THE 2020 FESTIVAL

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival was established in 1996 to celebrate the centenary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birth, in Rockville, Maryland, the city where Fitzgerald, his wife, and his daughter are buried. The Festival seeks to honor the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and those of prominent American literary artists and to support, encourage, and assist aspiring and emerging writers and students interested in the literary arts. Originally a one-day event, the Festival now includes programs on three days. The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival is co-sponsored by the City of Rockville and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc.

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The centerpiece of the Literary Festival is the presentation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature to a prominent American writer, who is present to give a reading and a master class. Over the years, many of the most distinguished American literary figures of the last half century have been honored. The 2020 recipient is Barbara Kingsolver. The 2020 Festival will be held virtually, with events on September 24, October 2, and October 3.

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On the evening of October 2 at 8 p.m., the Festival will co-sponsor with Politics & Prose Bookstore a reading by Barbara Kingsolver from her new book, How to Fly (in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons). The activities on October 3 include morning and afternoon writing workshops designed for both emerging and established fiction and non-fiction writers; a Master Class with Barbara Kingsolver; a talk on “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Rockville” by historian Eileen McGuckian; and an Awards Ceremony featuring a reading by Barbara Kingsolver.

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The 2020 Festival also sponsors two short story contests: a Student Contest open to Montgomery County high school students and an Adult Contest open to residents of Maryland, DC, and Virginia. The winners and two runners-up in each contest will be announced and awarded cash prizes at a virtual ceremony on the evening of September 24, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 124th birthday. That evening’s activities will also feature a conversation on “Gatsby Set Loose in the Public Domain: What’s Next?” with Kirk Curnutt, Executive Director of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society,  James L. W. West III., General Editor Emeritus of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Jackson R. Bryer, President of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society.