A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 16, 2026

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Featured Authors


Echoes Through the Stacks

Fran Abrams

Featured Title: Echoes Through the Stacks

Fran Abrams began writing poetry at the age of 73 after retiring from her career in government and nonprofit administration. Her poems appear in numerous journals and in more than 20 anthologies and have been published in five collections, most… Continue Reading

Sarah Adler

Featured Title: Finders Keepers

USA Today best-selling author Sarah Adler writes romantic comedies about lovable weirdos finding their happily ever afters. She lives in Frederick, Md., with her husband, daughter, and a very mischievous cat named Noodle. When she’s not reading or writing, you… Continue Reading

Rabih Alameddine

Featured Title: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels “The Wrong End of the Telescope;” “Angel of History;” “An Unnecessary Woman;” “The Hakawati;” “I, the Divine;” “Koolaids;” the story collection, “The Perv;” and one work of nonfiction, “Comforting Myths.” He has… Continue Reading

Amari and the Metalwork Menace by BB Alston

BB Alston

Featured Title: Amari and the Metalwork Menace

B. B. Alston is the #1 New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of the “Supernatural Investigations” series. His books have been published in more than 30 countries and won numerous awards, including being named the Overall Winner of… Continue Reading

Convergence

Randall Amster

Featured Title: Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War

Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., is the co-director and teaching professor of Environment & Sustainability at Georgetown University. He teaches and publishes on subjects including peace and nonviolence, social and environmental justice, political theory, and emerging technologies, and writes for a… Continue Reading

Dr. Stanley Andrisse

Featured Title: Breaking Chains, Building Futures: Pathways to Redemption, Education, and Excellence

Stanley Andrisse, M.B.A., Ph.D., is a formerly incarcerated person who transformed his life from prison to becoming a tenured endocrinology professor at Howard University College of Medicine. He is the executive director of From Prison Cells to PhD (P2P), a… Continue Reading

Andrew Auseon

Featured Title: Spellbinders: Overpowered

Andrew Auseon is the author of several books for children and young adults, and he is the writer of numerous best-selling and award-winning video games. A transplant from the Midwest, he lives in Washington, D.C., with his family and two… Continue Reading

Tracey Baptiste

Featured Title: Moko Magic: Museum Mayhem

Tracey Baptiste is a New York Times best-selling author of over 30 books for children. She writes stories for kids of all ages with adventure, history, science, and sometimes all three. Her most recent books are the kindergarten superhero book… Continue Reading

Derrick Barnes

Featured Title: Seven Million Steps: The True Story of Dick Gregory's Run for the Hungry

Derrick Barnes is the creator of The New York Times best-selling companion picture books “The King of Kindergarten” and “The Queen of Kindergarten.” His graphic novel, “Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice,” was a National Book Award finalist and… Continue Reading

Madeline Bell

Featured Title: The Austen Affair

Madeline Bell grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Writing as Christine Calella, she is the author of two YA novels, “The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray” and “Liar’s Kingdom.” Like any… Continue Reading

Stefan Merrill Block

Featured Title: Homeschooled

Stefan Merrill Block grew up in Plano, Texas. His first book, “The Story of Forgetting,” was an international best-seller and the winner of Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, The Ovid Prize from the Romanian Writer’s… Continue Reading

Special Teams by Fred Bowen

Fred Bowen

Featured Title: Special Teams

Fred Bowen is the author of 30 sports books for young readers ages 8-12. He is the creator and author of the Fred Bowen Sports Story series, 27 books that combine sports fiction, sports history and always have a chapter… Continue Reading

Kelly Catharine Bradley

Featured Title: a gift

kelly c bradley is a mother, poet, grave tender and griever. Her first book of poetry, “love, loss and the enormity of it all” (FootHills Publishing), was followed by “a gift” (Baeley Atlas Co) and will be followed by “and… Continue Reading

Sarah Browning

Featured Title: Call Me Yes

Sarah Browning is the author of “Call Me Yes” (FlowerSong, 2026), “Killing Summer” (Sibling Rivalry) and “Whiskey in the Garden of Eden” (The Word Works). Co-curator/co-host of Wild Indigo Poetry, she teaches with Writers in Progress and coaches writers one-on-one.… Continue Reading

Nick Bruel

Featured Title: Bad Kitty Gets a Job

Nick Bruel is the creator of The New York Times best-selling Bad Kitty series. He lives with his family in Pleasantville, N.Y., along with their sometimes-good-sometimes-bad cats Rose and Noodles. Nick will be presenting “Bad Kitty Gets a Job.”

