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Nationally acclaimed novelist Alice McDermott and best-selling sports writer John Feinstein have agreed to speak at a regional book festival sponsored by the City of Gaithersburg, city officials said.

The event is set for May 15 and could draw as many as 20,000 visitors, said Councilman Jud Ashman, who is "dreaming big."

"We're going to have great authors speaking, we're going to have workshops, we're going to have stuff for kids," he said. "I'm telling you this thing is going to be big enough to put Gaithersburg on the cultural map. Perhaps it will be the biggest literary event in the country that day."

Ashman introduced plans in March 2008 for a regional book festival held in Gaithersburg. Since then, a committee of regional professionals has been working to line up 50 to 60 authors who will speak, read from their work and host group discussions at the festival on City Hall grounds in Olde Towne.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., officials said. Ashman foresees tents dedicated to various genres, from history to fiction, where guests can attend workshops for aspiring writers and lectures by published authors. An evening keynote address will focus on a "transcendent topic or something inspirational" at the City Hall pavilion, Ashman said.

Gaithersburg's budget includes about $8,000 for the free event, according to city records. Promoters are working to secure approximately $30,000 to $40,000 in cash and in-kind donations from corporate sponsors.

The event will draw on literary resources from all over Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., home to the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, a national prize recognizing literary fiction of excellence.

Sarah Pekkanen, a Bethesda resident and humor columnist for Bethesda Magazine, has her first novel, "The Opposite of Me," coming out in March.

"For me, just being around authors is very cool," she said. "I love the idea of being part of something new."

One of her favorite things about book festivals, she said, is "being introduced to authors I may not have stumbled across on my own."

McDermott, another Bethesda resident and Johns Hopkins University's Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities, said she likes to support local efforts promoting literature.

"It's a chance to meet with readers and talk to real people without the filter of either Amazon or book critics," she laughed. "It's just something I enjoy to do."

McDermott, who has authored six novels, won the 1998 National Book Award for her fourth novel, "Charming Billy." She has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award and has three times been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Washington area does not get enough credit among bookbuyers, McDermott said, citing avid intellectual interests.

"It's exciting to be in your own backyard and realize that there are all of these book clubs and — even better — conversations about books happening," said McDermott, who as a fiction writer, works largely in isolation.

"Sometimes it's nice to get out, especially when you're seeing your neighbors, sort of get out and talk to real people for a while," she said.

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is seeking authors interested in presenting, exhibitors and vendors with literary-related products or themes, food vendors and corporate sponsors. Application forms are available on the city's Web site at www.gaithersburgmd.gov. Deadline for applications is March 12.