Writing Workshops
MONDAY, AUGUST 19
7:30 AM
Wake Up and Write! with Judith Hannan
For the early birds - there’s no better way to begin your day at Islanders Write! A series of quick writing prompts to encourage free association and the revelation of scenes and stories.
9:30 - 10:30 AM
The Art of Layering for Scene and Character Development with Jennifer Smith Turner
This workshop is an introduction to the art of layering to develop three-dimensional characters and intriguing scenes that will hold the reader’s attention and create a thirst for “what’s next.”
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Writing the Memoir: What to Cut, What to Keep, and How to Pull it All Together with Elizabeth Benedict
The workshop will help writers clarify those choices, move ahead through uncertainty, and learn to love feedback and revision as essential aspects of the work. Come with the names of two or three favorite memoirs and why they mean so much to you.
12:15 - 1:15 PM
Life-Writing History: A Generative Workshop with Honor Moore
With a brief guided meditation, Moore will lead participants to an event in their life to remember what was going on in the news/ world at the same time.
1:30 - 2:30 PM
Saudade: Oficina de Escrita Criativa with Márcia de Castro Borges
Saudade Oficina de Escrita Criativa é uma oportunidade para libertar a imaginação e descobrir o escritor que existe dentro de você, ao mesmo tempo desenvolver suas competências literárias, construir auto-estima e incentivar a criatividade.
2:30 - 3:30 PM
You finished writing your book—now what? Planning and Executing Your Book Publicity Strategy with Elisa Speranza
This workshop will help demystify the world of book publicity and will provide practical advice for developing your book launch and marketing strategy.
Islanders Write is extremely grateful to our generous supporters:
Cronig's Market · Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council · Farm Neck Foundation · Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation · Doug Liman · Island Proofreading · The Mimi and Peter Haas Fund · Judith Hannan · Susan Scheuer and Jonathan Lipnick · Keith Dodge · James Dale and Ellen Small. And we thank Featherstone Center for the Arts and Ann Smith for welcoming us back.
And our partners and vendors for being part of this event:
Tilton Tents · Anthony Esposito · Scottish Bakehouse · Edgartown Books
Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council Many thanks to our wonderful event volunteers. We appreciate your
What sets Islanders Write apart from every other writers festival
NANCY SLONIM ARONIE
is the author of “Writing from the Heart,” “Memoir as Medicine,” and the upcoming “The Seven Secrets of Writing the Perfect Personal Essay” (New World Library). She has been a commentator for NPR and is the founder of The Chilmark Writing Workshop. Nancy teaches “Jumpstart your Memoir” at Esalen, Kripalu, and Omega Institute. She was the recipient of the Artist in Residence Award at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and taught for Robert Coles at Harvard for three years. Her column, Writing From The Heart, appears biweekly in The Martha’s Vineyard Times. chilmarkwritingworkshop.com
JOHN BATTELLE has founded or co-founded eight media and technology businesses, including Wired, The Industry Standard, and Federated Media. He is co-founder of DOC, a health-related startup, chair of Sovrn Holdings, a publishing platform, and director of LiveRamp, a NYSElisted data business. He’s taught at Northeastern, Columbia, and UC Berkeley. His first book, “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture,” was an international bestseller. He is currently working on a book on the role of data in society. John holds a BA and MA from UC Berkeley. Battellemedia.com
is that everyone who speaks at this event has a connection to Martha’s Vineyard. Some of this year’s speakers live here year-round, others are seasonal; some vacation here, and others are frequent visitors. What they all have in common, aside from talent, is that they love and appreciate the Island. We are very grateful for all the speakers, whose bios are on the following pages, for sharing their time, their expertise, and their insights with us. For expanded bios, please visit islanderswrite.com. presented by
ELIZABETH BENEDICT is the author of eight books and hundreds of articles and essays on many topics, as well as the editor of three anthologies. Her five novels, including “Almost” and “Slow Dancing,” include a National Book Award finalist, Notable NY Times picks, and a Best Fiction of the Year by Newsweek and NPR's Fresh Air. Her 2023 memoir, “Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own,” was deemed a "page-turner" by Sigrid Nunez, "essential reading for doctors and medical students" by a Harvard Medical School faculty member, and a "breathtaking whodunnit--or rather, a whatdunnit" by the Boston Globe. elizabethBenedict.com
