Discovering the Gaithersburg Book Festival…
by Megan Wessell
I had lived in Gaithersburg for a couple years when I discovered the Gaithersburg Book Festival in 2014. I had wanted to go since I moved to this city but hadn’t ever made it. I couldn’t believe my good luck in having a huge book festival that happened just down the street from me. I was so excited to go! I was even more excited when I found out the festival lineup. And then I saw that Anthony Marra, author of “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena,” was going to be speaking and I knew that the festival was going to be amazing!
And it was! I got to see Anthony Marra speak. He signed my book and even made time for a chat and a selfie. I almost fell over because I was so excited getting my picture taken with him. (He was so friendly and I am thrilled that he is going to be a part of the 2016 Gaithersburg Book Festival for his new book, “The Tsar of Love and Techno.”) I met a lot of authors and and hung out with other readers. I had a ton of books signed and bought a bunch of bookish things. The Gaithersburg Book Festival is truly a mecca for bibliophiles!
Being in the Washington, D.C., area, there are a ton of book festivals and other bookish events that I have had the opportunity to attend, but the Gaithersburg Book Festival is by far my favorite. It’s intimate. It draws a crowd, but yet the location and the way that the festival is set up still makes it feel incredibly intimate. You get to talk to your favorite authors. You can ask them questions and truly interact with them. I liked my first one so much that I decided to become a volunteer. In fact, I signed up to volunteer for the next book festival before I left my first book festival!
Take a look around the GBF website! Authors that will appear at the 2016 festival are already being announced and it’s a great list! I’m already making my schedule of which authors I want to see. (Mr. Marra will definitely be one of them.)
Who are you most excited to see at the 2016 Gaithersburg Book Festival?
Megan Wessell is a member of the Gaithersburg Book Festival planning committee and blogs about books and reading at A Bookish Affair.