Diana Abu-Jaber is the author of “Birds of Paradise” (W.W. Norton & Co.).  It is her fifth book and follows several notable titles, most recently, “Origin” and “The Language of Baklava.” She has won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the American Book Award, and other prizes. Diana’s writing appears in Good Housekeeping, Ms., Salon, Vogue, Gourmet, the New York Times, The Nation, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. She is frequently featured on National Public Radio. She divides her time between Coral Gables, Florida, and Portland, Oregon.

Ken Ackerman is the author of “Young J. Edgar: Hoover and the Red Scare, 1919-1920″ (Viral History Press) , a book that partly inspired the recent film J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood.  Ackerman has authored three previous books, including one on Boss Tweed, and another on President James Garfield.  Ken Ackerman, a writer and attorney in Washington, D.C., a 35-year veteran of senior positions in Congress, the executive branch, financial regulation, and private law.

Caroline Alethia is a professional writer whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, on radio and in web outlets. She has worked as a technical writer for the United Nations, a journalist covering European Union business policy in Brussels, and an executive producer of national, Spanish-language educational radio programs. She has edited numerous international publications and has taught business communications at the college level. Her words have reached audiences on six continents. She lived in Bolivia and was a witness to many of the events described in “Plant Teacher.”

Humorist and journalist Henry Alford is the author of a book about manners called “Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? A Modern Guide to Manners” (Twelve). His previous books include How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth), and Big Kiss: One Actor’s Desperate Attempt to Claw His Way to the Top, which won a Thurber Prize. He has written for the New Yorker, and currently writes for Vanity Fair and the New York Times.

Cathy Alter’s feature articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in local and national newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post, Washingtonian, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Self, McSweeney’s, and SMITH Magazine. Her book, “Virgin Territory: Stories from the Road to Womanhood” was released in 2004 and her memoir, “Up for Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over,” was released in July 2008. She holds an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University, where she is currently a faculty member and nonfiction advisor.

Tom Angleberger is the bestselling author of “The Strange Case of Origami Yoda,” which won the 2010 E. B. White Read Aloud Award for middle readers, “Darth Paper Strikes Back,” and “Horton Halfpott,” a 2012 Edgar Award finalist, which Kirkus dubbed “a romp from start to finish.” He lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, with his wife, author and illustrator Cece Bell.

Cheryl Somers Aubin is the author of “The Survivor Tree” and has been writing and publishing for over twenty years.  Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Foundation Magazine and other newspapers, magazines, and on-line journals. She has a Master of Arts degree in Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Sheila Harrington is a painter, illustrator, and graphic designer whose work has ranged from portraiture to print design to museum exhibition graphics. She is a partner with her artist/designer husband, James Symons, in the Washington, DC art and design firm Studio Five.

Pam Bachorz is the author of “Candor” and “Drought”, young adult novels published by Egmont USA. Bachorz grew up in a small town in the Adirondack foothills, and draws inspiration from the places she knows best: she wrote “Candor” while living in a planned community in Florida, and set “Drought” in the woods where she spent her childhood summers. Currently she is working on a novel set in middle Appalachia. She resides in Silver Spring with her husband and son.

A former Staff Writer for Reader’s Digest, Robert Bidinotto is an award-winning investigative journalist and magazine editor, and author of two books on the criminal justice system.  He drew upon this background to write his debut novel, “Hunter” (Avenger Books), a vigilante crime thriller.

Last December, “Hunter” was named the #1 “Editors’ Pick” on Kindle. It immediately soared onto the Wall Street Journal’s “Top 10 Fiction Ebook” list,  also reaching #4 overall on the Kindle Bestseller List.

Robert lives with his wife on Maryland’sEastern Shore, where he is writing sequels in the Dylan Hunter thriller series.

Buzz Bissinger is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller “3 Nights in August” and “Friday Night Lights”, which has sold two million copies and spawned a film and TV franchise. He is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and a sports columnist for The Daily Beast. He has written for the New York Times, The New Republic,Time and many other publications.

His upcoming book is “Father’s Day: A Journey Into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Buzz Bissinger’s twin sons were born three minutes—and a world—apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student at Penn, preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools. He’ll never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty which can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise. One summer night, Buzz and Zach hit the road to revisit all the places they have lived together during Zach’s 24 years. Zach revels in his memories, and Buzz hopes this journey into their shared past will bring them closer and reveal to him the mysterious workings of his son’s mind and heart.

Fred Bowen, who writes the weekly KidsPost sports column in The Washington Post, is the author of 16 books of sports fiction (ages 8+) and a picture book biography of Red Sox legend Ted Williams titled No Easy Way. Bowen is not your usual sports-fiction writer; he always weaves a little real sports history into his fast-moving plots, and includes a history chapter at the back.  He likes showing kids that the games they play are part of a large rich tradition.  Bowen grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Donna Britt is the author of “Brothers (and Me): A Memoir of Loving and Giving” (Little, Brown and Company).  She is a former syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. Ms. Britt has won awards from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the National Association of Black Journalists, and she has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, C-Span, and National Public Radio.

Update 5/14/2012: This Presentation has been canceled.

Stacia Brown is the author of “Accidents of Providence” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), a historical fiction that takes place during the English Civil War.

 ”Intelligent, masterful, suspenseful—one of the best books I’ve read in years. An impressive debut novel from a hugely talented new writer, Accidents of Providence was a rare treat.” —Margaret George, author of many works of historical fiction, including “Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles”

Stacia Brown grew up in Asheville, North Carolina. She earned graduate degrees in religion and historical theology from Emory University in Atlanta.  Before moving to Atlanta, Stacia worked as a swing-shift monitor for a 250-bed homeless shelter in San Francisco.  She lives and works in Decatur, Georgia.

Tami Lewis Brown is the author of “The Map of Me,” a middle grade novel and “Soar, Elinor!,” a picture book biography, both published by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She left a career as a trial lawyer to earn an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College.

Rae Bryant’s story collection, “The Indefinite State of Imaginary Morals” (Patasola Press, NY, 2011) has been nominated for the 2012 Pen/Hemingway and Pushcart awards. Her stories have appeared or are soon forthcoming in StoryQuarterly, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, BLIP Magazine (formerly Mississippi Review), and Gargoyle Magazine, among others. She writes essays and reviews for places like Puerto del Sol and The Nervous Breakdown. She’s received fellowships from the VCCA and The Johns Hopkins University, where she teaches multimedia and creative writing and is editor in chief of the program’s new literary and arts journal, The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review.