Echoes Through the Stacks

Eve Burton

Featured Title: Echoes Through the Stacks: Celebrating Five Years of Poems Penned at Poetry Evenings at Quince Orchard Library

eve is a Voices In The Glen storyteller, librarian, and poet who shares her writing with Poetry Evenings at Quince Orchard Library and other venues in Montgomery County, Md. She has led poetry groups for children, teens, and adults. She… Continue Reading

Darlene P. Campos

Featured Title: The Center of the Earth

Darlene P. Campos earned her M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso and her B.A. in English with a medical studies minor from the University of Houston. She has been featured in School Library Journal,… Continue Reading

Miriam Chernick

Featured Title: The Zuzu Secret

Miriam Chernick is the author of “The Zuzu Secret,” her debut novel for young readers. Previously she published “A Kid’s Guide to Washington, D.C.,” Revised and Updated. Miriam is a substitute teacher in her local public schools and a caregiver… Continue Reading

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu

John Chu

Featured Title: The Subtle Art of Folding Space

John Chu is a microprocessor architect by day, a writer by night. His fiction has appeared in venues including Boston Review, Uncanny, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Reactor. His translations have been published at venues including Clarkesworld, The Big Book… Continue Reading

Chanel Cleeton

Featured Title: The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes

Chanel Cleeton is The New York Times best-selling author of 20 books, including Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick “Next Year in Havana.” Originally from Florida, Chanel grew up on stories of her family’s exodus from Cuba following the Cuban Revolution.… Continue Reading

Captain's Dinner by Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen

Featured Title: Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History

Adam Cohen is a journalist and lawyer. He was a senior writer for Time magazine and a New York Times Editorial Board member. He was also a public interest law litigator, and a Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School.… Continue Reading

Susan Coll

Featured Title: The Literati

“The Literati” is Susan Coll’s eighth novel. Her previous works include the USA Today best-selling “Real Life and Other Fictions,” “Bookish People,” and “The Stager,” a New York Times and Chicago Tribune Editor’s Choice. Her novel, “Acceptance,” was made into… Continue Reading

Alyssa Colman

Featured Title: Where Only Storms Grow: A Novel About the Dust Bowl

Alyssa Colman is the author of “Where Only Storms Grow: A Novel About the Dust Bowl,” “The Tarnished Garden,” and “The Gilded Girl,” which won the 2021 Northern Lights Book Award for middle-grade fantasy. Publishers Weekly called the story “a… Continue Reading

Sara Goodman Confino

Featured Title: Good Grief

Sara Goodman Confino is the best-selling author of six novels: “Don’t Forget to Write,” “Good Grief,” “Behind Every Good Man,” “She’s Up to No Good,” “For the Love of Friends,” and the upcoming “Off the Record.” After spending more years… Continue Reading

Katie Cotugno

Featured Title: Penelope Positano Sees It All

Katie Cotugno is the author of more than a dozen books for readers of all ages. She is also the co-author, with Candace Bushnell, of “Rules for Being a Girl.” Her books have been honored by the Junior Library Guild,… Continue Reading

Convergence

Lisa Couturier

Featured Title: Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War

A 2022 finalist for the Annie Dillard Award in Creative Nonfiction and a Pushcart Prize winner for her essay “Dark Horse,” Lisa Couturier is author of the collection of essays, “The Hopes of Snakes” (Beacon), and the poetry chapbook “Animals… Continue Reading

Stephanie Cowell

Featured Title: The Man in the Stone Cottage

Stephanie Cowell has been an opera singer, balladeer, founder of Strawberry Opera and other arts venues including a Renaissance festival in NYC. She is the author of “Nicholas Cooke,” “The Physician of London,” “The Players: A Novel of the young… Continue Reading

Deadwood by Peter Cozzens

Peter Cozzens

Featured Title: Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American West

Peter Cozzens is a retired Foreign Service Officer and the multiple award-winning author of 19 books on the Civil War and the American West His most recent book is the newly released “Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American… Continue Reading

Theft of the Ruby Lotus by Sayantani DasGupta

Sayantani DasGupta

Featured Title: Theft of the Ruby Lotus

Sayantani DasGupta is The New York Times best-selling author of the critically acclaimed Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which – “The Serpent’s Secret” – was a Bank Street Best Book of… Continue Reading

Injustice

Aaron C. Davis

Featured Title: Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department

Aaron C. Davis is an investigative reporter for The Washington Post who has won the Pulitzer Prize twice and has been a finalist three times. He was a lead writer and reporter on the Post’s investigative series into the January… Continue Reading

Sarah Dessen

Featured Title: Change of Plans

Sarah Dessen is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of over a dozen novels for teens, including “The Truth About Forever,” “Just Listen,” and “This Lullaby.” Her work has been published in over 30 countries and sold millions of… Continue Reading

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson

Featured Title: Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson is the author of the critically-acclaimed book “Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free,” which came out in 2025 from Simon & Schuster. Dickinson’s first book has been hailed as an exceptional biography and an essential… Continue Reading

