THE FIFTH BEATLE CHOSEN FOR THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL / GARNERS YOUNG ADULT LIBRARY SERVICES ASSOCIATION NOMINATION

May 9, NEW YORK, NY— “The Fifth Beatle” creative team, including writer Vivek J. Tiwary, and artists Andrew C. Robinson and Kyle Baker, have been selected as guests at the 14^th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival on Saturday, August 30, 2014, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are honorary chairs for the event. This year’s festival will feature 100 authors, poets and illustrators participating in several exhibitions on the National Mall. “The Fifth Beatle” team will be giving a 30-minute presentation followed by a book signing. The festival is free and open to the public.

“The Fifth Beatle” has also been nominated for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Award under the category “Great Graphic Novels for Teens”. The list of nominations presents graphic novels published in the past 16 months that are recommended reading for teens aged twelve to eighteen. The Young Adult Library Services Association is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand and strengthen library services for teens. YALSA builds the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve and empower teens. The winner of this award will be announced in January 2015.

“It’s been a great honor to receive all these prestigious awards for “The Fifth Beatle” across numerous industries and categories– and now to be recognized by YALSA as a great book for teens, and by an institution no less venerable than the Library of Congress! As a writer, it defines dream come true,” Tiwary said.

In addition, “The Fifth Beatle” has garnered two Will Eisner Comic Industry Award nominations for “Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (Interior Art)” and “Best Reality-Based Work.” The Eisner Awards are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comic industry’s equivalent of the Academy Awards. All comics industry professionals can vote before June 13^th at www.EisnerVote.com. “The Fifth Beatle’s” Andrew C. Robinson has been nominated for the 68^th Annual National Cartoonist Society Divisional Reuben Award for “Best Graphic Novel.” “The Fifth Beatle” has been named a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for “Best LGBT Graphic Novel” and is for Foreword Reviews’ 16th Annual Book Of The Year Awards in the Graphic Novels & Comics category.

The Fifth Beatle film adaptation, written and produced by Tiwary, has Peyton Reed (BRING IT ON, THE BREAK-UP) signed on to direct and Academy Award-winner Bruce Cohen (AMERICAN BEAUTY, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK) is attached as producer as well. The film is the first ever feature film about The Beatles to secure music rights to their songs, granting unprecedented access to the Lennon/McCartney music catalog.

For more information on The Fifth Beatle, please visit: www.thefifthbeatle.com.

About Vivek J. Tiwary

Vivek J. Tiwary is a New York Times bestselling author and an award-winning producer of Broadway shows, film, television, and graphic novels.

He is the producer and writer of “The Fifth Beatle,” a New York Times best-selling graphic novel based on the life of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. “The Fifth Beatle” has secured unprecedented access to Beatles’ music and a feature film is in development to shoot in 2014.  “The Fifth Beatle” will be produced by Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen (AMERICAN BEAUTY, MILK, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.)

Vivek is attached to lead produce a Broadway adaptation of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. The production will include the participation of Morissette, as well as that of Pulitzer and Tony award winner Tom Kitt.

In television, Vivek sold a sitcom pilot “Punk Rock Dad” to CBS, based on the bestselling memoir/parenting manual by Pennywise lead singer Jim Lindberg.  He is developing a number of additional series including Amelia Rules! — a children’s film franchise and television series based on the series of tween graphic novels by New York Times best-selling author Jimmy Gownley.

On Broadway, Vivek’s productions have won a combined 25 Tony Awards from 44 Tony nominations—every single one of his shows have been decorated. They include “The Addams Family,” Green Day’s “American Idiot” (the groundbreaking adaptation of the superstar rock band’s multi-platinum album), Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” (the most Tony Awards ever) and “Young Frankenstein”, “A Raisin In The Sun” (starring Sean Combs), and “A Little Night Music” (starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury). Off-Broadway, Vivek produced a theatrical collaboration between electropop/performance artists Fischerspooner and avant-garde theatre collective The Wooster Group (founded by Willem Dafoe, Spalding Gray, and others) that launched the 2008 Sao Paulo Art Bienal.

Vivek also serves on the Board of Directors for Valiant Entertainment (www.valiantentertainment.com), a multi-platform company that boasts the third largest and most-loved universe of comic book characters and has been hailed by the New York Times as “Marvel 2.0”.

Prior to founding Tiwary Entertainment Group (www.tiwaryent.com) and online music education/empowerment company StarPolish, Vivek held a number of major label music-industry positions, including launching and heading the Alternative Marketing Department at Mercury/PolyGram Records, and managing Video Promotion for Mercury/PolyGram, where he worked closely with MTV and VH1. Vivek has worked with artists covering the entire musical spectrum including Bruce Springsteen, Shania Twain, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Kiss, LL Cool J, John Mellencamp, Allen Ginsberg, Oasis, Hanson, 311 and The Mighty Mighty BossTones to name but a few.

Among many charitable pursuits, Vivek is the Co-Founder of Musicians On Call (www.musiciansoncall.org), a nonprofit organization that uses music and entertainment to complement the healing process.

Vivek is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of both the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Arts and Sciences. He also holds a filmmaking certificate from The New York Film Academy and is an acting student of Susan Batson/Black Nexxus Acting Studio.

Vivek is represented by Lawrence Mattis and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion, and for speaking engagements by Zach Radoski at APB Speakers.

About Andrew C. Robinson

Growing up on the family farm in Florida, Andrew C. Robinson was quite the daydreamer, with a huge fascination for artists like Frank Frazetta, Walt Simonson, and his influential older brother, Roby. Before graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Andrew landed his first professional comic-book job. His career began illustrating short stories for Dark Horse Presents. Since then, he has seen his paintings published by all major comic-book publishers in the industry, contributing beautifully-illustrated covers for such titles as Detective Comics (Batman), Hawkman, Starman, Action Comics (Superman), Iron Man, X-Man, King Conan and Justice Society of America. Andrew is also a writer and a creator, and he continues to work on his own creation, Dusty Star. Andrew’s sequential art can also be seen in the pages of Batman Black and White #5, which came out this year. Currently he’s illustrating covers for The Wake, Winter Soldier, The Seventh Sword, Batman Year Zero and Batman Detective. Andrew lives in Altadena, California, with his lovely wife Leah and their daughter Ella.

To learn more about his art and projects, visit NextExitComics.com.

To purchase Andrew’s prints, art books and original art, please visit www.essentialsequential.com.

About Kyle Baker

Kyle Baker is an award-winning cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels (including “Why I Hate Saturn” and “Nat Turner”) and for a 2000′s revival of the classic series “Plastic Man”. He has won numerous Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards for his work in the comics field, and has worked for such companies as Disney, Warner Brothers Feature Animation, HBO, Dreamworks, Cartoon Network, Marvel Comics, DC Entertainment, Saatchi And Saatchi, Watson-Guptill, RCA/BMG, Random House, Nickelodeon Magazine, Rugrats, Scholastic, Goosebumps, and others.

Press Contact: Rachel Depew, Rachel.Depew@42West.net