Michael Buckley is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Sisters Grimm” series. Born in Akron, Ohio, he tried his hand as a stand-up comic and lead singer for a punk rock back before attending Ohio University. After graduating with honors he moved to New York City to be an intern on the Late Show with David Letterman which led to stints developing programming for Discovery Networks, MTV, MTV Animation and Klasky Csupo (producers of Nickelodeon’s Rugrats). Today he lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Alison, and their son Finn.

Sheela Chari is the author of the middle-grade novel, “Vanished” (Disney Hyperion), a 2012 APALA Children’s Literature Honor Book, and Edgar nominee for Best Juvenile mystery. Sheela has an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, and lives in New York with her family. “Vanished” is her first novel.

Ron Charles is the fiction editor and a weekly book critic for the Washington Post.   In 2008, he won the National Book Critics Circle award for his reviews.

Ron will be appearing at the Festival in an onstage conversation with author Stewart O’Nan.

Dr. Jill Chasse is an author, health administrator, pregnancy counselor and perinatal psychology consultant. Jill has worked in perinatal wellness and public health for over 15 years and has written several books including “Baby Magic,” which has sold in 8 countries, “Womb Wonders,” “The Babysitter’s Survival Guide,“ and her popular children’s book, “Mommy’s Lap.”  She is the founder of Baby-Empowered Birth Education (BEBE). Jill lives with her husband and two young children in Brookeville, MD.

Jay Clark is the author of “The Edumacation of Jay Baker” (Henry Holt & Co.), his debut novel for young adults.

“Jay’s smarts, originality, and warmth make the old teen trope of the hot girl(s) falling for the doofus guy actually believable.”–Booklist, Starred Review

Clark is a tennis enthusiast and former teaching pro, whose writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Tennis Magazine.   He lives in Virginia with his fiancé, Caroline Baker.

Andrew Clements is the bestselling author of “Frindle,” a modern classic, in addition to dozens of other novels and picture books, including “No Talking and Extra Credit.” He has won two Christopher Awards and an Edgar Award. He lives in central Massachusetts.

Steve Coll is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist, whose latest book, “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power” (Penguin Press), investigates the notoriously secretive ExxonMobil Corporation, revealing the true extent of its power.

Coll is president of New America Foundation, and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Previously he spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent and senior editor at The Washington Post, serving as the paper’s managing editor from 1998 to 2004.  He has authored seven books, including “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001,” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, among several others, in 2004.

Mr. Coll graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude, from Occidental College in 1980 with a degree in English and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Gilbert Cooper II, author of the slave tale, “Blood Burning Moon,” is an eleventh grade English teacher in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He enjoys teaching American literature at the high school level, and he has written an approved curriculum for African American literature for Montgomery County Public Schools. He coaches both Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Tennis and plays the game himself whenever possible. He is currently working on his second novel.

K. Michael Crawford has been creating magical art and whimsical writing for Children’s Books since 1991. Michael’s latest drawing books, “The Mystery of Journey Crowne,” “The Island of Zadu,” “Batty Malgoony’s Mystic Carnivale” and “Professor Horton Hogwash’s Museum of Ridiculous” are part of a drawing series that gets children to use their imagination, to teach them how to figure things out and encourage them to make choices.

Andrew and Elahe Dayton are the co-authors of “The House That War Minister Built.”  

Andrew received his undergraduate degree from Princeton, and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, where he met and married Elahe. He subsequently did postdoctoral studies at Harvard and now lives outside of DC. He has previously published short fiction in the Potomac Review and is a contributing editor for the Washington Independent Review of Books.

Elahe Dayton was born, and educated in Iran, earning a doctorate from the University of Tehran. Subsequently she immigrated to the United States to earn another doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by postdoctoral work at Harvard.

Jean Heilprin Diehl is the author of “Three Little Beavers” (Sylvan Dell Publishing), a picture book about beaver ecology, urban wildlife conflicts and how a child finds a place in her family. It is Jean’s fourth picture book. Her fiction for adults has appeared in literary journals and anthologies, and she has received awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and from James Michener and the Copernicus Society of America. Jean grew up in Montgomery County and currently lives in Chevy Chase.

Keith Donohue is a best-selling novelist whose latest book is, “Centuries of June” (Crown).

“Part ghost story, part psychological mystery and part vaudeville show. Think Scheherazade by way of “Tristram Shandy” by way of “The Sixth Sense.”—Washington Post

This is Donohue’s third novel, following-up “The Stolen Child,” a national best-seller and “Angels of Destruction,” which was also well-received.  Donohue has a Ph.D. in English with a specialization in modern Irish literature and wrote the introduction to the Complete Novels of Flann O’Brien.  He lives in Maryland and occasionally writes book reviews for the Washington Post.

Larry Doyle is one of America’s foremost humorists.  His first novel, “I Love You, Beth Cooper” won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor – and that came on the heels of a four-year stint as a writer and producer of The Simpsons.

Doyle’s latest book is “Deliriously Happy” (Ecco), a collection of his humor pieces published in The New Yorker and elsewhere.  In addition to his work as a columnist and author, Doyle wrote the films “Duplex,” “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” and “I Love You, Beth Cooper.”

According to his bio, Doyle does not keep live monkeys in his house, which would be illegal.   And more, mostly reliable information can be found at larrydoyle.com.

Julia Duin is a contributing writer for the Washington Post magazine and the former religion editor for The Washington Times where she was nominated three times for a Pulitzer prize. She’s also written in the past year for the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. She’s published five books, the most recent being “Quitting Church” and “Days of Fire and Glory,” which tells of an investigation she undertook while reporting for The Houston Chronicle. She has a master’s degree in religion, has won numerous journalism awards and teaches religion reporting at the University of Maryland.

Siobhan Fallon’s debut collection of stories, “You Know When the Men Are Gone” (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam), was listed as a Best Book of 2011 by The San Francisco Chronicle and Janet Maslin of The New York Times, has been called “the explosive sort of literary triumph that appears only every few years” by New York Journal of Books, “a terrific and terrifically illuminating book” by The Washington Post, and a “searing collection” by Entertainment Weekly. Her stories and essays have appeared in Women’s Day, Good Housekeeping, New Letters, Publishers’ Weekly, among others. She and her family live in Falls Church, Virginia.