The Last Ember by Lily Dodd

Lily Dodd

Featured Title: The Last Ember: The Aerimander Chronicles Book 1

Lily Berlin Dodd is a California-born, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based writer. In 2022, she graduated from Yale University, where she was a recipient of the Theron Rockwell Field Prize. Her previously published work includes “Search and Rescue,” a novella produced for Audible.… Continue Reading

Stephanie Dray

Featured Title: A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams

Stephanie Dray is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of historical fiction. Her award-winning work has been translated into many languages and tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. She lives… Continue Reading

Lacey N. Dunham

Featured Title: The Belles

Lacey N. Dunham’s novel “The Belles” (2025) was named a Best Book of 2025 by Library Journal and Crime Reads. A Poets & Writers Magazine 2025 Writer to Watch, Lacey has received writing fellowships from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the… Continue Reading

Thomas Elrod

Featured Title: The Franchise

Thomas Elrod lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter. His writing has appeared in the LA Review of Books, Independent Weekly, and elsewhere. “The Franchise” is his first novel. BlueSky Instagram: @tomelrod86  

Michele Evans

Featured Title: purl

Michele Evans is the author of “februaries” (Yellow Arrow Publishing, 2026) and “purl” (Finishing Line Press, 2025). She is a fifth-generation Washingtonian (D.C.), poet, English and Creative Writing teacher, and adviser for “Unbound,” an award-winning high school literary arts magazine.… Continue Reading

A Method for Magic and Misfortune by Craig Kofi Farmer

Craig Kofi Farmer

Featured Title: A Method for Magic and Misfortune

Craig Kofi Farmer is a Prince George’s County, Md., native, with two Bachelor of Science degrees from Towson University and one Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He works in higher education administration, helping students… Continue Reading

Stefan Fatsis

Featured Title: Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary

Stefan Fatsis is the author of The New York Times best-seller “Word Freak,” about the world of competitive Scrabble; “A Few Seconds of Panic,” about life in the National Football League; and “Wild and Outside,” about minor league baseball. His… Continue Reading

Beth Ann Fennelly

Featured Title: The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs

Beth Ann Fennelly, poet laureate of Mississippi from 2016 to 2021, is the author of six books, most recently, “Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs.” She lives with her husband and their three children in Oxford, Miss. Instagram: @bethannfennelly

Charles Ferguson

Featured Title: Presidential Seclusion: The Power of Camp David

Charles Ferguson spent three and a half years as the Camp David Historian and Presidential Chaplain. During that time, he coordinated with 14 Presidential Libraries to better tell the true story of the President’s exclusive mountaintop retreat, scouring records and… Continue Reading

Moderator

Kristin Kowalski Ferragut

Featured Title: Love Letters from Cuckold Creek

Kristin Kowalski Ferragut is a poet-mom who lives in Maryland where she teaches, plays guitar, sings, rides her bike, and hosts readings and open mics. She is author of the full-length poetry collections “Escape Velocity” (Kelsay Books, 2021) and “Love… Continue Reading

Dan Fesperman

Featured Title: Pariah

Dan Fesperman began writing about dangerous and unseemly people and places as a foreign correspondent for the Baltimore Sun. Now traveling on his own dime, his 14 critically acclaimed novels of intrigue and suspense draw upon that experience. His books… Continue Reading

The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

Alex Finlay

Featured Title: The Anniversary

Alex Finlay is the best-selling author of several acclaimed novels, including the 2024 national best-seller, “If Something Happens to Me.” His work regularly appears on best-of-the-year lists and has been translated into 25 languages and sold around the world. Nearly… Continue Reading

Sharon G. Flake

Featured Title: Hattie Mae Begins Again

Sharon G. Flake is the author of “The Skin I’m In,” which has sold over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into numerous languages. Since its publication, Sharon has authored over a dozen books, winning multiple Coretta Scott… Continue Reading

Gretchen Powell Fox

Featured Title: Smoke and Scar

Gretchen Powell Fox is the award-winning author of “Smoke and Scar” and “Splintered Kingdom,” the first two books in the epic romantic fantasy trilogy, “Shattered Crown.” Initially self-published, the series has earned numerous accolades, including a Best of #BookTok designation… Continue Reading

Eli Frankel

Featured Title: Sisters in Death: The Black Dahlia, the Prairie Heiress, and Their Hunter

Eli Frankel has served as a television and documentary production company owner, Emmy-nominated executive producer, network executive, showrunner, editor, camera operator, writer, and director of multiple series for broadcast television, cable television, and streaming networks. His credits include MGM/Epix’s definitive… Continue Reading

Alexis Frederick-Frost

Featured Title: Team Unihorn and Woolly #4: Creatures from the Skull Cave

Alexis Frederick-Frost is a cartoonist whose books are distinguished by their vibrant art and whimsical humor. He is the co-author and illustrator of the critically acclaimed “Adventures in Cartooning” series of graphic novels and picture books, and is the author… Continue Reading

Max Meow by John Gallagher

John Gallagher

Featured Title: Max Meow 6: When Pancakes Go Bad (Really Bad!)

