F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival
The 30th annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival celebrates Fitzgerald’s literary legacy and the continuing literary tradition of Montgomery County and beyond. The festival will honor author and PEN/Faulkner Award winner Tobias Wolff with the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature.
The full-day program includes film, conversations, readings, a keynote presentation, a Fitzgerald-themed bus tour, and writing workshops led by local fiction and nonfiction writers. The festival was established in 1996 to mark the centenary of Fitzgerald’s birth and to honor the Rockville community where Fitzgerald, his wife, and his daughter are buried. It is co-sponsored by the City of Rockville and Montgomery College.
When: October 24, 2026
Showtimes: The festival runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Program: The Saturday schedule includes a screening of *This Boy’s Life*, based on Tobias Wolff’s memoir, followed by a question-and-answer session with Wolff; Deborah Tannen’s keynote, “Can We Talk: How Ways of Talking Can Make or Break Relationships”; a discussion between Wolff and special guest Richard Bausch on “The Art of Fiction”; a reading by Wolff; a bus tour of Fitzgerald-related sites in Rockville; and writing workshops.
Lineup: Tobias Wolff, Richard Bausch, Deborah Tannen, Fred Bowen, Nate Brown, Ron Charles, Hannah Grieco, E. Ethelbert Miller, and Margaret Talbot are among the featured authors, speakers, and workshop leaders. Tannen is a Distinguished University Professor in Georgetown University’s Department of Linguistics.
Additional Festival Events: Related programming includes “Tea and Jazz in Celebration of F. Scott’s 130th Birthday” at Strathmore Mansion on Tuesday, September 22, and Wednesday, September 23, featuring afternoon tea and live jazz. On Thursday, October 8, the winners of the festival’s two short-story contests will receive their prizes at Rockville Memorial Library. On the 18th, The Writer’s Center in Bethesda will present “Readings in Honor of Tobias Wolff,” featuring Richard Bausch and a response from Wolff.
Tickets: General admission is $30–$35. Each writing workshop is a separate $25 purchase, and attendees may select only one workshop in each time block.
Venue: Montgomery College: Rockville Campus, 51 Mannakee Street, Rockville, MD 20850.
Presented by: F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc., co-sponsored by the City of Rockville and Montgomery College.
Accessibility: No accessibility information is currently available for this event.
Contact: fscottfestival1@gmail.com
Website: FitzgeraldFestival.com