Herta B. Feely, who co-edited the anthology, “Confessions: Fact or Fiction,” is an award-winning writer and editor. In 2010, she received the American Independent Writers award for best published personal essay, and for her novel Serra Blue, she was awarded the James Jones First Novel Fellowship and an Artist Fellowship in Literature from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities. Her short fiction and memoir pieces have appeared in The Sun, Lullwater Review, Provincetown Magazine, The Potomac Review, and Big Muddy. In 2002, she received her M.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins University.  She is currently working on a novel titled, “But, I Love Her.” 

Her co-editor Marian O’Shea Wernicke has been the faculty editor of The Hurricane Review, a national literary magazine published by Pensacola State College, for the past seven years. She is a recently retired professor of English at the college, and participated at the Sewanee Writers Conference in workshop with Maxine Kumin and Mark Jarman. She writes poetry and fiction and is now working on a memoir about her father.

Kate Feiffer’s newest chapter book “Signed by Zelda” (Simon & Schuster) features a girl who believes there’s a secret hidden in every signature, a boy stuck in time-out, and a missing grandmother. Kate is the author of eleven popular books for children, including “Double Pink” (S&S) and “My Side of The Car” (Candlewick). Her book “My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life” (S&S) is currently being adapted as a musical for the stage. Her latest picture book is “No Go Sleep,” (S&S) illustrated by her father, the Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer.

John Feinstein is a national best-selling author and one of America’s most prolific and beloved sports writers. His books, “A Season on the Brink” and “A Good Walk Spoiled,” are two of the biggest-selling non-fiction sports books in publishing history. His latest book,”One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game” (Putnam Adult), shares details of his interviews and experiences in the professional sports world. Feinstein is a regular commentator on radio and television sports programs, including ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters”, NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and the Golf Channel. His columns appear in The Washington Post, where he spent a number of years as a staff reporter.  Feinstein has written over 20 books on sports and the athletes who play them, as well as a mystery series for children.

Marty Rhodes Figley is the author of seventeen historically based books for young readers, including “The Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” and “Washington is Burning.” She graduated from Emily Dickinson’s Alma matre, Mount Holyoke College, with a degree in American Studies.  She is a member of the Emily Dickinson International Society, and her academic paper on Emily and Carlo was published in The Emily Dickinson Journal.  Marty lives in Annandale, Virginia with her husband and Airedale terrier, Scarlett.

Melissa Foster is the award-winning author of three International bestselling novels, “Megan’s Way,” “Chasing Amanda,” and “Come Back to Me.” She has also been published in Indie Chicks, an anthology. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest (www.womensnest.com), a social and support community for women, the World Literary Cafe (www.worldlitcafe.com), a literary community, and Fostering Success, a marketing training platform for authors. Melissa is currently collaborating in the film production of “Megan’s Way.”

Judah Friedlander is the star of NBC’s “30 Rock” and the author of the hilarious instructional karate book, “How to Beat Up Anybody.”

Onstage Friedlander is The World Champion. He is the best athlete in the world, greatest martial artist, the sexual desire of every woman, and a role model to children. Let’s face it, Judah is the greatest comedian in the world… And the most humble. Judah is an extra-dark blackbelt in karate.

Judah’s hilarious instructional karate book “How To Beat Up Anybody” is based on his stand-up act.  It has hundreds of photos all taken by or directed by Judah, along with countless jokes. It is the greatest book in karate history.

Friedlander started doing stand-up in 1989 and has been doing it just about every night ever since. He has made over 30 movies and you can see him as “Frank Rossitano” on the Emmy-winning “30 Rock”. He’s also made multiple appearances on Letterman, Conan, Fallon & The Daily Show. Judah was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards for his role in the Sundance-winning “American Splendor”.

This year Judah will be coming out with both a stand-up album and is also making a stand-up concert movie.  And yes, Judah will make more books one day.

Timothy M. Gay is the author of the upcoming, “Assignment to Hell: The War Against Nazi Germany with Correspondents Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, A.J. Liebling, Homer Bigard, and Hal Boyle” (NAL Hardcover).  He has written two previous books, “Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend” and “Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert:  The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson.” Tim’s essays on politics, public policy, history, and sports history have appeared in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, USA Today, and many other publications.  He is a graduate of GeorgetownUniversity and lives in Vienna,Virginia, with his wife Elizabeth and three children.

Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp are cooks, book enthusiasts and friends. They wrote “The Book Club Cookbook” (Tarcher), a guide to integrating delicious food and food-related discussion into your book club, over stacks of books and endless cups of coffee at a local sandwich shop. The revised edition of “The Book Club Cookbook,” released in March 2012, features twenty newer titles, along with recipes and insights from authors Kathryn Stockett, Abraham Verghese, Sara Gruen, and many more.

Judy and Vicki’s other books are “The Kids’ Book Club Book” and “Table of Contents,” featuring book related recipes from fifty of today’s most popular authors.

Their website, bookclubcookbook.com, features book recommendations from book clubs around the country, author recipes, book giveaways, author blogs, and newsletters.

Judy and Vicki live with their families in the Boston area.

Alex George is the author of “A Good American” (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam), a novel which is receiving rave reviews, including:

• #1 Pick for Indie Next List, February 2012.
• Amazon “Best Books of the Month” List February 2012
• Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, Spring 2012
• Barnes & Noble Top Staff Pick for Fiction, February 2012
• #1 “Title to Pick Up Now” for O Magazine, February 2012

Mr. George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes in the middle of America.  He studied law at Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in London and Paris before moving to the United States in 2003.  He is the author of four previous novels published in the UK and several European countries.  Before moving to America, he was named one of Britain’s top ten “thirty-something” novelists by the Times of London, and was also named by the Independent on Sunday as a “face to watch” for fiction in its Fresh Talent feature.  He now runs his own law firm in Columbia, Missouri and has applied for U.S. citizenship.

Vincent dePaul Gisriel, Jr., author of “Hearts Away Bombs Away,” was born in 1944 during WW II, while his father was overseas. In 1962, he graduated from Loyola High School; and in 1967, he graduated from the University of Baltimore with a degree in History. During college, Vince Jr. served in the National Guard.

The author worked for the State of Maryland for 39 years, mostly as an assessor. He was also an elected City Councilman for Ocean City, Maryland for 14 years.

Meredith Goldstein, author of “The Singles” (Plume), is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for the Boston Globe. In addition to “Love Letters,” the most popular blog in Boston next to the Red Sox blog, she co-writes the paper’s society column, “Names.” She lives in Boston. 