John Gallagher is an art teacher, art director, and co-founder of “Kids Love Comics” (an organization that uses graphic novels to promote literacy). He leads workshops teaching kids how to create their own comics. John lives in Virginia with his… Continue Reading

In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls by Majda Gama

Majda Gama

Featured Title: In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls

Majda Gama is an Arab-American poet born in Beirut to a Saudi father and an American mother. Majda is the award-winning author of “In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls” (Wandering Aengus Press) and “The Call of Paradise, (Two… Continue Reading

Selling Opportunity by Mary Lisa Gavenas

Mary Lisa Gavenas

Featured Title: Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay

Mary Lisa Gavenas, author of “Color Stories: Behind the Scenes of America’s Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry,” was named a Fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography and has been cited as an expert commentator on female entrepreneurship (CBS, NBC, CNN,… Continue Reading

Christopher C. Gorham

Featured Title: Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France

Christopher C. Gorham is a lawyer, educator, and acclaimed author of “The Confidante” (a Goodreads Choice Award finalist in History/Biography) and “Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France,” a finalist for the Marfield Prize for arts writing.… Continue Reading

Reyna Grande

Featured Title: Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can't Forget

Reyna Grande is an award-winning author whose work captures the complexities of immigration and the American Dream. Born in Mexico and left behind by her parents at age four, she crossed the border undocumented at age nine. These experiences fueled… Continue Reading

Ayana Gray

Featured Title: I, Medusa

Ayana Gray is a New York Times, USA Today, and Indie best-selling author. Her works have been translated into a dozen languages across five continents, and have received critical recognition at the state and national level. She has been featured… Continue Reading

John Patrick Green

Featured Title: Investigators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble

John Patrick Green is a human with the human job of making books about animals with human jobs, notably the smash-hit graphic novel series “InvestiGators.” John is definitely a multiple New York Times best-selling human author and not just a… Continue Reading

Corey Ann Haydu

Featured Title: The Ordinary and Extraordinary Auden Greene

Author and educator Corey Ann Haydu has been publishing critically acclaimed books in the young adult and children’s space since 2013, including Edgar Award Nominated “Eventown” and ALA RISE Honoree “Lawless Spaces,” as well as her recent chapter books series… Continue Reading

The Sky Will Hold by Elizabeth Hazen

Elizabeth Hazen

Featured Title: The Sky Will Hold

Elizabeth Hazen is a poet and essayist. Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Epoch, American Literary Review, Shenandoah, and other journals. She has published three collections of poetry: “Chaos Theories” (2016), “Girls Like Us” (2020), and “The Sky… Continue Reading

Christina Henry

Featured Title: The Place Where They Buried Your Heart

Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author of 19 novels. Her most recent work is “The Place Where They Buried Your Heart.” Her short stories have been featured in several anthologies, including “HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from… Continue Reading

Kate Hilton

Featured Title: City of the Muse

Kate Hilton is a best-selling Canadian writer. Her fiction includes “City of the Muse,” “The Hole in the Middle,” “Just Like Family,” and “Better Luck Next Time.” She is also the co-author, with Elizabeth Renzetti, of the Quill & Packet… Continue Reading

The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds

Gareth Hinds

Featured Title: The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel

Gareth Hinds is the creator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including “Beowulf,” “The Odyssey,” “The Iliad,” “Romeo & Juliet,” “Macbeth,” and “POE: Stories and Poems.” Gareth is a recipient of the Boston Public Library’s Literary Lights for… Continue Reading

Boys with Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell

Jenni Howell

Featured Title: Boys with Sharp Teeth

Jenni Howell is The New York Times best-selling author of “Boys with Sharp Teeth.” Before becoming an author, she tried out archaeology, linguistics, mongoose herding (known to some as “teaching”), finance, and espionage, but always got bored. Now she writes… Continue Reading

Audrey Ingram

Featured Title: The Summer We Ran

Audrey Ingram is the author of “A River Runs South” and “The Group Trip.” She is a graduate of Middlebury College and Georgetown University Law Center, and practiced law in Washington, D.C., for 15 years. When not writing, she can… Continue Reading

Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson

Sadeqa Johnson

Featured Title: Keeper of Lost Children

Sadeqa Johnson is a New York Times best-selling author of five novels. Her most recent novel, “The House of Eve,” was an instant New York Times best-seller, Reese’s Book Club selection, Target Book Club pick, nominated for a NAACP Image… Continue Reading

Glorious Country by Victoria Johnson

Victoria Johnson

Featured Title: Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World

Victoria Johnson is a writer and professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City, where she teaches on the history of philanthropy, nonprofits, and New York City. She is the author of “American Eden: David… Continue Reading

