The festival was hosted by Featherstone Center for the Arts in the Francine Kelly Gallery. —Dena Porter 
Robin Bonnist pitched her memoir to publishing professionals about her landing an airplane at Martha’s Vineyard airport while her husband suffered a medical emergency. —Dena Porter 
Mathew Tombers, manager of Edgartown Books, watched over the Edgartown Books pop-up at Islanders Write. —Dena Porter 
Robin Rivera, who is working on her debut novel, arrived for the 9:30 am panel discussion about book reviewing on Thursday morning and stayed for most of the day. —Dena Porter 
Whoever said the book business wasn’t fun? Literary agent Rosemary Stimola having a good laugh. —Dena Porter 
Robin (“Rob”) Bonnist was one of four writers selected to pitch her book live at the event to the pitch panel. The panel consisted of author Nancy Star, publisher and editor Gretchen Young, literary agent Rosemary Stimola, and publishing executive Torrey Oberfest. In the three minutes allotted to her, Bonnist presented her memoir, titled “Gone Flying: Love, Loss, Landing.” Bonnist described to a rapt audience the harrowing story of having to land a plane when her pilot husband blacked out. —Dena Porter 
Following the pitch panel, literary agents Vicky Bijur, Adriana Stimola, and editor and publishers Dawn Davis and Gretchen Young took audience questions and talked about the current state of publishing. Young referred to the upcoming August cover story in the Atlantic magazine, “The Age of Reading Is Over,” and noted that in 2004, 26 percent of people read. Flash-forward to 2023, and that number is down to 16 percent. In addition to that, she said, sentences are one-third shorter than they used to be. —Dena Porter 
Bob Drogin said, “It’s time to make America read again,” during his opening remarks on a panel discussion with Joshua Hammer and Brooke Allen about book reviewing. He’s seen here with Islanders Write director Kate Feiffer. —Dena Porter 
During a panel discussion about writing obituaries, profiles, and biographies, Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan, right, said she does extensive research and interviews as many sources as possible when writing profiles, saying, “You always want to be fair and go the extra mile.” She talked about having her journalism students at Georgetown, where she used to teach, interview and write about one another so they could learn how difficult it is to write an accurate profile of someone. Kevin Sullivan, middle, also a reporter for the Washington Post and married to Jordan, described how he and Jordan got access to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter at home to get a sense of who they were as people. “The Secret Service was not our friend on this,” Sullivan recalled. Their story, “The Uncelebrity President,” became one of the most-read stories in the Washington Post. Linsey Lee, left, well-known to Vineyarders for the archive of oral histories she has conducted, said her goal is to give a sense of the diversity and a flavor of life on Martha’s Vineyard. Lee said she often interviews people who are over the age of 100 and embraces the inconsistencies in their stories, saying, “Life is inconsistent. There is no one facial truth.” —Dena Porter 
Four novelists got along without incident during a conversation about creating credible and complex characters. “Conflict is king when it comes to character,” said Martha Hall Kelly. Elisa M. Speranza added that while revising a novel, she’s written notes to herself stating, “Make it worse.” Nicole Galland added, “Keeping your characters in trouble is a good plotting device.” Carole Hopson, who wrote a novel about pioneering aviatrix Bessie Coleman, noted that Coleman has so much conflict in her life that she didn’t have to create any more. Her job, she said, was to capture “what it was like to live in that period, and what it was like to evolve alongside her.” —Dena Porter 
In the panel on finding humor in the hard stuff, Annabelle Gurwich recounted the story of meeting Cazzie David’s mother Laurie, who was working on Letterman at the time. She said Laurie was the first person to tell her that she was funny, and that conversation changed her life. Cazzie responded with her signature dry wit, “She’s never said that to me.” Jenny Allen moderated this conversation, and the three very funny women kept the audience laughing as they discussed chronicling life’s challenges. —Dena Porter 
The day ended with a fascinating conversation between Belle Burden, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Sherry Sidoti about writing memoirs. For Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and current Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, writing her memoir after leaving office was an opportunity “to tell my story in its totality.” Noting that “when you are in elected office, you get bits and pieces of who we are.” When asked about the challenges of writing about oneself, Burden quipped, “It’s really easy to be yourself when you know that nobody actually reads.” Ah yes, just as we discussed earlier in the day. Of course, the robust sales of Burden’s book hopefully suggest a return to reading. —Dena Porter 
Joshua Hammer, Brooke Alllen, and Bob Drogin kicked off the day’s panel discussions talking about book reviewing. —Dena Porte 
Rob Bonnist pitching her book to the pitch panel. —Dena Porter 
Many people stayed for the entire day. —Dena Porter 
Torrey Oberfest introducing the members of the pitch panel. —Dena Porter 
Literary agent Vicky Bijur explained royalty structures and comp books during a panel discussion on the current state publishing. —Dena Porter 
Literary agent Adriana Stimola discussing trends she’s seeing in the book business during a panel discussion on the current state publishing.—Dena Porter 
Publisher and editor Dawn Davis during a panel discussion on the current state publishing recommended that people looking for an agent read the acknowledgements of books similar to theirs. —Dena Porter 
Oral historian Linsey Lee said she often interviews people who are over 100 years old. —Dena Porter 
Oral historian Linsey Lee said she often interviews people who are over 100 years old. —Dena Porter 
Novelist Nicole Galland moderated a panel discussion about creating credible and complex characters. —Dena Porter 
Novelist Carole Hopson on how she brought aviatrix Bessie Coleman to life in her book “A Pair of Wings.” —Dena Porter 
Novelist Martha Hall Kelly with Carole Hopson and Elisa M. Speranza talking about creating complex and credible characters. —Dena Porter 
Carole Hopson, Adriana Stimola, Rosemary Stimola, and Celecila Carter.—Dena Porter 
Cazzie David discussed finding humor in the hard stuff. —Dena Porter 
A question from the audience. —Dena Porter 
Belle Burden talked about the process of writing her memoir “Strangers.” —Dena Porter 
Keisha Lance Bottoms talking about digging deep into her life while writing her memoir “The Rough Side of the Mountain.” —Dena Porter 
Belle Burden, Sherry Sidoti, and Keisha Lance Bottoms after their discussion about memoir writing. —Dena Porter
This summer’s Islanders Write programming has come to a close. The two-day event brought together a mix of local voices and authors for a series of conversations, panels, and readings that highlighted the power of storytelling in all its forms.
The schedule was packed with panel discussions and speakers covering topics like creating complex characters, memoir writing, comic approaches, and book reviews. The MV Times thanks Featherstone Center for the Arts for once again hosting the event. Enjoy these photos from Thursday afternoon, taken by Dena Porter.