Eric D. Goodman is a full-time writer and editor. His novel in stories, “Tracks,” was published by Atticus Books summer 2011. He’s also the author of the childrens’ book, “Flightless Goose.”  Eric’s work has appeared in The Baltimore Review, Pedestal Magazine, Writers Weekly, The Potomac, Barrelhouse, JMWW, Scribble, Slow Trains, and New Lines from the Old Line State: An Anthology of Maryland Writers, among others. His second novel, “Womb,” is currently with his agent.

Marni Graff is the author of the Nora Tierney mystery series, set in the UK. “The Blue Virgin” is set in Oxford; “The Green Remains” in Cumbria. Graff is also co-author of “Writing in a Changing World,” a primer on writing groups and critique techniques. She writes a weekly mystery review at www.auntiemwrites.wordpress.com. A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff runs the NC Writers Read program in Belhaven. She has also published poetry, and her creative nonfiction has most recently appeared in Southern Women’s Review.

Judy Gross is the editor of the anthology, “The Kentlands: A Home for All Seasons.”  Judy is a Kentlands resident who brought her interests in photography and local history together to create this book, celebrating one of Gaithersburg’s signature communities..

Mary Downing Hahn has been writing children’s books for over thirty years and is a perennial favorite with readers. Her books have sold more than 2 million copies and consistently win state children’s choice awards. Mary’s work spans a variety of genres, but she is best known for her ghost stories and mysteries. 

Beginning with “Wait Till Helen Comes,” now a classic that has been in print, selling steadily, for over twenty years, Ms. Hahn has created an oeuvre of well-loved spine-chilling tales including “The Doll in the Garden,” “A Time for Andrew,” and “The Old Willis Place.” Always spooky, but never overly frightening, Mary “has mastered the art of the not-too-creepy ghost story” (Kirkus Reviews). “Mister Death’s Blue-Eyed Girls” (Clarion Books), her latest book, will be released in April.

Alexandra Hamlet, author of “The Right Guard,” is a cultural and defense anthropologist, an international lecturer and a former TV and print journalist. She consults on cultural affairs and international business. She was an auxiliary nurse in London; Visiting Fellow at Harvard University; an executive search specialist for world-wide C-suite positions; and is a consultant on irregular warfare. This is her first novel.

Melanie S. Hatter had two big publishing successes in 2011. Her novelette, “Taking the Shot,” was published in electronic format by Etopia Press, and her novel, “The Color of My Soul,” was published by the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. Her essays have appeared in Moxie, ACE Dialogue and Emerge magazines, and her short stories have appeared in The Lipstick Pages and Diverse Voices Quarterly. Melanie’s short story, “Obsessed with Claudia,” won the First Annual Romantic Tales Writing Contest. She received a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University and graduated from the master’s in writing program at Johns Hopkins University.

Mark Henshaw is the author of “Red Cell” (Touchstone), his debut thriller that follows two CIA agents as they race to stop a secret Chinese weapon that threatens to provoke a world war.

“Red Cell is as smart as it is exciting, a thriller that makes you think from the edge of your seat. Mark Henshaw’s unique perspective from the inside makes it all feel terrifyingly real.” —Howard Gordon, co-creator of Homeland and author of Hard Target

 

Henshaw is a graduate of Brigham Young University and a decorated CIA analyst with more than eleven years of service. In 2007, he was awarded the Director of National Intelligence Galileo Award for innovation in intelligence analysis. Henshaw lives with his family in Leesburg, Virginia.

Clint Hill was a Secret Service Agent assigned to the White House and served Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford.  He was in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, assigned to protect First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, when President Kennedy was assassinated.  He is credited with saving Mrs. Kennedy’s life. After rising through the ranks of the Secret Service, he retired in 1975 as Assistant Director, responsible for all protective forces.  Hill remains in contact with the current U.S. Secret Service and is actively involved in training activities.

Adam Hochschild is an award-winning historian, whose latest book, “To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918″ (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), focuses on the now largely-forgotten opposition to World War 1. The late Christopher Hitchens, reviewing it in the New York Times, called it a “moving and important book,” and that it “is a book to make one feel deeply and painfully, and also to think hard.”  (Update – 1/22/2012: To End All Wars is a finalist for the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award)

Adam Hochschild has written for The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and many other magazines, and is the author of seven books. “King Leopold’s Ghost: a Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa” was a finalist for the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award; “Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves,” was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Gregg Jones is the author of “Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America’s Imperial Dream” (NAL Hardcover).  A Missouri native, Jones was a Pulitzer Prize-finalist investigative reporter and foreign correspondent before writing books full time. He has been a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post and Boston Globe, as well as the British Guardian and Observer newspapers. After living in Bangkok, Manila, Mexico City and northern California, he now calls Texas home.

Marvin and Deborah Kalb are a father-daughter journalism team who joined forces to write their new book, “Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama” (Brookings Institution Press). Marvin Kalb’s journalism career covers 30 years of award-winning reporting and commentary for CBS and NBC News, including a stint as host of Meet the Press. He is a Guest Scholar in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings and the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice (Emeritus) at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Deborah Kalb followed in her father’s footsteps as a journalist and has reported for the Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill.

Alma Katsu’s debut novel, “The Taker” (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster) is a Gothic novel of suspense, love and magic, and has been compared to early Anne Rice and Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian.” The novel was named a Top Ten Debut Novel of 2011 by the American Library Association and has sold translation rights in numerous languages. “The Reckoning,” the second book in the trilogy, comes out in June 2012. Ms. Katsu lives outside of Washington, DC with her husband, musician Bruce Katsu.

Marc Kaufman is a journalist and author of “First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth” (Simon and Schuster).  A science writer with the Washington Post, Kaufman traveled the world while reporting “First Contact” to speak with scientists on the cutting edge of the burgeoning field of astrobiology — the hunt for life beyond Earth. Marc has been a journalist for more than three decades, mostly at the Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He believes that his many years as a foreign correspondent taught him how to be a good translator of science (and scientists.) He lives with his wife, Lynn Litterine, in Silver Spring.

Thomas Kaufman is the author of “Steal the Show” (Minotaur Books), his second book about Washington, DC private eye Willis Gidney.  In addition to writing the third book in his series, Kaufman is working as an Emmy Award-winning director/cameraman, shooting TV programs for BBC, Discovery, and NatGeo.  Thomas has also shot on the sets of “The Wire,” “West Wing,” “John Adams,” and “VEEP.”

