Did You Know that Featured Author Sarah Pekkanen Has a NOOKBook Short Story?

So in the process of searching for a link to one of GBF featured author Sarah Pekkanen's books ("Skipping a Beat" and "Opposite of Me"), we discovered a NOOKbook short story, "All Is Bright," that she wrote.

Published in December 2010, B&N describes it as "a charming story about coming home for the holidays—and finding gifts in the most unexpected of places.." Pretty cool. If you read it, weigh in with what you think.

Featured Author Sarah Pekkanen Gets Another Great Review

She's on a roll...

GBF featured author Sarah Pekkanen just received another great review for her new novel, "Skipping a Beat." The review in the Ventura County Star calls the book a "dramatic roller coaster ride of a story" and the reviewer applauds Pekkanen for delivering "a heart-wrenching and heartfelt tale that will leave an impact on the reader long after the last page is read." Read the entire review.

Featured Author Sarah Pekkanen on Children's Books and the Gender Divide

Ever wonder why it seems like more women than men -- and more girls than boys -- read? GBF featured author Sarah Pekkanen ("Skipping a Beat" and "Opposite of Me") penned an interesting piece for the Washington Post on Sunday about the gender divide and children's books. One potential key to getting more boys reading? Humor, says Pekkanen. Read more.

Book Review: "Pictures of You" by GBF Featured Author Caroline Leavitt

The Providence Journal reviewed "Pictures of You" by GBF featured author Caroline Leavitt, writing that the "the characters delight because they are so precisely complicated." The review also cites Leavitt's "compassion, lucid prose, and frank embrace of life’s thorniest moments" and calls the novel "a memorable read."

Read the full review.

GBF Featured Author Eleanor Brown Gets Another Great Review

The Sacramento Bee included "The Weird Sisters" by featured author Eleanor Brown in a recent "Pop Picks" column, calling the novel "delightful and fascinating" and a "magnificent tapestry of a tale."

Read the full review.

GBF Featured Author Dominique Paul In the News...

Kentlands resident and featured author Dominique Paul ("The Possibility of Fireflies") has been making some news lately!

Paul is on the cover of the March-April issue of Bethesda magazine (where she talks about her experience having her book optioned for a movie deal) and also was recently featured in the Town Courier.

We can't wait to hear her talk more about her experience on May 21!

Book by GBF Featured Author Robert Whitaker Sparks New Foundation

GBF featured author Robert Whitaker ("Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America") recently partnered with Gina Nikkel, executive director of the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs, to create the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health.

The Foundation plans to raise several million dollars toward non-biased research into the use of psychiatric medication. Nikkel credits reading Whitaker's book as leading her to join with Whitaker to create the Foundation.

Read the full article.

GBF Featured Author Alex Berenson Releases New Kindle Book

Alex Berenson ("The Secret Soldier" and "The Midnight House") has released a new Kindle Single, "Lost in Kandahar," which tells the story of Berenson's time embedded with the the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

Purchase the Kindle Single.

GBF Featured Author Brad Parks Writes a Love Story?

GBF featured author and Shamus Award winner Brad Parks ("Eyes of the Innocent" and "Faces of the Gone") recently penned a (charming and funny!) piece for Shelf Awareness about his email correspondence with Gayle Harris, owner of the Books and Crannies bookstore in Texas, and subsequent visit to her store.

One reveal in the piece: When he reads he does voices! Could make for an interesting show when this Shamus Award winner is at our book festival on May 21!

Read the full story, including his run-in with Gayle's husband who greeted Brad by saying: "So, this is my competition, huh? My wife has been taking you to bed with her every night this week." (Oh, and did we mention he has a Shamus Award? Why are we mentioning that so much? Read his Shelf Awareness piece and you'll get the joke!)

Miami Herald Reviews Fire on the Horizon by GBF Featured Author Tom Shroder

This past weekend, the Miami Herald reviewed "Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster" by John Konrad and GBF featured author Tom Shroder.

From the review: "At its best, the book is a fascinating look at a little-understood industry and a fast-paced and emotional story of the efforts to save the Deepwater Horizon. The authors’ account of the workers’ race to save themselves is thrilling and suspenseful, and yet the book is also a sensitive account of the lives forever changed."

Read the full review.

GBF Authors Show Each Other Some Love

GBF Featured Author Meg Waite Clayton ("The Wednesday Sisters" and the soon-to-be-released "The Four Ms. Bradwells") has been hosting a number of GBF featured authors on her blog, 1st Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started.

