The 28th annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival will honor author and two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward with the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature.
Since 1996, the award has been presented to some of America’s most distinguished writers, including Richard Russo, Annie Proulx, Norman Mailer, Pat Conroy, John Updike, Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Powers.
The festival will take place from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at Montgomery College’s Theatre Arts Building, 51 Mannakee St. This year’s theme is “Writing the Hard Stories.” As well as Ward, a highly acclaimed American novelist and professor of creative writing at Tulane University, speakers will include Kiese Laymon, a prominent American writer, educator and cultural critic, and David Ignatius, a journalist and novelist.
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival was established in 1996 to celebrate the centenary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birth and the city where Fitzgerald, his wife and daughter are buried. The festival is co-sponsored by the City of Rockville, the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc.
The festival is open to everyone, especially writers, book lovers and Fitzgerald fans. For more information and to register visit www.fitzgeraldfestival.com.