Linda Killian, author of “The Swing Vote: The Untapped Power of Independents” (St. Martin’s Press), is a Washington journalist and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is a columnist and national political writer for The Atlantic, Newsweek/The Daily Beast and has also written for Politico, Politics Daily and U.S. News & World Report.com. Her television appearances include MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, CNN, and ”Hardball.” She is the former senior editor of National Public Radio’s ”All Things Considered” and has a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Cathy D. Knepper is the author of “Jersey Justice: The Story of the Trenton Six,” “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Letters to Eleanor Roosevelt Through Depression and War,” and “Greenbelt, Maryland: A Living Legacy of the New Deal.” She is married, the mother of two sons, and lives in Kensington, Maryland.

Before turning to narrative nonfiction with “City of Scoundrels” and “The White Cascade,” Gary Krist published three novels and two short-story collections. He has written reviews for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, and the Washington Post, and his articles and stories have appeared in National Geographic Traveler, GQ, Esquire, and on NPR. He has been the recipient of The Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Bethesda.

Jen Lancaster is the New York Times bestselling author of five memoirs published by NAL, and most recently, the novel “If You Were Here.” Her newest memoir, “Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adult’s Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development, or Why It’s Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops are Not Dinner,” comes out this May.

Jen’s loyal fans have followed her as she recounts the woes of job loss, sucky city living, weight loss attempts and 1980s nostalgia in her hilarious memoirs, including, “Bitter is the New Black,” “Such A Pretty Fat,” and “My Fair Lazy.” A nationally syndicated monthly columnist for Tribune Media Services’ Humor Hotel, Jen Lancaster lives outside Chicago .  She still blogs at the blog where it all started: www.jennsylvania.com.

Jen Lancaster will be appearing in conversation with author Sarah Pekkanen.

Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) is the author of the #1 New York Times best-seller, “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)” (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam) as well as a columnist and blogger. Her personal blog (www.thebloggess.com) is extremely popular, averaging over a half million page views per month and continuing to grow. She is one of the most popular bloggers on twitter (with over 225,000+ followers and growing daily). Jenny has been a regular contributor to the online Houston Chronicle since 2006 and also writes a popular advice column and satirical sex column. Jenny lives in Texas Hill Country with her husband and daughter.

Jim Lehrer is best known as the former news anchor for “NewsHour” on PBS and for his role as a frequent debate moderator during presidential elections. He has written 28 non-fiction and fiction books, drawing from his experiences and interests in history and politics. In his latest book, “Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to McCain-Obama” (Random House), he tells the inside story of what he calls the “major moments” and “killer questions” that defined major televised debates both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

David J. Linden, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His laboratory has worked for many years on the cellular substrates of memory storage in the brain and a few other topics.  He has a longstanding interest in scientific communication and serves as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology.  He is the author of two books on the biology of behavior for a general audience, ”The Accidental Mind” (Harvard/Belknap, 2007) and “The Compass of Pleasure” (Viking Press, 2011) which, to date, have been translated into 12 languages.

 He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his two pleasure-seeking children.

Natalie Dias Lorenzi is a school librarian and teacher, specializing in teaching English as a Second Language. She has taught in Japan and Italy and now teaches in a Washington, DC-area school where 85% of the students are immigrants. In addition to writing for children, she is a contributing writer for Scholastic’s Instructor magazine, and creates curriculum guides to new books for writers and publishers. “Flying the Dragon” is her first novel.

Ann McCallum is the award-winning author of several children’s books, including two math fairytales and her newest math cookbook, “Eat Your Math Homework: Recipes for Hungry Minds.” In addition to writing, Ann works as a high school teacher in Maryland and has published scholarly works in addition to her children’s books.

Sarah McCoy is the author of “The Baker’s Daughter” (Crown/RH),

“A beautiful, heart-breaking gem of a novel written just the way I like them, with the past coming back to haunt the present, endearing heroines and a sunny, hopeful ending. You’ll wolf it up in one delicious gulp.”
–Tatiana de Rosnay, international bestselling author of Sarah’s Key and A Secret Kept

This is Sarah’s second novel, the first being “The Time It Snowed In Puerto Rico” (RH). She has taught English writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. She currently lives with her husband and dog, Gilbert, in El Paso, where she is working on her next novel. Sarah can be reached on her website, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.

Laura Rhoton McNeal is the author of “Dark Water” (Knopf Books for Young Readers), a 2010 finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the San Diego Book Award in young people’s literature.  She holds an MA in fiction writing from Syracuse University and is the author, with her husband Tom, of four young adult novels published by Knopf: “Crooked” (winner of the California Book Award in Juvenile Literature), “Zipped” (winner of the Pen Center USA Literary Award in Children’s Literature), “Crushed”, and “The Decoding of Lana Morris”.  She and Tom live with their sons Sam and Hank near San Diego.

Tom McNeal is the author of the novel “To Be Sung Underwater” (Little, Brown), which was named one of the Best Books of 2011 by USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.  His prize-winning short fiction has been widely anthologized, and his first novel, “Goodnight, Nebraska”, won the James A. Michener Prize and the California Book Award.  McNeal holds an MA in fiction writing from U.C. Irvine and has been a Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer at Stanford University. He and his wife Laura are the authors of four young adult novels: “Crooked”, “Zipped”, “Crushed” and “The Decoding of Lana Morris”.

Caroline Miller, an internationally-known life coach and motivational speaker, is the author of “Creating Your Best Life” (Sterling).  The book is the outgrowth of her capstone project in the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters in Applied Positive Psychology program.  It breaks new ground by giving the mass market audience an evidence-based, engaging guide on how to set and accomplish your goals with research-tested tools.

Jennifer Miller is the author of the upcoming novel, “The Year of the Gadfly” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Marie Claire, Men’s Health, The Christian Science Monitor, Salon.com and others. She holds a BA from Brown University, an MS in Journalism and an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. Miller is a native of Washington, DC and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, as she says, “with all the other writers.”

