovers.
As an exhibitor or vendor, you’ll have your own space for the day where you can meet and interact with thousands of attendees and showcase your work, literary-related wares, services, programs and delicious dishes
~ Apply Early & Save ~
The application deadline is March 25, 2019.
All applications postmarked or delivered after that date must include a $25 late fee; late applications that do not include the fee will not be accepted.
Applications received after April 17, 2019 will not be considered.
|
|
Writers - Learn from Agents, Editors and Publishing Pros
|
|
The Gaithersburg Book Festival thanks the organizations
that have recently pledged
their support of our
10th annual event.
~ Partners ~
Dawson's Market
Montgomery County
Public Libraries
Montgomery County
Public Schools
Washington Independent
Review of Books
~ Festival Sponsors ~
Montgomery Community Media
~ Presenting Sponsor ~
Holy Cross
Germantown Hospital
~ Festival Friend ~
Bob & Judy Murphy
Sponsoring the Gaithersburg Book Festival is a great way to show your company's support of the community and the arts, while gaining visibility with our attendees, who are among the region’s best-read and most well-educated individuals.
We offer sponsorships to fit a variety of budgets, or we can tailor a sponsorship plan to fit your needs.
Visit our website for more information and to see sponsorship options.
call 240-805-1635.
|
|
~ Partners ~
~ Festival Sponsors ~
|
|
Share the GBF News with your friends, family and book club members so they can see what we're planning for 2019! Simply click the "Send to a Friend" button at the top of the newsletter to pass along this issue.
To become a regular GBF News subscriber, visit the Festival website and click "Join Our Mailing List."
Subscriber contact information will be used solely for the newsletter and will not be shared or sold to other parties.
|
|
Want to be one of the first to know about the latest news from the Gaithersburg Book Festival and our featured authors?
|
|
|
