Around the Writers’ Table: Islanders Write workshops
We’re still putting the pieces together for this year’s Islanders Write, which will take place on Monday, August 19, at Featherstone Center for the Arts. And while we don’t have a finalized schedule...
Around the Writers’ Table: The pitch panel returns to Islanders Write
Veteran journalist and author Loren Ghiglione said he wasn’t nervous when he stood in front of last summer’s Islanders Write pitch panel and talked about the memoir he was working on. He was allotted...
Around the Writers’ Table: The cruise ship doctor
Dr. Gerry Yukevich was finishing up dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Boston when he cracked open his fortune cookie and read, “Soon will have new job on the high seas.” What he didn’t...
Around the Writers’ Table: Where to write?
Cafés have long been a makeshift office space for the writers we read. Hemingway famously penned most of “A Moveable Feast” in a Parisian cafe and J.K. Rowling has said, “It's no secret that...
Around the Writers’ Table: Poetry
Last week I had a discussion with MV Times publisher Charles Sennott about the challenges of writing a good lede. A lede is the first sentence in a news or feature story, and should...
Around the Writers’ Table: ‘One of a Kind’
She changed her name from Sarah to Sydney when she was 14 years old because she thought people would pay more attention to her writing if she had a modern name, a boy’s name,...
Around the Writers’ Table
During the winter of 2014, Peter Oberfest, then publisher of The MV Times, called me into his office. He was interested in creating an MV Times–sponsored event for the community, and wanted to brainstorm...
Around the Writers’ Table: Workshops and readings
I was looking into the writing-related events that will be taking place on the Island during pinkletink season, and was surprised that a few of the offerings are still happening over Zoom. I suppose...
Around the Writers’ Table: Winter writing
Writing tends to be a solitary endeavor, as does spending a winter on the Vineyard. Given these two situational happenstances, it’s not surprising that the Vineyard’s writers use this time between the tourists to...
Around the Writers’ Table: Islanders Write is here
A special supplement for Islanders Write is tucked into this issue of The MV Times. In this week’s Writers’ Table, I’d like to elaborate just a bit more on the happenings and mention a...
Around the Writers’ Table: Opening night at Islanders Write
Bookshelf bulge and inspiration. These are both things that I suspect are happening to many of us on the Vineyard this summer. This past weekend alone, large crowds turned out to hear almost 30...
Around the Writers’ Table
I am in the final stages of planning this year’s Islanders Write, which will take place on Monday, August 21, at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs. Over the years, the event...
Around the Writers’ Table
Publisher’s Weekly, the trade magazine about the publishing industry, has a weekly column called “Book Deals.” Six books that had recently been acquired for publication were mentioned in this week’s column. Each of the...
Around the Writers’ Table
“How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome.” That’s the cover story of the most recent Harvard Business Review. The picture on the cover is a photograph of those goofy big-nose, bushy-eyebrow Groucho Marx glasses.
As explained in...
Around the Writers’ Table
While trying to decide on what to write for this week’s Writer’s Table, I received an email from Walker Ryan, a professional skateboarder and the author of two novels, “Top of Mason” and “Off...
Around the Writers’ Table
I recently received an email from a writer I know asking me to subscribe to his Substack. Then a second request came from another writer, who also has a Substack. I ignored both these...
Around the Writers’ Table: National Poetry Month on M.V.
Since 1996, April has been designated National Poetry Month. While there are a few readings and workshops afoot, I’m a bit surprised there isn’t more going on locally, given the poetry this place inspires...
Around the Writers’ Table
The first Islanders Write was held at the Grange Hall on a sweltering August day in 2014. From the beginning we wanted to make Islanders Write free to attend; it would be a gift...
Around the Writers’ Table
After you’ve filled up on fried dough, taken a spin on the Ferris wheel, and marveled at the fireworks, The MV Times invites you to switch gears and join us at Featherstone Center for...
Around the Writers’ Table: Book recommendations
I am delighted to turn over this week’s Writers’ Table to Mathew Tombers, manager of Edgartown Books. When I asked him for book recommendations to help get readers through the long haul of an...