Sheri Joseph

Featured Title: Angels at the Gate

Sheri Joseph’s novel, “Angels at the Gate,” has just been published. Her previous books are the novels “Where You Can Find Me” and “Stray,” and a cycle of stories, “Bear Me Safely Over.” Her short fiction has appeared in numerous… Continue Reading

Melanie D.G. Kaplan

Featured Title: Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research

Melanie D.G. Kaplan is a longtime independent journalist whose travel and science writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and National Parks magazine. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, a 2021–2022 MIT… Continue Reading

Retribution by Jonathan Karl

Jonathan Karl

Featured Title: Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America

Jonathan Karl is the chief Washington correspondent for ABC News and co-anchor of This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Karl has covered every major beat in Washington, D.C., including the White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the State Department. He… Continue Reading

Alma Katsu

Featured Title: Fiend

Alma Katsu is The New York Times best-selling author of nine novels, including “The Hunger” (“supernatural suspense at its finest”-New York Times) and, most recently, “The Fervor” (“a feat of pure storytelling”- New York Times). Her books have won or… Continue Reading

Alan Katz

Featured Title: The Funniest Animal Joke Book Ever For Kids

Alan Katz has written 50+ highly acclaimed books for kids, including “Take Me Out of the Bathtub” (now in its 25th year!), “Got Your Nose!,” “Oops!,” “Zooloween,” “The Funniest Joke Book Ever for Kids,” and “The Funniest Animal Joke Book… Continue Reading

Tony Keith Jr.

Featured Title: How the Boogeyman Became a Poet

Tony Keith Jr. is a Black American gay poet, spoken word artist, and hip-hop educational leader from Washington, D.C. He is author of the YA memoir in verse How the Boogeyman Became a Poet. Tony’s writings have appeared in the… Continue Reading

Erin Entrada Kelly

Featured Title: The Second Life of Snap

Erin Entrada Kelly is the author of the Newbery Medal-winning novels “Hello, Universe” and “The First State of Being,” which was also named a finalist for the National Book Award. She received a Newbery Honor for her acclaimed novel “We… Continue Reading

Dorian Elizabeth Knapp

Featured Title: Causa Sui

Dorian Elizabeth Knapp is the author of three poetry collections: “Causa Sui” (Three Mile Harbor Press, 2025), winner of the Three Mile Harbor Press Poetry Prize; “Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak” (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2019), winner of… Continue Reading

Michelle Knudsen

Featured Title: Into the Wild Magic

Michelle Knudsen is The New York Times best-selling author of more than 50 books for children and young adults, including the award-winning “Library Lion” (Time magazine’s 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time). Other titles include the picture book “Luigi,… Continue Reading

Christopher Kondrich

Featured Title: Tread Upon

Christopher Kondrich is a poet and writer whose third book, “Tread Upon,” will be published by Copper Canyon Press in April 2026. He is also the author of “Valuing” (University of Georgia Press, 2019), which won the National Poetry Series… Continue Reading

Sharon Kurtzman

Featured Title: The Lost Baker of Vienna

Sharon Kurtzman worked in television marketing before pursuing her dream of becoming a writer. She earned her M.F.A. in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. “The Lost… Continue Reading

David LaRochelle

Featured Title: This Superhero Needs Your Help!

David LaRochelle is the author of “Isle of You,” illustrated by Jaime Kim, as well as “How to Apologize,” “Go and Get with Rex,” “Mr. Fox’s Game of “No!”,” and the “See the Cat” series, all illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka.… Continue Reading

Jane Leavy

Featured Title: Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It

Jane Leavy is the author of The New York Times best-sellers “The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created,” “The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood,” “Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy,” and the comic… Continue Reading

Courtney LeBlanc

Featured Title: Her Dark Everything

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of four full-length collections, most recently “Her Dark Everything.” She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press, and Poetry Coven, a monthly generative workshop. She loves nail polish,… Continue Reading

Megan Leonard

Featured Title: Larkspur Queen

Megan Leonard is the author of “Larkspur Queen,” “book of lullabies,” and the forthcoming “Dear _____.” A poet, visual artist, and essayist, Meg’s work has appeared in Electric Literature, the Bellevue Literary Review, The Fourth River, and elsewhere, and her… Continue Reading

Injustice

Carol Leonnig

Featured Title: Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department

Carol Leonnig, a five-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is the author of three best-selling books and an investigative reporter who has worked at The Washington Post for the last 25 years. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her… Continue Reading

Arden Levine

Featured Title: Spoke

Arden Levine’s poems, essays, and reviews have been featured by the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Society of America, and WNYC’s Radiolab, and appeared in Harvard Review, AGNI, Barrow Street, Indiana Review, and elsewhere. A member of the National Book Critics Circle… Continue Reading