Madeline Miller’s debut novel is “The Song of Achilles” (Ecco), a re-telling of the story of the hero of Greek mythology. Ms. Miller attended Brown University, where she earned her BA and MA in Classics. She has also studied in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms. For the last ten years she has been teaching and tutoring Latin, Greek and Shakespeare to high school students. Ms. Miller was born in Boston and grew up in New York City and Philadelphia. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA, where she teaches and writes.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the New York Times best-selling author of 60 novels – primarily science fiction and fantasy, a number of short stories, and numerous technical and economic articles. His novels have sold millions of copies all over the world. His first story was published in Analog in 1973.  His latest book, “Princeps” (Tor Books), releases this May and is the sequel to “Scholar,” which was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the ten best F&SF books of 2011.

E Dee Monnen is the author of “Jumping Over the Moon” (Robert Reed Publishers), her third baseball novel.  Monnen is the granddaughter of a pitcher who was often matched up against the great Walter Johnson. Years of research into 19th century baseball (when the game changed to its current style) have made her a popular guest nationally on radio and television. As a speaker, she imparts odd facts and inside knowledge of our national pastime.  Her sequel, “Catching the Falling Stars” will be ready for release later this year. Although born in Southern California, Monnen is a long time resident of the Eastern Shore.

Luis Carlos Montalván is the author of the New York Times best-seller, “Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him” (Hyperion).  Montalván served in the U.S. Army for 17 years, earning the Combat Action Badge, two Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart. Montalván has a Master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. His articles have appeared in publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, and The Baltimore Sun.  Luis resides in New York City with Tuesday, his faithful service dog.

B. Morrison, author of the memoir “Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother,” speaks about her own experiences to dispel some of the myths and misunderstandings about those living in poverty. Now a writer and engineer, she also conducts poetry and memoir workshops and speaks on women’s and poverty-related issues. She is the author of a poetry collection, “Here at Least,” and her award-winning work has been published in anthologies and magazines. She has maintained her Monday Morning Books blog since 2006 and tweets regularly about poetry @bmorrison9.

Thomas Mullen is the author of “The Last Town on Earth,” which was named Best Debut Novel of 2006 by USA Today and was awarded the James Fenimore Cooper Prize, “The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers,” and his new novel, “The Revisionists” (Mulholland Books).  His books have been named to Year’s Best lists by such publications as The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Diego Union-Times, The Onion, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and by Amazon.com. He lived in Washington, DC, from 2002-2008 and now lives in Atlanta with his wife and sons.

Timothy Noah writes the TRB column for the New Republic. He wrote for Slate for a dozen years, and previously worked at the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and the Washington Monthly. Noah received the 2011 Hillman Prize for public service magazine journalism for the series in Slate that forms the basis of his new book “The Great Divergence” (Bloomsbury Press).

Matthew Norman is the author of “Domestic Violets” (Harper Perennial), his debut novel.

“Reminiscent of Richard Russo’s earlier work, Norman’s refreshingly witty style is perfectly suited to articulating the trials of a middle-aged cynic. Wonderfully fast-paced, hilariously genuine, difficult to put down, Domestic Violets is an ideal first novel.”  - Booklist

Norman has an MFA from George Mason University and works as an advertising copywriter. He lives with his wife and daughter in Baltimore and sporadically writes on his blog, The Norman Nation.

Varley O’Connor is the author of the upcoming novel, “The Master’s Muse” (Scribners).  She is the author of three previous novels, “The Cure,” “A Company of Three,” and “Like China.” Her shorter prose has appeared in The Sun magazine, AWP Writer’s Chronicle, Faultline: A Journal of Art and Literature, Driftwood, Algonkian magazine, and The MacGuffin. O’Connor teaches fiction and creative nonfiction writing at Kent State University and for the Northeast Ohio Universities Consortium MFA program.

Stewart O’Nan is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels, most recently, “The Odds: A Love Story” (Viking Adult).  His other works include “Snow Angels,” “A Prayer for the Dying,” “Last Night at the Lobster,” and “Emily, Alone.” Granta named him one of America’s Best Young Novelists. He lives in Pittsburgh.

Stewart O’Nan presentation will be an onstage conversation with the Washington Post’s Ron Charles.

Alan Orloff makes a third Festival appearance with his latest release, “Deadly Campaign” (Midnight Ink), the second in the Last Laff Mystery series (after “Killer Routine”). His debut mystery, “Diamonds for the Dead,” was an Agatha Award finalist for Best First Novel, and, writing as Zak Allen, he’s published two ebooks, “The Taste” and “First Time Killer.” A former engineer, marketing manager, and newsletter editor, Alan grew up in Montgomery County and is a proud product of the County’s public school system.

Originally born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Korean-American author Samuel Park is the author of “This Burns My Heart” (Simon & Schuster), which was chosen as one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2011, a People magazine “Great Reads in Fiction,” and one of the Today Show’s “Favorite Things.” “This Burns My Heart” was also a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Fiction of 2011, a BookPage Best Book of 2011, and an Indie Next List Notable Book. Samuel’s other work includes the novella “Shakespeare’s Sonnets” and the short film of the same name, which he wrote and directed. He lives in Chicago, where he is an Assistant Professor of English at Columbia College.

Brad Parks is an award-winning mystery author whose upcoming release, “The Girl Next Door: A Mystery” (Minotaur Books), will hit bookshelves in March 2012.  This is a follow-up to his debut mystery, “Faces of the Gone,” which garnered both the Nero and Shamus Awards (the first time both had been awarded to the same book), and last year’s “Eyes of the Innocent.”  Parks is a former journalist with the The Washington Post and the Newark Star Ledger. This will be Parks’ second appearance at the festival, and this year he’s also assisting with our High School Student Short Story contest, providing the opening lines and serving as a judge

Sandra Parshall is the Agatha Award-winning author of the Rachel Goddard mysteries, set in Virginia. Her latest novel is “Under the Dog Star” (Poisoned Pen Press), and her next, ”Bleeding Through,” will be released in September. A former newspaper reporter, she lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, a long-time Washington journalist.

Chris Pavone is the author of the New York Times Bestseller, “The Expats” (Crown), which came out in March.

“I often thought I was reading the early works of Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth, and Robert Ludlum. Smart, clever suspense, skillfully plotted.” —John Grisham

 

“Bristling with suspense and elegantly crafted, The Expats introduces a compelling and powerful female protagonist you won’t soon forget. Well done!”
—Patricia Cornwell

Chris Pavone grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Cornell. For nearly two decades he was a book editor and ghostwriter; he is also the author of The Wine Log. Chris and his family have lived in Luxembourg, but recently returned to New York City. The Expats is his first novel.