Her latest GBF featured author guest is Sarah Pekkanen who just released her second novel, "Skipping a Beat." Pekkanen writes about her days as a reporter, balancing writing and raising kids, losing a manuscript to a house fire, and how her writing has changed over the years. Read Sarah's entry.

Meg has also featured Eleanor Brown ("The Weird Sisters") and Caroline Leavitt ("Pictures of You") on her blog.

Positive Review for GBF Featured Author Wendy Wan-Long Shang

GBF featured author Wendy Wan-Long Shang recently received a positive review for book, "The Great Wall of Lucy Wu."

Washington Parent called her book "fresh and funny" with a "memorable character" in Lucy. Read the full review.

GBF Author Q&A with... Scott Simon

Name: Scott Simon
Books: "Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption"; "Windy City"; "Pretty Birds"; "Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball"; and "Home and Away"
Also Known As: the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition
Website

1. Where do you find inspiration?
Our daughters. I write books that share those things that are most important, precious, and moving to me (and to pay for their horseback riding).

2. What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Write. Nothing sharpens your writing like writing.

3. What are you reading right now?

• "Triumph of the City" by Edward Glaeser
• "The Fates Will Find Their Way", a first novel by Hannah Pittard
• "True Grit" by Charles Portis

4. What's your favorite opening line from a book?
The first line from my novel, "Pretty Birds": Irena Zaric put her last stick of gum in her mouth, winked at a bird, and wondered where to put her last bullet before going home.

Favorite opening line from a book not written by me? Saul Bellow’s "The Adventures of Augie March": I am an American, Chicago born—Chicago, that somber city—and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent.

5. What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
Forster’s "A Passage to India" made me want to see India and write novels. It made me appreciate how an artist insinuates himself into different people.

6. If you could sit down at dinner with three other authors, living or dead, which three authors would you choose and why?
Mark Helprin, E.M. Forster, and Susan Sontag. They were and/or are all brilliant, funny, interesting, and great storytellers.

So there you have it. A sneak peak into what inspires and moves one of America’s most admired writers and broadcasters.

Stay tuned for more Q&As from other featured authors.

Featured Author Tom Shroder to Speak at Politics & Prose

While we certainly encourage you to come see Tom at the festival on May 21, for those of you who can't make it that day -- and if you can't, shame on you! -- here's another opportunity to see Tom speak about his new book, "Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster."

WHERE: Politics & Prose
WHEN: Sunday, March 6, at 5 p.m.

Details.

Two Featured Authors Make Washington Post Bestseller Lists

Two Gaithersburg Book Festival featured authors made their debuts on Washington Post bestseller lists this week.

• Eleanor Brown's "The Weird Sisters" made its debut on this week's Washington Post hardcover fiction bestseller list at #10. See the full bestseller lists.
• Douglas Waller's "Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage" made its debut on this week's Washington Post poli/sci list at #7. See the full list.
  

What books do you think deserve to be on the bestseller lists?

USA Today Reviews "The Paris Wife" by GBF Featured Author Paula McLain

USA Today reviewed "The Paris Wife" by GBF featured author Paula McLain yesterday, calling it "evocative" and a book that women and book clubs are going to "eat up."

Read the full review.

Featured Author Paula McLain: Q&A in Shelf Awareness

Industry e-newsletter Shelf Awareness published a Q&A today with GBF featured author Paula McLain ("The Paris Wife").

Learn more about McLain, Hadley and Hemingway and the challenges of writing a novel about real people.

Doug Waller on Diane Rehm Show Monday

Check out GBF Featured Author Doug Waller, author of Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage on the Diane Rehm Show this Monday at 11am.

This looks like a really interesting story about an important, but largely unknown figure in American history.

Come meet Waller on May 21st, and, of course, read more about our Featured Authors.

Great Review of "Moon Over Manifest"

Last month, Clare Vanderpool's debut novel Moon Over Manifest won the top prize in children's literature, the Newbery Medal. This review in the Montreal Gazette tells us why it's "unforgettable".

Clare Vanderpool will be a Featured Author at the 2011 Gaithersburg Book Festival. Come meet her on May 21st, and read about more of our Featured Authors.

Detroit News reviews "Radioactive"

"Marie and Pierre Curie's inspirational and tragic story has been told in biographies, children's books, films and TV miniseries, but Lauren Redniss has revived it with astounding creativity and beauty," says John McMurtrie in the Detroit News.

Ms. Redniss will be a Featured Author at the 2011 Gaithersburg Book Festival. Come meet her on May 21st, and read about more of our Featured Authors.