About the Festival
About
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference was founded in 1996 to commemorate the 100th birthday of celebrated American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose paternal ancestors were from Montgomery County, Maryland; Fitzgerald is buried, along with his wife Zelda and his daughter Scottie, in the cemetery of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Rockville, Maryland.
In 2013, the name of the event was officially changed to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival.
Since 1996, recipients of the Fitzgerald Award have included many of America’s most distinguished writers, all of whom have been present to accept the Award: 1996: William Styron; 1997: John Barth; 1998: Joyce Carol Oates; 1999: E. L. Doctorow; 2000: Norman Mailer; 2001: Ernest J. Gaines; 2002: John Updike; 2003: Edward Albee; 2004: Grace Paley; 2005: Pat Conroy; 2006: Jane Smiley; 2007: William Kennedy; 2008: Elmore Leonard; 2009: Julia Alvarez; 2010: Alice McDermott; 2011: Maxine Hong Kingston; 2013: Robert Olen Butler; 2014: James Salter; 2015: Richard Ford; 2016: Garrison Keillor; 2017: Annie Proulx; 2018: Richard Russo; 2019: Amy Tan; Barbara Kingsolver, 2020; John Edgar Wideman, 2021. The 2022 recipient is Richard Powers.
As a group, Fitzgerald Award honorees have received 16 Pulitzer Prizes.
Mission
The mission of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc. and its annual festival is:-
to foster understanding and appreciation of the literary arts (fiction, non-fiction, poetry,play/screenwriting, and literary journalism)
- to sponsor the annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival and to award an outstanding American writer-to support, encourage, and assist aspiring and emerging writers and students through short story contests and workshops-to work with other cultural organizations in advancing public and private support for the literary arts
-to keep the legacy of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their ties to Maryland alive
Vision
Our vision is an all-day event on a Saturday close to the date of Fitzgerald’s birth, September 24th, preceded by other events – with our partners such as Montgomery County Public Libraries, the
Writer’s Center. The vision includes workshops led by well-known, accomplished writers and teachers
o A master class conducted by our honoree (sometimes a speech; sometimes an
interview)
o Media connected to the honoree