Chris Pavone’s presentation will be an onstage conversation with the Washington Post’s Ian Shapira.

Richard Peabody edits Gargoyle Magazine and has published a novella, two books of short stories, six books of poems, plus an e-book, and edited (or co-edited) nineteen anthologies. He teaches fiction writing for the Johns Hopkins Advanced Studies Program.

Garrett Peck is a literary journalist and a self-described “history dork,” and leads the Temperance Tour of Prohibition-related sites in Washington, DC. He was involved with the DC Craft Bartenders Guild in lobbying the DC City Council to have the Rickey declared Washington’s native cocktail in 2011. He will speak about his latest two books, “Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren’t,” and “The Potomac River: A History and Guide.”

Joel Peckham is the author of “Resisting Elegy: On Grief and Recovery” (Academy Chicago Publishers).  Peckham is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati—Clermont College. In 2003-2004, he won a Fulbright teaching scholarship to the University of Jordan, and in 2011. He is also the author of three collections of poetry: “Nightwalking,” ”The Heat of What Comes,” and “Movers and Shakers,” and his literary essays on grief and recovery have appeared in a number of publications, including River Teeth, The North American Review, Under the Sun and Brevity. Joel lives with his son, Darius, and his second wife, Rachael, in Huntington, WV.

Sarah Pekkanen is the author of “These Girls” (Washington Square Press), her third novel, which follows up ”The Opposite of Me,” her best-selling 2010 debut, and “Skipping a Beat,” which was released in February 2011.

Pekkanen writes a regular humor column forBethesda Magazine, occasional book reviews for The Washington Post, and has previously worked as a journalist for such outlets as USA Today and the Baltimore Sun.

Sarah Pekkanen will be appearing in conversation with author Jen Lancaster.

Robert C. Plumb is the author of “Your Brother in Arms: A Union Soldier’s Odyssey.”  Plumb served in the Navy as an officer in the Atlantic Fleet, and later commanded a patrol boat in Vietnam.  Following military service, he held marketing executive positions in two Fortune 500 companies working in both U.S. and international markets. His work appeared in the Washington Post Style, Home, Travel and Editorial sections. Plumb is a member of the Civil War Trust and the Society of Civil War Historians. He and his wife Louise live in Potomac, Maryland.

Matthew Quick (aka Q) is the author of “The Silver Linings Playbook” (Sarah Crichton Books / Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and two young adult novels, “Sorta Like a Rock Star” and “Boy21″ (Little, Brown & Co). His work has received many honors—including a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention—and has been translated into several languages. The Weinstein Company and David O. Russell have adapted “The Silver Linings Playbook”, starring Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence. Matthew lives in Massachusetts with his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette.

Michelle Ray is an MCPS teacher and the debut author of “Falling for Hamlet” (Little, Brown/Poppy).

“Not at all dull . . . it’s filled with the pageantry and royalty that so many [teens] have discovered in the William and Kate romance. It also has the kind of unfamiliar setting and code of behavior that has drawn them to books like those of the Hunger Games series.” – NY Times

Nicole Louise Reid is the author of the short story collection, “So There!” (SFA University Press)  and a novel, “In the Breeze of Passing Things” (MacAdam/Cage).  Her award-winning short stories have appeared in the Southern Review, Other Voices, Quarterly West, Black Warrior Review, and Meridian.  Winner of the 2010 Dana Award in Short Fiction and 2011Burnside Review Fiction Chapbook Competition, she teaches creative writing at the University of Southern Indiana, where she directs the RopeWalk Reading Series and is editor of RopeWalk Press and fiction editor of Southern Indiana Review.

Leonard Rosen is the author of “All Cry Chaos” (Permanent Press), finalist for the 2012 Edgar Award (the top award for mystery writing) for Best First Novel.  Rosen is a best-selling and widely respected non-fiction author among educational publishers (including Pearson, Allyn & Bacon, Little Brown, and Nelson Doubleday). He has written Radio Essays broadcast by NPR’s Morning Edition, Only A Game, and All Things Considered, as well as op-eds published by the Boston Globe. He has taught writing at Harvard University. He lives in Brookline, MA.

Justine Rowden, a poet, writer and teacher, a graduate of the University of Michigan, presents poetry from her books here and abroad.  Her latest book, “Paint Me a Poem” has received an award from the Children’s Book Council and the International Reading Association.

 “Paint Me a Poem” has been featured at the National Gallery of Art and is to be a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and instruments by a Professor of Music for performance.

 Justine Rowden gathers words that slyly seduce us with passion for her poems; poems that make that listener laugh, think—exuberant poems that re-echo in the soul.

Ian Shapira is a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he specializes in articles about the CIA and the agency’s impact on family life. In 2007, he was a member of the Post team that covered the Virginia Tech massacre and that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news a year later. He grew up in Louisville, Ky., graduated from Princeton with an English degree, and recently earned a graduate degree in interactive journalism from American University. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Caroline Shapira. In their free time, they love scuba diving, watching spy movies, and watching college basketball.

Ian will be appearing at the Festival in an onstage conversation with spy-novelist Chris Pavone.

Rockville resident Paul A. Stankus is a train scribe who can usually be found composing on the DC Metro.  Over the last six years, he has written two books and a collection of poems and stories during his 45 minute daily commute.

Paul leads a weekly virtual poetry jam called DreadPoet’s Storytime.  In three years, it has grown from a handful of participants to over a hundred daily attendees listening to Dread compose impromptu verses.

Paul is always on the look-out for those real-life moments that are often stranger than fiction.

David O. Stewart is a historian whose third book, “American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America” (Simon & Schuster), tells the story of America’s third Vice President as a daring, and perhaps deluded, figure who shook the nation’s foundations in its earliest, most vulnerable decades. The book follows his well-received books, “The Summer of 1787” and “Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy.”  Stewart is a Washington, D.C.-based constitutional lawyer; and it is his love of the intricacies of the law drew him to write non-fiction books on the subjects in American history that have shaped or tested the constitution

Sara Mansfield Taber is the author of “Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy’s Daughter” (Potomac Books Inc).  Her previous books include “Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia” and “Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf.”  Sara’s essays, commentary, and travel pieces have appeared in literary journals and the Washington Post, and been produced for public radio. A free-lance editor and teacher, she has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University, the Vermont College of Fine Arts, the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and in private workshops in the U.S. and abroad.

