Culture and Recreation, Rockville Reports

Percival Everett to be Honored with F. Scott Fitzgerald Award 

The 29th annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival on Saturday, Oct. 18, will honor author and Pulitzer Prize winner Percival Everett with the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature. 

The festival will take place from 8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m. at Montgomery College in Rockville and will feature a full day of events celebrating literature and Fitzgerald’s legacy. 

In addition to Everett, other speakers will include literary critic Maureen Corrigan and author and literary critic Madison Smartt Bell. 

Known for his satirical novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “James” and National Book Award winner “Erasure,” which was adapted into the film “American Fiction,” Everett is also a distinguished professor of English at the University of Southern California. 

The Saturday schedule includes a keynote talk by literary critic Maureen Corrigan, a conversation with Everett and Smartt Bell on “The Art of Fiction,” a reading by Everett, a bus tour of Fitzgerald’s haunts in Rockville and writing workshops led by local fiction and nonfiction writers. 

In addition to the main festival day, several events will take place throughout September and October. 

Thursday, Sept. 25: A celebration of Fitzgerald’s birthday will be held 7 p.m. at Glenview Mansion, 603 Edmonston Drive, featuring John Marsh on “The Bond Market: ‘The Great Gatsby’ in the Age of Trump.” 

Thursday, Oct. 9: The winners of the festival’s two short story contests at 6 p.m. will be awarded prizes at Rockville Memorial Library. 

Oct. 17: The Writer’s Center in Bethesda will host “Readings in Honor of Percival Everett,” at 7 p.m., with a response by the celebrated author. 

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival was established in 1996 to celebrate the centenary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birth and the city where Fitzgerald, his wife and daughter are buried. 

The festival is co-sponsored by the City of Rockville, Montgomery College and the Rockville Rotary Foundation, Inc. 

Festival details are available at FitzgeraldFestival.com.