Gaithersburg Book Festival: Schedule For Featured Presentations Announced

The schedule of featured speakers for the Gaithersburg Book Festival was announced Wednesday afternoon.

The Saturday, May 18, event will feature pairings of authors, panel discussions on hot topics in the book world and one-on-one conversations between authors and critics and industry insiders. 

“In the past, we’ve done a handful of author pairings – often at the authors’ requests to be on panels with their friends – and we found those were some of our most lively presentations,” Jud Ashman, festival founder and City Council Member, said in an announcement.

“This year, we thought we could enhance the experience for our attendees, as well as our featured authors, by offering more of these dynamic pairings, in addition to the single author presentations. The 2013 schedule is packed with fabulous authors and interesting topics that simply cannot be missed.”

Below is the full schedule of author presentations at the 2013 Gaithersburg Book Festival, including program titles, authors and the times at which they will appear (children/young adult programming is denoted in italics). 

10 a.m.–10:30 a.m.

• “The Ghosts of Montgomery County” – Karen Yaffe Lottes, Dorothy Pugh
• “King Peggy, An American Secretary with Royal Destiny” – Peggilene Bartels
• “The Life of Brigham Young” – John G. Turner
• “The Little Things that Matter in the Big Game” – Kathy and Patrick Boehlert
• Reflections of Life and Death – Yvette Neisser Moreno, Joseph Ross
• “Hands Around the Library” – Karen Leggett Abouraya

10:15 a.m.–11:05 a.m.

• Literary Biographies – Cory MacLaughlin, Elizabeth Winder
• “They Call Me a Hero” – Daniel Hernandez, Jr.
• “Melonhead & Lucy Rose” – Katy Kelly
• “My Summer of Pink and Green” – Lisa Greenwald

10:35 a.m.–11:05 a.m.

• Local Thrillers – Larry Matthews, Grady Smith
• Romance & Suspense – P.J. O’Dwyer
• A Simple Thing – Kathleen McCleary
• National Insecurity – Mel Goodman
• Civil War Era D.C. – Charles V. Mauro, John Muller
• “Pluto’s Secret: An Icy World’s Tale of Discovery” – Diane Kidd, Margaret A. Weitekamp 

11:15 a.m.–12:05 p.m.

• “What’s a Witch To Do?” – Jennifer Harlow
• New Voices in Fiction – Emily Jeanne Miller, Abigail Tarttelin
• Cultural Explorations – Vaddey Ratner, Manil Suri
• The Mommy Bloggers – Amber Dusick, Jill Smokler
• Baseball and Society – Tom Dunkel, Tom Oliphant
• “38 Nooses” – Scott Berg
• D.C. and Montgomery County History – Matt Dembicki, Garrett Peck
• Books Boys Love – Fred Bowen, Tommy Greenwald
• “Stripes of All Types” – Susan Stockdale
• Ghosts and Pirates – Mary Quattlebaum
• "The Raven Boys” – Maggie Stiefvater

12:15 p.m.–1:05 p.m.

• Book Maven Bethanne Patrick in Conversation with… Benjamin Percy
• Literary Fiction – Maryanne O’Hara, Frances de Pontes Peebles
• Novelists in Conversation – Jami Attenberg, Jennifer Close
• Psychological Rollercoasters – Susannah Cahalan, David Fitzpatrick, John Schwartz
• “Ike’s Bluff” – Evan Thomas
• Entering World War II – Lynne Olson
• Chocolate City in the ‘80s – Natalie Hopkinson, Dave Ungrady
• “Astronaut Academy” – Dave Roman
• Picture Book Fun – Mac Barnett, Jon Scieszka

1:15 p.m.–2:05 p.m.

• Mystery Master – Phillip Margolin
• Urban Fiction – Candice Dow, Kia Dupree
• Contemporary Fiction – Jane Green
• Triumph Over Adversity – Brian Boyle, Shelby Smoak
• Crossing WWII Battle Lines – Rachel S. Cox, Leslie Maitland
• “Capturing Camelot” – Kitty Kelley
• White House History – Paul Dickinson, Kathleen Kinsolving
• “Three Times Lucky” – Sheila Turnage
• “The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom” – Chris Healy
• Books Girls Love – Adele Griffin, Courtney Sheinmel 

2:15 p.m.–3:05 p.m.

• Thrillers on the Hill – Allison Leotta, Charles Robbins
• Book Maven Bethanne Patrick in Conversation with… Jon Methven
• Parallel Narratives in Fiction– Tara Conklin, Jeanine Cummins
• Miami Writes – Debra Dean, John Dufresne, Les Standiford
• I Want My MTV – Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman
• What’s in Our DNA? – Sam Kean
• “Comida Latina” Cooking Demo – Marcella Kriebel
• Double Feature: Twin Authors for Teens and Tweens – Julia DeVillers, Jennifer Roy
• Author & Illustrator – Christopher Myers
• Young Adult Fantasy – Ellen Oh, Jessica Spotswood

3:15 p.m.–4:05 p.m.

• “The Good Cop” – Brad Parks
• The World with a Twist – Jason Mott, Karen Thompson Walker
• Historical Fiction – Therese Anne Fowler, Caroline Leavitt
• Stand-Up Comedy Writers – John DeBellis, Sylvia Traymore Morrison
• “The Life of Sargent Shriver” – Mark Shriver
• “The Alchemists” – Neil Irwin
• Beautiful Washington, D.C. – Judy Colbert, Barbara Glickman
• The Stinky Cheese Man (and more) – John Scieszka
• Songwriting and Success – The Voice’s Erin Willet

4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

• Washington Post Book World Fiction Editor Ron Charles in Conversation with… Adam Mansbach
• “The Boy from Reactor 4” – Orest Stelmach
• Poetry in the Afternoon – Sarah Arvio, Sally Keith, Eric Pankey
• Humor on the Interwebs – Phil Edwards, Lauren Leto, Sarah Schmelling
• “The Life of William Rehnquist” – John Jenkins
• Industry Panel: Independent Bookselling – Bradley Graham, Mitch Kaplan, Chris Kerr, Lissa Muscatine
• “Pati’s Mexican Table” Cooking Demo – Pati Jinich
• An Hour with the Legendary Children’s Author – Walter Dean Myers
• Look Out Taylor Swift – Courtney Rau

5:15 p.m. – 6 p.m.

• Songwriting Collaboration...What Inspires You? – Pete Looney

NOTE: The schedule and authors slated to appear are subject to change.  To see the most current schedule, as well as author bios, activities in the Children’s Village and a comprehensive list of writing workshops for participants of all ages, visitwww.gaithersburgbookfestival.org.