Friday, April 16

7pm – Award-Winning Essays & Short Stories
Hyatt Regency Bethesda
Adult and young adult finalists from the Bethesda Literary Festival’s Essay & Short Story Contest will read their work, and winners will be announced and awarded.

7:30pm – Two Weeks of Life
The Writer’s Center
Meet Eleanor Clift, contributing editor and columnist for Newsweek magazine where she covers policy and politics in the new age of Obama; and author of Two Weeks of Life, a memoir that provides a moving commentary on how we deal, or fail to deal, with dying in modern America.

Saturday, April 17

10am – Children’s Books and Science
Bethesda Elementary School  
Join Bethesda Transportation Solutions and Mad Science as they read Franklin Rides a Bike and The Bus for Us. Mad Science will conduct special experiments, and a few lucky kids will get to experience a transportation innovation, the Mad Science Hover Craft!  Also, the first 60 kids to arrive will receive the activity book, A Day on the Go to take home!  

11am – 2008 Presidential Election
Doubletree Hotel Bethesda
Join Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Haynes Johnson, co-author of The Battle for America 2008 and television commentator, as he discuss the extraordinary Presidential election of 2008.

11am – Children’s Story Time
Barnes & Noble
Mo Willems’ stories about everyone's favorite animal characters will be read.

12pm – Women’s Fiction
Fraser Gallery
Join first-time novelists Deanna Fei and Sarah Pekkanen, as they discuss their new books, A Thread of Sky and The Opposite of Me, and their writing and publishing experiences.          

12:30pm – Behind the Scenes on Pennsylvania Avenue
Doubletree Bethesda
Hear from chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and a political writer for The New York Times, John Harwood, co-author of Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power – Making Washington Work Again with Gerald Seib, assistant managing editor and the executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal, as they discuss their inside scoop on Washington’s power game.  

1:30pm – Funny Kids’ Books
Bethesda Library
Meet children’s book author Jon Scieszka, the first national ambassador for Young People’s Literature and founder of the Guys Read Literacy Program,for apresentation on his books, including The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Stinky Cheese Man, The Time Warp Trio, Knucklehead and the Trucktown series.

2pm –The Economy
Doubletree Hotel Bethesda
Meet national economics correspondent for The New York Times and author of Past Due: The End of Easy Money and the Renewal of the American Economy, Peter Goodman, as he discusses his career and recent book.

2pm - Scent of the Missing
Barnes & Noble
Join author Susannah Charleson and her dog Puzzle to discuss and sign her book Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog.  

3pm – Mysteries for Pre-teens and Teens
Bethesda Library
Meet Jennifer Allison, author of the Gilda Joycemysteryseries for teens.

6pm - Art & Short Stories
Fraser Gallery
Meet award-winning author Simon van Booy for a discussion about his collections of short stories, Love Begins in Winter and The Secret Lives of People in Love.  This discussion will take place in conjunction with an exhibit of contemporary art from Wales.

8pm – Night of Improv
Hyatt Regency Bethesda
Come see the Washington Improv Theater perform a spontaneous, unpredictable show that will exhilarate, inspire and leave you begging for more.

Sunday, April 18

11am – Presidential Insiders
Doubletree Hotel Bethesda
Meet Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience, Kirstin Downey; and journalist and New York Times bestselling author, Ronald Kessler, In the President’s Secret Service, as they discuss their recent books.  

11am-1pm – Authors’ Reception
Barnes & Noble
You are invited to roam the aisles, chat with authors and have your books signed. Authors include: Sandy Abrams, Your Idea, Inc.: 12 Steps to Building a Million Dollar Business - Starting Today!; Paul Bennett, Loving Grief; Fred Bowen, Dugout Rivals and Hardcourt Comeback; Carol Donayre Bugg, Decorating…the professional touch; Rita Cacas and Juanita Tamayo Lott, Images of America: Filipinos in Washington, D.C.; John Fenzel, The Lazarus Covenant; Marilyn Lammert, Ellen Lee and Mary Anne Hess, Once They Hear My Name: Korean Adoptees and Their Journeys Toward Identity; Richard Latoff, Washington By Storm: A Photographer's Album; Dr. Ellen Weber Libby, The Favorite Child; Denis Lipman, A Yank Back to England: The Prodigal Tourist Returns; Katie McCabe, Justice Older Than the Law: The Life of Dovey Johnson Roundtree; Kay ShawNelson, The Cloak and Dagger Cook: A CIA Memoir; Kathy Orton, Outside the Limelight: Basketball in the Ivy League; Jane Morris Udovic, Aunt Matilda’s Almost-Boring Party and Stuart Weisberg, Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman.

11:30am – “My Special Day”
Bethesda Elementary School
Join the winners of the Bethesda Literary Festival’s Youth Writing Contest, “My Special Day,” as they read their stories and receive prizes.  

12:30pm – Listen Up, Mr. President
Doubletree Hotel Bethesda
Meet Helen Thomas, a legendary journalist who hascovered the administrations of 10 presidents in a career spanning nearly 60 years, and co-author Craig Crawford, a columnist for Congressional Quarterly and television political commentator, as they discuss their new book, Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do.  

2pm – Open Door Reading Series
The Writer’s Center
The Writer’s Center welcomes poets Tom Healy, who reads from What The Right Hand Knows, and John Koethe, who reads from Ninety-Fifth Street. The reading will be followed by a reception and book signing. 

2pm – SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue
Barnes & Noble
Meet Aviva Goldfarb, author of Six O’Clock Scramble: Quick, Healthy, and Delicious Dinner Recipes for Busy Families, and hear how to make dinner enjoyable for everyone.