Brian Lies

Featured Title: Cat Nap

Brian Lies is the author/illustrator of over 30 children’s books, including his New York Times best-selling bat series (“Bats at the Beach,” etc.), his 2019 Caldecott Honor-winning “The Rough Patch,” and 2025’s “Cat Nap,” which garnered seven starred reviews and… Continue Reading

Jenn Lyons

Featured Title: Green & Deadly Things

Twice-nominated Astounding Award finalist Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, with her husband, a rebellious cait sìth, and a nearly infinite number of opinions on everything from Sumerian mythology to the proper way to make a martini. After 30 years as… Continue Reading

Right Back At You by Carolyn Mackler

Carolyn Mackler

Featured Title: Right Back at You

Carolyn Mackler is the acclaimed author of the YA novels “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” (A Michael L. Printz Honor Book), “The Universe Is Expanding and So Am I,” “Infinite in Between,” “Tangled,” “The Future of… Continue Reading

Cynthia Manick

Featured Title: No Sweet Without Brine

Cynthia Manick is the author of “No Sweet Without Brine” (Amistad-HarperCollins, 2023), which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, was named among the Best Poetry of the Last Year (2023) by Ms. Magazine, and was selected as a New York… Continue Reading

Leonard S. Marcus

Featured Title: Earthrise: The Story of the Photograph That Changed the Way We See Our Planet

Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s leading writers about children’s books and the people who create them. His own award-winning books include “Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing,” “Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine… Continue Reading

Michelle Maryk

Featured Title: The Found Object Society

Michelle Maryk graduated from Cornell University and also attended the Yale Writer’s Workshop. She has been a full-time voiceover artist, as well as a commercial and comedic actor, for over 25 years. “The Found Object Society” is a novel of… Continue Reading

Sujata Massey

Featured Title: The Star from Calcutta

Sujata Massey was born in England to parents from India and Germany, grew up in St. Paul, Minn., and lives in Baltimore, Md. She was a features reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun before becoming a full-time novelist. The first… Continue Reading

Beyond Seven Forests by Amanda McCrina

Amanda McCrina

Featured Title: Beyond Seven Forests

Amanda McCrina is a writer and bookseller. Her award-winning historical novels for young adults include “Traitor,” “The Silent Unseen,” “I’ll Tell You No Lies,” and most recently, “Beyond Seven Forests.” She holds a degree in history and political science from… Continue Reading

Kim Roberts Meikle

Featured Title: America's Future: poetry & prose in response to tomorrow

Kim Roberts Meikle is the author of seven books of poems, most recently “Q&A for the End of the World,” a collaboration with Michael Gushue (WordTech Editions, 2025), and two guidebooks, including “The District’s Departed: Walking Tours of D.C.-Area Cemeteries”… Continue Reading

Nicole Melleby

Featured Title: Brady Mason's Perfect Fit

Nicole Melleby, a New Jersey native, is the author of highly praised middle-grade books, including the Lambda Literary finalist “Hurricane Season,” ALA Notable book “How to Become a Planet,” “Camp QUILTBAG” (co-written with A. J. Sass), and “The House on… Continue Reading

Leland Melvin

Featured Title: Space Chasers: To the Moon

Leland Melvin is an engineer, educator, author, former NASA astronaut, and NFL wide receiver. He served on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on mission STS-122 (2008) and STS-129 (2009), helping to construct the International Space Station.… Continue Reading

Emily Mendenhall

Featured Title: Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID

Emily Mendenhall is an award-winning author, anthropologist, editor, and professor at Georgetown University. Emily’s work often addresses challenges people face at the intersections of culture, health, and politics, and focuses on how people navigate the troubled waters of chronic illness… Continue Reading

Chloe Yelena Miller

Featured Title: Perforated

Chloe Yelena Miller is a writer and teacher living in Washington, D.C., with her partner and child. She’s the author of “Perforated” (2026) and “Viable” (2021), both published by Lily Poetry Review Books, and also the poetry chapbook, “Unrest” (Finishing… Continue Reading

Naomi Milliner

Featured Title: The Trouble with Secrets

Naomi Milliner is the author of “Super Jake and the King of Chaos” and coeditor and contributor to “On All Other Nights,” a Passover anthology for middle-grade readers. She created the Authors Book Club for her SCBWI chapter and has… Continue Reading

Rebecca Morrison

Featured Title: The Blue Dress

Rebecca Morrison is the author of “The Blue Dress,” a middle-grade novel based on her childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into her new American homeland, and her family’s expectations of beauty. Her work has appeared in The… Continue Reading

Jason Mott

Featured Title: People Like Us

Best-selling author Jason Mott has a B.F.A. in Fiction and an M.F.A. in Poetry, both from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is the author of two poetry collections and five novels. Jason’s fourth novel, “Hell Of A… Continue Reading

