The 15th annual Gaithersburg Book Festival from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg will once again feature an overwhelming lineup of authors talking about their most recent books and their lifetime adventures. The free festival, which has grown into one of the most prominent literary festivals on the East Coast, also will have workshops for emerging writers seeking to improve their skills or hoping to learn more about the business of getting works published.
The book festival also will be the right place to interest young readers in the adventures contained in books. There will be a Children’s Village as part of the event.
Among the featured authors will be Fran Abrams (latest book “Arranging Words”), Sarah Adler (“Happy Medium”), E.A. Aymar (“When She Left”), Tracey Baptiste (“African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History”), Derrick Barnes (“Who Got Game? Basketball: Amazing But True Stories”); Phil Bildner (“Glenn Burke, Game Changer: The Man Who Invented the High Five”), Fred Bowen (“Extra Innings”); Susan Coll (“Real Life and Other Fictions” ), John Eisenberg (“Rocket Men: The Black Quarterbacks Who Revolutionized Pro Football”), Beth Ferry (“Solar Bear”), Lisa Graff (“Rewind”), Harold Holzer (“Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration”), Antonia Hylton (“Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum”), Brigid Kemmerer (“Destroy the Day”), Carlos Lozada (““The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians”), Liza Mundy (“The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA”), Susan Page (“The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters”), Jayne Anne Phillips (2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner for her novel, “Night Watch”), Joe Posnanski (“Why We Love Baseball”), James Ransome (“Fighting with Love: The Legacy of John Lewis”), Sara Shepard (“Nowhere Like Home), Carole Boston Weatherford (“Kin: Rooted in Hope”) and Kate White (“The Last Time She Saw Him”).
The festival will have a strong lineup of poets.
Bohrer Park is located at 506 S. Frederick Ave. in Gaithersburg, adjacent to Gaithersburg High School. Although parking is free, there will be very limited parking at the high school.
The most efficient free parking will be at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, located at 501 Perry Parkway. There will be free shuttles running continuously from 9:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m. from the fairgrounds to the event. The shuttle also will operate from the Shady Grove Metro Station. It will pick up on the Route 355 side of the station (not on the side with parking garages).
There are two Gaithersburg-owned parking options within about a short quarter-mile walk of Bohrer Park. The garages are the Gaithersburg Parking Garage – Olde Towne (112 Olde Towne Ave.) and at Gaithersburg City Hall (31 S. Summit Ave.).
The master schedule for the festival can be found at https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/master-schedule/.
The list of authors presenting can be found here.
The schedule of writing workshops for adults and teens can be found here. The children’s workshops can be viewed here. All workshops are free to attend and do not require advance registration.
Politics and Prose booksellers will have a pop-up store inside the Activity Center where attendees can buy the latest books from the featured authors and poets. All of the featured authors will do a signing that begins 10 minutes after their program concludes. The signings will be inside the Activity Center, in the gym area.
The festival is a “rain or shine” event. Most, but not all, of the programming is outside, under large tents.
There are two Gaithersburg-owned parking options within about a short quarter-mile walk of Bohrer Park. The garages are the Gaithersburg Parking Garage – Olde Towne (112 Olde Towne Ave.) and at Gaithersburg City Hall (31 S. Summit Ave.).
The master schedule for the festival can be found at https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/master-schedule/.
The list of authors presenting can be found here.
The schedule of writing workshops for adults and teens can be found here. The children’s workshops can be viewed here. All workshops are free to attend and do not require advance registration.
Politics and Prose booksellers will have a pop-up store inside the Activity Center where attendees can buy the latest books from the featured authors and poets. All of the featured authors will do a signing that begins 10 minutes after their program concludes. The signings will be inside the Activity Center, in the gym area.
The festival is a “rain or shine” event. Most, but not all, of the programming is outside, under large tents.