Leah Taylor Jefferson is the author of “Horses of the Presidents” as well as co-author of two travel guides on Africa. She is working on her next book, “The Adventures of Oreo and Algonquin – Civil War Horse Tails.  Leah lives with her husband Steve in West Virginia with their dogs Alice and Shadow, their three cats Attitude, Milly and Gabriel. The real Oreo lives on a nearby farm, and will make an appearance at the Festival!

Adjeoda Tekpor, author of “The Chronicles of Stranger,” is a 6th grader who was born in Togo (West Africa) and moved with his parents to America in 2002. He is the winner of several school-based academic awards, as well as an award from The African American Festival of Academic Excellence. In addition to his book, Adjeoda has written on several other topics, including the Indian tribe, “Kwakiutl.”

Baratunde Thurston is the author of “How to Be Black” (Harper).   He is the director of digital at The Onion, the cofounder of Jack & Jill Politics, a stand-up comedian, and a globe-trotting speaker. Thurston was named one of the 100 most influential African Americans of 2011 by The Root, one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company magazine, and will be giving the opening keynote address at SXSW Interactive 2012. Then-Senator Barack Obama called him “someone I need to know.” Baratunde resides in Brooklyn and lives on Twitter (@baratunde).

Christopher Tilghman is the author of “The Right-Hand Shore” (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), his third novel.  Tilghman’s previous works include two short-story collections, “In A Father’s Place” and “The Way People Run,” and two novels, “Mason’s Retreat” and “Roads of the Heart.” Currently the director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Virginia, he lives with his wife, the writer Caroline Preston, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Steve Ulfelder is a mystery writer, whose debut novel, “Purgatory Chasm” (Minotaur Books), is a finalist for the 2012 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.  The book also received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was an RT Book Reviews Top Pick.  His new novel, “The Whole Lie” (Minotaur Books), launches May 8, 2012.

Ulfelder received a BA in Creative Writing from Ohio Wesleyan University before spending 20 years as a business and technology journalist. In 2006, he dumped journalism to write novels and focus on Flatout Motorsports Inc., the company he co-founded. Headquartered in Bellingham, Massachusetts, Flatout builds, rents, sells and services race cars. Steve spends weekends with Team Flatout racing his Honda S2000 in Sports Car Club of America competition.

Eric Weiner is author of “Man Seeks God: My Flirtations With the Divine” (Twelve) and, previously, the New York Times best-seller “The Geography of Bliss,” which has been translated into eighteen languages. A former correspondent for NPR and the New York Times, Weiner has reported from more than three dozen countries. His work has appeared in the New Republic, Slate, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The New York Times Magazine, and the anthology Best American Travel Writing. He divides his time between Starbucks and Caribou.

Tim Wendel is the author of “Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball – and America – Forever” (Da Capo Press), due out in March 2012. Wendel’s writing has appeared in Esquire, GQ, Gargoyle, The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, where he is on the op-ed page’s board of contributors. Wendel has written nine books and is a journalist and teacher at John Hopkins University, as well as a Pen/Faulkner visiting writer to the Washington, D.C., Public Schools.

John ‘Corey’ Whaley grew up in the small town of Springhill, Louisiana, where he learned to be sarcastic and to tell stories.  His debut novel, “Where Things Come Back” (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), was chosen as the 2012 winner of both the Michael L. Printz Award and the William C. Morris Award. Corey was also selected by National Book Award Fiction winner Oscar Hijuelos as one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35″ authors for 2011–the first YA novelist ever to be chosen for this honor. He was also spotlighted as a “Flying Starts” pick in Publishers Weekly, and “Where Things Come Back” was chosen as a “Best Books of 2011″ in the Children’s Fiction category by Publishers Weekly.

He has a B.A. in English from Louisiana Tech University, as well as an M.A in Secondary English Education. He started writing stories about aliens and underwater civilizations when he was around ten or eleven, but now writes realistic YA fiction (which sometimes includes zombies…). He taught public school for five years and spent much of that time daydreaming about being a full-time writer…and dodging his students’ crafty projectiles. He is terrible at most sports, but is an avid kayaker and bongo player.  He is obsessed with movies, music, and traveling to new places. He is an incredibly picky eater and has never been punched in the face, though he has come quite close.  His favorite word is defenestration, which is the inspiration for his second book.

CW Whitehair is the author of “Escape Across the Potomac,” a Civil War story.  A descendant of one of the last nine hostages held by John Brown during the Harpers Ferry raid in October, 1859, Whitehair has spent 18 years in both civilian and military roles in Civil War reenactments.

CW is a contributing writer for the Civil War Courier and the Camp Chase Gazette. He has co-authored two novels with his wife Rhonda-Lee, “Northern Fire,” and “The Bloody Harvest.”  He is a guest speaker at Civil War Round-tables, historical associations, schools, Civil War re-enactments, civic organizations, book festivals, and libraries.

John Wiley, Jr. is the co-author of “Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind” (Taylor Trade Publishing), a history of how GWTW became an international phenomenon that has sustained the public’s interest for 75 years. Wiley is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Margaret Mitchell and her novel. He owns an immense collection of related memorabilia, including more than 800 different editions of the novel, and has been interviewed by USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the London Times and NPR. Wiley publishes The Scarlett Letter, a quarterly newsletter for GWTW fans, and served as artistic adviser for a 1999 U.S. postage stamp featuring the novel.

Brent Wolfingbarger is the author of “The Dirty Secret” (Smallridge Publishing), a political thriller about two star-crossed former lovers from opposite sides of the political fence who are drawn back together by a legal battle over the closest presidential election in history, where the difference between victory and defeat in the Electoral College comes down to 259 votes in West Virginia.

He has been practicing law for almost two decades, representing both Democrats and Republicans in closely contested, high-profile election law battles.  Wolfingbarger lives in Washington, DC where he continues to work as a prosecutor.

Dolly Yates is a local author, who, in her 90^th year, wrote and published her first book, “Tales from the Teapot: Hidden Treasures Found in the History of Tea”.  The book is informational, entertaining, and inspirational.

She has since written two more books.

Thomas Young is the author of the suspense novel “Silent Enemy” (Putnam Adult), which follows the characters of his previous novel, “The Mullah’s Storm.” In addition to being the author of three books, Young is a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  He serves as a Senior Master Sergeant in the Air National Guard and has been a flight engineer in war zones around the world, earning two Air Medals, three Aerial Achievement Medals and the Air Force Combat Action Medal.  He holds a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Alexandria, Va.