Young adults - from tweens to teens - have an opportunity to get up close and personal with their favorite authors and express their creativity in several workshops at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 15, 2010. 

A free event open to all, the first annual Gaithersburg Book Festival offers a day packed with activities for young adults, from author presentations, interactive discussions, hands-on workshops and book signings.  Highlights include:

Featured Authors
Throughout the event, authors whose works appeal to young adults will be featured presenters, sharing from their books and answering questions from festival attendees.  These authors include:

• Tom Angleberger - A juggler, newspaper writer, square dance caller and long-time Star Wars fan, his book "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda" was inspired by both his love of the movie and his disastrous middle school years.
  
  
• Fred Bowen - Writer of the weekly KidsPost sports column in The Washington Post, his new book “No Easy Way” is a gorgeous picture-book biography of Red Sox slugger Ted Williams. Bowen has two other new books - “Hardcourt Comeback” and “Dugout Rivals” - to add to his sports-fiction series for ages 8 and up (13 books in all).  Bowen was a Little Leaguer who loved to read, and now he loves showing today’s young sports fans how much fun reading can be.
  
  
• Marfé Ferguson Delano - Author of more than a dozen non-fiction books for children, including award-winning biographies of Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Annie Sullivan. Her most recent book, “Earth in the Hot Seat: Bulletins from a Warming World,” which explores global warming, won the 2010 Green Earth Book Award. Among the other awards her books have received are: American Library Association Notable Book awards, the Jefferson Cup Honor, the James Madison Book Award Honor, and the Orbis Pictus Honor. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia, Delano loves to visit schools to talk with children about her books.
  
  
• Elizabeth Eulberg - Her first novel, “The Lonely Hearts Club,” is being touted by “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer as "a must-read for anyone who's ever fallen in love - or sworn it off completely.  A funny, fantastic debut!"  It is the story of four teenage girls who swear off relationships as they assert their independence and attempt to find themselves - all in a tapestry rich with imagery inspired by the music and lyrics of The Beatles.
  
  
• Sara Lewis Holmes - Author of "Operation Yes," a story about a group of sixth grade students who put together a fundraiser that grows into a nationwide effort to support injured troops. As the wife of an Air Force pilot, Holmes has lived, written and raised a family in 11 states and three countries, including Germany and Japan.  She currently lives in Northern Virginia.
  
  
• Erica Perl - After publishing three picture books, Perl has authored her first novel, "Vintage Veronica,” for young adults. She has also written about children’s books and popular culture for Slate, Double X, PBS.org, The Huffington Post and others. In addition to writing books, Perl is the director of the First Book Marketplace at First Book, a nonprofit organization that has provided over 65 million brand new books to children in need.
  
  
• Jennifer Roy - Author of “Yellow Star,” the true story of her aunt’s childhood in Poland’s Lodz Ghetto, in which a quarter of a million Jews entered, but only 800 were left alive when liberation came in 1945. Twelve of those survivors were children, including Roy's Aunt Sylvia - who now lives in Rockville, MD. The book won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for Excellence in Children's Literature. It was also a Jewish Book Awards Finalist, a School Library Journal Best Book and a NY Public Library “100 Books For Reading and Sharing.”  Roy also co-authors the young-adult fiction “Trading Faces” series, including new book "Take Two."

Workshops
Three hands-on workshops are planned to encourage young writers to explore their creativity. Pre-registration is highly recommended as these workshops have space limitations. For more information about the workshops and how to pre-register, visit www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/workshops.htm.

• Basic Drawing for Comics and Graphic Novels (ages 8-adult): Learn how to draw for comic books and graphic novels through the use of panel and page layouts and create a three-panel comic strip featuring characters of your own creation. Taught by Jonathan Cohen, owner of Beyond Comics and “Creating Comics” instructor for the Frederick Community College Kids on Campus program.
  
  
• Poetry and Prose, Ideas Alive: Discover Your Inner Writer (grades 4-8): Learn how to bring alive a “big idea,” in either poetry or prose, using sensory imagery and metaphor. Writings will be illustrated and ultimately bound as a book. Taught by Carol Peck, who has taught creative writing at University of Maryland University College for more than 30 years, was Writer-in-Residence at Sidwell Friends School for 13 years, and has been a Poet-in-the-Schools since 1970.
  
  
• Comedy Writing (ages 12- Adult): Learn the basics of comedy writing and satire through examples and in-workshop writing. Taught by Adam Ruben, a freelance comedy writer whose work has appeared in National Lampoon and who regularly performs stand-up comedy at clubs, colleges and private venues. Ruben’s first book, “Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School,” will be published this month.

The inaugural Gaithersburg Book Festival will take place May 15, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the grounds of City Hall in historic Olde Towne Gaithersburg. The free event will host more than 45 nationally renowned fiction and non-fiction authors - many of whom are residents of the Washington, D.C., area. In addition to featured author presentations, there will be workshops for attendees of all ages, book signings, vendor booths, new and used book sales, and a coffee house with poets and singer/songwriters.  A full schedule of activities can be found online at www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org.

About the Gaithersburg Book Festival
The Gaithersburg Book Festival, conducted in partnership with Barnes and Noble-Gaithersburg, Friends of the Library, the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, and Chloe's Coffee and Gallery, is an annual, all-day celebration of the written word, designed to become the region’s premier literary event. It debuts on May 15, 2010 on the grounds of Gaithersburg City Hall, with shuttle buses running from Lakeforest Mall.  Activities include author appearances, discussions and book signings; writing workshops; a full Children’s Village; a Coffee House with poets and singer/songwriters; onsite book sales from Barnes and Noble (featuring the books of the festival's presenting authors) and Friends of the Library (used books); exhibitors; and, of course, food, drink, ice cream and more from local restaurants, with perhaps a taste-test or two from some of our food-related authors. Admission is free.

For more information, please visit http://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org.