The Gaithersburg Book Festival is an annual celebration of great books and great writing that has made its mark as one of the nation’s top literary events.  It takes place Saturday, May 21, 2016, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the grounds of City Hall (31 S. Summit Ave.) in Gaithersburg, Md.

The festival will feature more than 100 best-selling and award-winning authors who will participate in talks panel discussions and book signings throughout the day.  Authors include:

Fiction
•    Mary Kay Andrews
•    Ron Childress
•    Meg Waite Clayton
•    Samantha Hunt
•    Naomi Jackson
•    Anthony Marra
•    Roger Rosenblatt, appearing in conversation with Alice McDermott

Non-Fiction
•    John Feinstein
•    Tim Kurkjian
•    Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf
•    Diane Rehm
•    Eric Ripert
•    Juan Williams

Mystery
•    Jeffery Deaver
•    Allison Leotta

Children’s & Middle Grade
•    Dianna Hutts Aston
•    CeCe Bell
•    John Bemelmans Marciano
•    Megan Frazer Blakemore
•    Gennifer Choldenko
•    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
•    John Parra and Monica Brown
•    Aaron Reynolds
•    Ronald L. Smith
•    Maris Wicks

Young Adult
•    Candace Fleming
•    David Lubar
•    Deborah Wiles

Other festival highlights include a hall of exhibiting authors, a Children’s Village, announcement of the high school short story contest winners, literary exhibitors, Friends of the Library used book sale, and onsite new book sales by Politics & Prose.  Visitors of all ages also have the opportunity to participate in free interactive, hands-on writing workshops on a variety of topics.

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is presented in partnership with Politics & Prose, Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, Homewood Suites Gaithersburg, Montgomery County Public Libraries, Montgomery County Public Schools, Rio Washingtonian Center, The Universities at Shady Grove, The Washington Independent Review of Books and The Writer's Center, with grant support from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Admission, parking and accessible shuttle buses from Shady Grove Metro and Lakeforest Mall are FREE.