All the write stuff
The Martha’s Vineyard Times–sponsored conference Islanders Write returned to Featherstone Center for the Arts last weekend, after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.
Attendees of five panel discussions held on Sunday heard the expertise, advice, and candor...
Clarification: Islanders Write begins at 9 on Monday
In our program for Islanders Write at Featherstone Center for the Arts, the starting time for Monday is incorrect. The first panel will begin at 9 am. Here's the information.
9 – 10 am Writing...
We have questions, they have answers
Each year before Islanders Write, The MV Times asks the writers taking part in the event a series of random questions. Last week we printed a selection of their answers; this week we invite...
Around the Writer’s Table
In a few days, Islanders Write will kick off. This MV Times–sponsored event brings together writers and publishing professionals (with ties to the Island) for panel discussions and writing workshops focused on the art,...
Around the Writer’s Table
The numbers are spiking. There’s too much lead in the water in Tisbury, too many cars on the Island, and yes, too much COVID. Again. On Saturday, July 30, at 7:30 pm, Islanders Write...
We have questions, they have answers
Each year before Islanders Write, The MV Times asks the writers taking part in the event a series of random questions. This year, since more writers are taking part than ever before, we asked...
From politics to pitch panels
The MV Times and MV Arts & Ideas are delighted to announce the schedule of panel discussions for this summer’s Islanders Write. As always, Islanders Write will be exploring a variety of genres and...
On the shelf
Islanders Write brings together writers and publishing professionals with ties to the Vineyard to speak about various genres and aspects of writing and the writing life. Since the first Islanders Write in 2014, the...
Around the Writers’ Table: Writing about yourself
Last week, Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, the principal and vice chancellor of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, gave a commencement address to the class of 2020, who had returned to the small...
Around the Writers’ Table
While the Taste of the Vineyard was going on in Edgartown, I was tasting tapas in London with several Vineyard friends. One of them was Joshua Hammer, who was in London doing research for...
Out of the gate
What do an enslaved Black male born in the 1800s, a Thoroughbred racehorse sired in Kentucky in the same era, a struggling artist commissioned for an opportunity that consumes his life, a sleuthing scientist,...
Around the Writers’ Table
In 2019, roving grammar guru Ellen Jovin set up her grammar table at Islanders Write and greeted the grammar-minded on their way into the event. Jovin recently sent me an advance copy of her...
Around the Writers’ Table
Back in April, before we started sneezing and dusting the pollen off our cars, I wrote about the upcoming pitch panel at Islanders Write. The pitch panel is much like a mini-master class in...
Around the Writers’ Table
Last Thursday morning I emailed Nancy Slonim Aronie and told her I wanted to interview her about processing grief through writing. Aronie is a wise friend, whose inspirational new book, “Memoir as Medicine,” is...
Around the Writers’ Table
Is a Vineyard summer still a good time to catch up on your reading? It’s clear that the slow-dance summers of the Kodachrome era have been replaced by the social media do-it and post-it...
Get inspired
This summer’s Islanders Write will have more writing workshops on a wider range of topics than ever before. These breakout sessions will be focused on the craft of writing and the business of selling...
When pictures speak
By Kelly DuMar
Photographs fill boxes in our attics, and cover our walls and furniture in frames. We store them on our computers and cellphones, and share them instantly on social media. We're taking and...
‘Debut Authors: A Survival Guide’
My debut novel, “The Moon Always Rising,” (a work-in-progress for decades) launched in April 2020. It wasn’t much of a launch, given COVID lockdown; it was more like a sprinkling of saltwater and a...
Pitch perfect
I don’t know if the ability to shape and present a pitch should be considered an art form, but there is an artistry and craft to doing it well. Pitching your book to agents,...