Gaithersburg Book Festival Moves Online May 16: How To Watch

GAITHERSBURG, MD — The Gaithersburg Book Festival is going digital.

The annual event — which attracts hundreds of award-winning and best-selling authors, poets, and songwriters to Bohrer Park — was initially canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It's now being held online on Saturday, May 16.

"I'm delighted that our creative staff and volunteers have figured out a way to keep the spirit of the Book Festival alive," said Gaithersburg Mayor and Book Festival Founder Jud Ashman. "We have some amazing authors who, over the next several weeks, will engage in dialog and presentations that are sure to be funny, thought provoking, enlightening and sometimes simply diversionary. We hope you'll join us for all of it."

Phil Kominski, of Freestyle Booking & Events, will be hosting the month-long event, which can be seen on the festival's YouTube channel and website.

Here's the lineup for weekend No. 1, per Gaithersburg Book Festival officials:

First up, at 1 p.m. E.T. on May 16, is a live dialog between "Valentine" author Elizabeth Wetmore and "Holding on to Nothing" author Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne. These two debut novelists write about hardscrabble living. "Valentine" explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s. "Holding on to Nothing" takes place in today's rural Tennessee, where odds are against raising a successful family in a place with little to offer.

Saturday's lineup continues with a trip to Wakanda at 3 p.m. E.T. In "Shuri: a Black Panther Novel" (Marvel) (1), New York Times best-selling author Nic Stone tells the tale of T'Challa's younger sister, Shuri. She's a skilled martial artist, a genius, and a master of science and technology. But she's also a teenager. And a princess. This story follows Shuri as she sets out on a quest to save her homeland of Wakanda. Stone will be in conversation with author Ronald L. Smith.

Wrapping up our May 16 presentations is a live conversation with the unforgettable creators of the pop culture blog, Tom and Lorenzo. At 7 p.m. E.T., Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez discuss their new book, "Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life." The book takes a definitive deep-dive into queer history and culture with hit reality show RuPaul's Drag Race as a touchstone.

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