It’s August, and we’re getting ready for Islanders Write 2025. Please join us for this year’s event at Featherstone Center for the Arts on Sunday, August 17, at 7:30pm and Monday, August 18, from 7:30 am – 5:00 pm.
The timing of this year’s Islanders Write feels like a kick-off to the Vineyard’s grand-finale week of summer. The week that brings us Illumination Night, the Agricultural Fair, the Oak Bluff’s fireworks, and the fierce competition for ferry reservations off the Island.
We are going to focus this issue on Islanders Write, which is put on by the MV Times. Below, you will find links to the schedule of events, this year’s speakers, our vin-lit quiz, and several essays, including Perry Garfinkel’s piece about working through his writer’s block.
In 2017, the mother/daughter team Kathy and Beth Usher stood up in front of a rapt audience and pitched their book project to the Islanders Write Pitch Panel. “This is a story of a horrifying search for help for Beth’s brain injury, mucking through the healthcare system in pre-Internet days, using visits, calls, and handwritten notes,” Kathy Usher told the panelists. Last November, Beth passed away. Our hearts go out to the Usher family. I have been in touch with Kathy, and she has given us permission to share the powerful story that they pitched that day in 2017..
You will also find an essay by Perry Garfinkel titled “All I Really Need To Know About Writing I Learned on Martha’s Vineyard,” our Vin-lit quiz, a new writers prompt, and a special marketplace with titles by authors who will be speaking at this year’s Islander Write.
I look forward to seeing you at Islanders Write.
Until then, keep writing.
Kate Feiffer,
Director, Islanders Write