Get those pens, pencils, journals, or laptops ready. Whether you’re a professional or a budding writer, the Islanders Write free March workshops have something for you.
Event producer Kate Feiffer says, “We thought the time was right to expand Islanders Write, and March seemed like the perfect month to give it a shot. Some things will be similar, and others different from our August event. We will be at Featherstone Center for the Arts, as we are in August. But this event will be more intimate; it’s March, after all. Also, for the first time, we are offering a day of workshops specifically for students from 5 to 19.”
In fact, both days at Featherstone Center for the Arts will feature continual writing workshops. Saturday, March 15, is devoted to adults. One workshop will be Nicole Galland’s “Creating Characters Who Belong Where You Put Them.” With numerous novels to her name, including her newest one, “Boy,” Galland is well-versed in crafting compelling characters. She notes, “I find it hard sometimes when a book isn’t set in the present day, and it sounds like the character is from today’s time just plunked down in some other place. All characters, including ourselves, are creatures of our background.”
Workshop participants will mine their characters’ backstory. “It’s thinking about the character in how they were raised, the world they grew up in, and the one they are trying to live in now,” says Galland. She reminds us that when thinking about a character’s socioeconomic situation, context matters: “It was different for someone growing up penniless in the feudal system from growing up penniless in Nicaragua in the 1980s.” Galland wants participants to come away “having added some things to the toolbox of their skill sets for crafting the best possible fiction they can.”
Workshops for youth on Sunday, March 16, will offer robust experiences as well. Martha’s Vineyard poet laureate Claudia Taylor will work with high school–age students on Sunday in “Finding Your Unique Voice: A Workshop for Young Poets.” Taylor says, “My thinking is that as a young writer, it’s such a malleable time to find a unique way of expressing yourself without using things you have heard before. We will look at some examples of clichés in poetry that exemplify more of a unique poetic voice, and pick out the features that lend to it.” In hands-on exercises, students will explore how to transform overused language into vivid details and more highly developed images that they can then develop into poems. “I hope they will have a greater appreciation of how poetry allows you to express your voice, and a more developed understanding of how they might develop it for themselves.”
Mathew Tombers, the manager of Edgartown Books, is thrilled to partner with Islanders Write to host an all-day book fair on Saturday, March 15: “We have invited Island writers who want to meet their readers and sell and sign their books to participate. We have everyone from incredibly established authors to those who have self-published. At last count, there are about 32 or 33 authors, and they will rotate in shifts throughout the day.” A reception from 5 to 7 pm will honor all the authors on the Island, and the community is encouraged to attend.
Tombers reflects, “One of the most satisfying experiences for the bookstore has been being involved with Islanders Write. Edgartown Books has always attempted to open itself to Island writers, and I think being with Islanders Write is a natural.”
To whet your appetite, the weekend begins with an immensely entertaining and informative film at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center on March 14 at 7:30 pm. “Rebel with a Clause” follows Ellen Jovin as she brings her portable Grammar Table to public spaces across all 50 states, inviting any question about grammar from passersby. The resulting conversations are delightfully engaging, reflecting how speaking with others about constructing sentences, as Jovin says, “emphasizes what unites us rather than what divides us.” (For tickets, visit bit.ly/4hIifoL.)
Feiffer says about this year’s inaugural midwinter festival, “We hope to be launching a new Vineyard tradition, which is a gathering of people interested in writing — whether they’re writing for themselves or with an eye toward publication — every March. We’ll see how it goes this year. If it takes off, we’ll be back.”
Oficinas bilíngues na Islanders Write
Bilingual workshops at Islanders Write
Márcia De Castro Borges dará workshops de escrita bilíngues (português e inglês) no sábado e domingo, 15 e 16 de março, no Islanders Write no Centro Featherstone para as Artes.
Seu workshop de sábado é chamado de “Deixe a música inspirar sua escrita.” Os participantes do workshop farão exatamente isso depois de ouvir e discutir uma música de Bob Dylan e do músico brasileiro ganhador do Grammy Gilberto Gil em português e inglês. O workshop acontece das 12h15 às 13h30.
No domingo, Borges pede que os alunos do primeiro ao quarto ano tragam uma foto ou algo significativo para eles. Pode ser uma foto de um lugar em que viveram, ou de uma pessoa que amam, uma boneca ou um cobertor. O horário deste workshop foi remarcado e agora está ocorrendo das 14h15 às 15h15.
Márcia De Castro Borges will be giving bilingual (Portuguese and English) writing workshops on both Saturday and Sunday, March 15 and 16, at Islanders Write at Featherstone Center for the Arts.
Her Saturday workshop is called “Let the Music Inspire Your Writing.” Workshop attendees will do just that after listening to and discussing a song by Bob Dylan and the Grammy awardwinning Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil, in both Portuguese and English. The workshop is from 12:15 to 1:30 pm.
On Sunday, Borges asks that students in grades 1 through 4 bring with them a picture of something that is meaningful to them. It can be a photo of a place they once lived, or a person they love, a doll, or blanket, for example. The time of this workshop has been rescheduled, and is now taking place from 2:15 to 3:15 pm.
Note from Kate Feiffer: “We’ve had an amazing outpouring of interest since Abby Remer filed this article. The workshops for Sunday, March 16, still have a lot of spaces available, but the March 15 workshops now have waitlists.”
Workshops schedule: bit.ly/IW_WorkshopsSchedule
Registration at bit.ly/IW_workshopRegister