Megan Kate Nelson

Featured Title: The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier

Megan Kate Nelson is a historian, cocktail enthusiast, and the author of five books, including the forthcoming, “The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier,” as well as”The Three-Cornered War” (2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist, History) and “Saving Yellowstone” (2023… Continue Reading

G. Neri

Featured Title: My Bicentennial Summer: True Adventures from the Most Epic Family Road Trip of All Time

G. Neri is the Michael L. Printz and Coretta Scott King award-winning author of such books as “Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty” and “Concrete Cowboy,” which was made into a movie starring Idris Elba. His books have… Continue Reading

Matthew Norman

Featured Title: Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon

Matthew Norman lives in Baltimore with his wife and two children. His latest novel, “Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon,” is out now. His previous novels include “Charm City Rocks,” “All Together Now,” “Last Couple Standing,” “We’re All Damaged,” and… Continue Reading

Keith O’Brien

Featured Title: Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird

Keith O’Brien is The New York Times best-selling author of “Charlie Hustle,” “Paradise Falls,” “Fly Girls,” and “Outside Shot.” He has won the 2025 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld award for biography; has been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary… Continue Reading

George Packer

Featured Title: The Emergency

George Packer is an award-winning author and a staff writer at The Atlantic. He has written many books, including “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America” (winner of the National Book Award) and, most recently, “Last Best Hope:… Continue Reading

The Queen and Her Presidents by Susan Page

Susan Page

Featured Title: The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History

Susan Page is Washington Bureau chief of USA Today, where she writes about the White House and national politics. She is the best-selling author of several books, including “Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power,” “The Rulebreaker: The… Continue Reading

Echoes Through the Stacks

Sunayna Pal

Featured Title: Echoes Through the Stacks: Celebrating Five Years of Poems Penned at Poetry Evenings at Quince Orchard Library

Sunayna Pal’s poetry graces the pages of numerous international journals and anthologies, and is featured at museums and poetry festivals, and in textbooks and libraries, resonating with readers around the world. Her debut book, “Refugees in Their Own Country” (B&W… Continue Reading

Linda Sue Park

Featured Title: Just One Gift

Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medal winner for “A Single Shard” and #1 New York Times best-seller for “A Long Walk to Water,” is the renowned author of picture books and novels for young readers. Linda Sue is the founder and… Continue Reading

Nick Petrie

Featured Title: The Dark Time

Nick Petrie is the author of nine novels in the Peter Ash series, most recently “The Price You Pay.” His debut, “The Drifter,” won both the ITW Thriller award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel, and was a… Continue Reading

All the Possible Bodies by Iain Haley Pollock

Iain Haley Pollock

Featured Title: All the Possible Bodies

Iain Haley Pollock is the author of three poetry collections, “Spit Back a Boy” (2011), “Ghost, Like a Place” (Alice James, 2018), and “All the Possible Bodies” (Alice James, 2025). His poems have appeared in numerous publications, ranging from American… Continue Reading

Tim Probert

Featured Title: Lightfall: A Place Between

Tim Probert is an author and illustrator whose work is made of equal parts wonder, magic and adventure, with a dose of monsters and the occasional dinosaur. In addition to making books, he is an art director at Aardman Nathan… Continue Reading

Lori Rader-Day

Featured Title: Wreck Your Heart

Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award-nominated and Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of “Wreck Your Heart,” “The Death of Us,” “Death at Greenway,” “The Lucky One,” “Under a Dark Sky,” and others. Lori earned a Master of… Continue Reading

Steven Ratiner

Featured Title: Grief's Apostrophe

Steven Ratiner is a poet, essayist, editor, and educator. He is the Poet Laureate Emeritus for Arlington, Mass., and the President of the New England Poetry Club, one of the oldest literary associations in America. His new poetry collection, “Grief’s… Continue Reading

Sherri Duskey Rinker

Featured Title: Construction Site: Firefight!

Sherri Duskey Rinker is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of “Steam Train, Dream Train” and the “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site” series (eight picture books and counting!). She is also the author of young middle novel “Revver the Speedway… Continue Reading

The Metamorphosis of Bunny Baxter by Barbara Carroll Roberts

Barbara Carroll Roberts

Featured Title: The Metamorphosis of Bunny Baxter

Barbara Carroll Roberts’s books for young readers include the novels “Nikki on the Line,” a finalist for two state children’s book awards, and “The Metamorphosis of Bunny Baxter,” a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her picture book, “A Rose… Continue Reading

Unicorn Boy and the Slumber Party of Doom by Dave Roman

Dave Roman

Featured Title: Unicorn Boy and the Slumber Party of Doom!

