Read more about workshop vignettes from Islanders Write on Saturday and Sunday here.
More than 70 Islanders made their way to Featherstone Center for the Art’s main building on Saturday and Sunday to develop their craft, learn from local authors, and connect to their unique voice. From the 6½-year-old Oak Bluffs School student Isla Katz to 96-year-old activist and poet Rose Styron, all ages were showcased in the weekend-long writers classes, sponsored by The Martha’s Vineyard Times and Edgartown Books.
Kate Feiffer — organizer and director of Islanders Write — said these winter sessions were an experiment that turned into a “terrific and inspiring weekend.”
“The Vineyard community is truly filled with talented writers,” Feiffer said.
All teaching events were in-person, with segments of an hour or more highlighting various parts of the writing process. Leaders in their field — who are also residents of the Island — set up shop at the Featherstone campus in Oak Bluffs to teach lessons tailored to their own expertise.
“I think it was a magnificent weekend,” chief executive officer of Featherstone Ann Smith said. “[Our] mission is to engage and connect our community through the power of art. Literary arts and creative expression are a priority.”
The events on Saturday ranged from a workshop on character building with critically-acclaimed author Nicole Galland, to an exercise in vulnerability through memoir with local writer Nancy Slonim Aronie. Attendees were challenged to think bigger and dream brighter with each stroke of their pen across their notebooks.
Charles Sennott, publisher of the Martha’s Vineyard Times, held a workshop focused on the “Art of the Essay,” where he expressed the value of truth in shorter form writing.
“The thing I love most about essay writing is ‘honing the lede,’” he told the room of over twenty locals. Everyone was encouraged to write their own lede for a story of their choosing, with topics from world politics to a family cottage in Menemsha.
In some rooms, the silence was interrupted only by scribbles on a page, and in others, voices rose to meet each other with new ideas. The intention of the weekend was simply to write, and deeply connect with the self and the broader artist community.
“The community part of this has made me very joyful,” Chilmark resident Robin Rivera said, after attending workshops on Saturday.
On Sunday, the youth of the Island was invited to challenge and express themselves. One workshop, led by new author and Charter School teacher James W. Jennings, taught ninth through twelfth graders how to hold space for their individuality and write for themselves.
“Journaling and using your voice is something that you can use to create space for yourself in life,” Jennings told a group of students who listened intently on the patio of Featherstone’s building.
Children’s author and novelist Nancy Star taught fourth through sixth graders how to know their audience, and develop their writing from outside and inner influences. The participants jumped into their own stories, leaning into the page and writing for most of the hour.
“I didn’t expect to get as much out of this as I did,” Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School sophomore Griffin Buehler said after attending three of Sunday’s workshops.
The Island is known to be rich with artistic talent — many locals see evidence of the creativity that inspires them in small moments — in the neighbor they’ve known for their whole life, the farmstand down the road with the open cash box, in the stunning landscape that pours into their backyards or enriches their morning commutes.
The Islanders Write workshops were seen by some as a step away from the comfort of the old, and into the new — an opportunity to learn from talented writers who call the Island their home, and to take the next leap with like-minded locals.
“I’ve been coming to Islanders Write almost since its inception. I’ve always enjoyed the summer sessions, but there’s something about the winter that was all the more gratifying… I’m looking forward — for more to come,” local author and real estate broker Shelley Christensen said.
The next Islanders Write will be held in August of 2025. There will be an evening event on the 17th, and an all-day workshop on the 18th of that month, where locals can broaden their creative horizons again. Vineyarders are also invited to participate in a writing challenge with the prompt, “Why I’ll Never Forget My Summer Job.” Submissions are due by April 1st on the Islanders Write website.