Dave Roman is the award-winning author/illustrator of several graphic novel series, including “Unicorn Boy” and “Astronaut Academy” (winner of the Black-Eyed Susan book award). He’s worked as a writer on “Teen Boat! Race for Boatlantis” (with John Patrick Green) and… Continue Reading

Jonathan Roth

Featured Title: Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars

Jonathan Roth is an Earth-bound but space loving author-illustrator of fun, STEAM-themed books for kids including the graphic novel series “Rover and Speck” (Kids Can Press), which made the American Library Association’s Best Graphic Novels list, and the amazing true… Continue Reading

Steve Sheinkin

Featured Title: Diamond Fever!: A True Crime Story in the Wild West

Steve Sheinkin is an acclaimed author whose accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal and honor, and three National Book Award finalist honors. His fast-paced, cinematic non-fiction histories include “Impossible Escape,” “Fallout,” “Undefeated,” “Born… Continue Reading

The Place That Is Coming to Us by J.D. Smith

J.D. Smith

Featured Title: The Place That Is Coming to Us

J.D. Smith has published seven collections of poetry, most recently “The Place That Is Coming to Us” from Broadstone Books in September 2025. He has received Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Center for the… Continue Reading

Boy from the North Country by Sam Sussman

Sam Sussman

Featured Title: Boy from the North Country

Sam Sussman grew up in the Hudson Valley. He graduated with a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Oxford and has lived in Berlin and Jerusalem. His writing has been recognized by BAFTA… Continue Reading

The Underwild by Shana Targosz

Shana Targosz

Featured Title: Relic of Thieves (The Underwild)

Shana Targosz writes about magical girls, budding friendships, ghosts who may or may not be friendly, and fiercely held hope. She is an Oregon Literary Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature.… Continue Reading

Charlene Thomas

Featured Title: It's You Every Time

Charlene Thomas – a Gaithersburg native and graduate of Gaithersburg High School – is a big dreamer who loves creating characters who are steadfastly determined to change their own little parts of the world. Her debut novel, “Seton Girls,” received… Continue Reading

Capital Queer

Piérre Ramon Thomas

Featured Title: Capital Queer: A Pride Celebration from Washington Writers' Publishing House

Piérre Ramon Thomas is a Black queer writer whose work orbits around identity, gender, sexuality, queer love, erotica, and nature. He is rounding out his first year at American University pursuing an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Piérre has been published… Continue Reading

Jennifer van der Kleut

Featured Title: The Better Mother

Jennifer van der Kleut (née McBride) is an award-winning former journalist of both print and online publications including WJLA, the Washington, D.C. affiliate of ABC7 News. A graduate of San Jose State University, she spent most of her life in… Continue Reading

Alexandra Villasante

Featured Title: Fireblooms

Alexandra Villasante’s young adult novel, “The Grief Keeper,” won the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s Literature/Young Adult Fiction and was a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection. Alex is a contributor to several young adult short story anthologies and… Continue Reading

Steve Vogel

Featured Title: A Task Force Called Faith: The Untold Story of the U.S. Army Soldiers Who Fought for Survival at Chosin Reservoir―and Honor Back Home

Steve Vogel, the author of “A Task Force Called Faith,” is a veteran journalist who reported for The Washington Post for more than two decades, writing extensively about military affairs. His reporting about the war in Afghanistan was part of… Continue Reading

Jasmine Warga

Featured Title: The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan

Jasmine Warga is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of “The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan,” “A Rover’s Story,” “The Shape of Thunder,” and “A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall.” Her book “Other Words for Home” received… Continue Reading

Fourteen Ways of Looking at Jellyfish by Carole Boston Weatherford

Carole Boston Weatherford

Featured Title: Fourteen Ways of Looking at Jellyfish

Carole Boston Weatherford is a Newbery Honoree and a New York Times best-selling author and poet and was named the 2025–2026 Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. Her numerous books for children include the Coretta Scott King Author… Continue Reading

Karen Winn

Featured Title: The Society

Karen Winn is the author of “The Society” (Dutton, 2026) and “Our Little World” (Dutton, 2022). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Hippocampus, Lit Hub, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. She earned her M.F.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.… Continue Reading

Patrick Wohl

Featured Title: Something Big: The True Story of the Brown's Chicken Massacre, A Decade-Long Manhunt, and the Trials That Followed

Patrick Wohl is an author and lawyer originally from Illinois. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and attended The George Washington University. His first book, “Down Ballot,” tells the story of a campaign for state representative… Continue Reading

Mural Island by Katie Yamasaki

Katie Yamasaki

Featured Title: Mural Island

Katie Yamasaki works primarily as a muralist and picture book creator. She has painted more than 90 murals around the world, exploring local stories of identity and social justice. Her picture book work explores similar themes for young readers. Her… Continue Reading

Jung Yun

Featured Title: All the World Can Hold

Jung Yun was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Fargo, N.D. She received her M.F.A. in English and Creative Writing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of “O Beautiful,” which was a New… Continue Reading