VICTORIA BIJUR started her literary agency in 1988. She represents fiction and non-fiction and has served as president of the Association of American Literary Agents and as chair of its Ethics Committee. Many of the books she represents have been on The NY Times bestseller list. Several of Vicky’s books have been filmed, including “Drive” with Ryan Gosling; “Still Alice” with Julianne Moore; “The Man Who Knew Infinity” with Dev Patel; and the forthcoming “The Lady In The Lake” with Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram. vickybijuragency.com
MARCIA DE CASTRO BORGES
Mulher, Brasileira, Escritora, Fotógrafa e Educadora residente nos EUA. Investiga as relações entre Imagem, História, Memória e Identidade, com o foco na reflexão sobre questões de Gênero, Migração e Cultura Brasileira. Publicou no volume contos da Coletânea Feminista Abraçar e Resistir (2022), na Dream Out Loud Anthology vol II e III (2020/2021). Co-autora no projeto Creative-Distant-Resilient (Princeton University/2020). Atua como Intérprete de Português/Inglês em Martha’s Vineyard - MA. Doutora em Comunicação (UFSM); Columbia University of New York Visiting Scholar/2015; Mestre em Multimeios (UNICAMP); Historiadora (UFRGS).
Writer, photographer and educator, a Brazilian woman living in the U.S., who investigates the relationships between image, history, memory and identity, focusing on the reflection on issues of gender, migration and Brazilian culture. Published literary works include a short story on feminist anthology “Abraçar e Resistir” (2022), poems and short-stories on “Dream Out Loud anthology” Vol II and Vol III (2020/2021). She was co-author on “The Creative-Distant-Resilient” project (Princeton University/2020). She works as a Portuguese/English interpreter on Martha’s Vineyard with a MA and PhD in Communication (UFSM); Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, New York (2015), Master in Multimedia (UNICAMP) and historian (UFRGS).
ELISE BROACH is the author of nearly thirty award-winning books for children. Her picture book “When Dinosaurs Came with Everything” won the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award, as did her mystery, “Masterpiece,” which is a NY Times bestseller and a frequent choice for One School, One Book programs. Like most of her novels, her most recent title,
“Duet,” features a real historical mystery that is still unsolved. Broach has been coming to Martha’s Vineyard for over a decade. She lives in Connecticut, where she is a writer/editor for the Scholastic Magazines and teaches creative writing at Yale. elisebroach.com
GERALDINE BROOKS is the author of six works of historical fiction, including the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner, “March” and the recently released novel, “Horse.” An awardwinning former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, she is also author of the nonfiction works, “Nine Parts of Desire” and “Foreign Correspondence.” She lives in West Tisbury, where she is a conservation commissioner. geraldinebrooks.com
DAWN DAVIS, The Poets & Writers 2019 Editor of the Year, is the founding publisher of 37 INK, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. She has edited many prizewinning and New York Times bestselling books, including one of the 2023 New York Times’ 10 Best Books of the Year, “Master Slave Husband Wife” by Ilyon Woo and the Jenna Bookclub Pick, “The School for Good Mothers” by Jessamine Chen. In 2020, Davis was named Editor in Chief of the Condé Nast magazines, Bon Appétit and Epicurious. She returned to Simon & Schuster in 2023.
BILL EVILLE is the editor of the Vineyard Gazette. He grew up spending summers in Oak Bluffs at his grandparents’ house, and moved to the Island full-time with his wife and two children in 2008. His essays have been published in The NY Times and Boston Globe, among other publications, and he has been featured on This American Life and The Moth. His book “Washed Ashore: Family, Fatherhood, and Finding Home on Martha's Vineyard” (David R. Godine) was published in 2023. billeville.com
MARC FAVREAU is the director of editorial programs at The New Press, the acclaimed author of “Crash,” “Spies,” and “Attacked!”, and coauthor (with Michael Eric Dyson) of “Unequal: A Story of America,” and a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. He lives on Martha’s Vineyard. thenewpress.com
KATE FEIFFER is the author of eleven highly acclaimed books for children, including “Henry the Dog with No Tail” and “My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life,” and the illustrator of “The Lamb Cycle” by David R. Ewbank. “Morning Pages” (Regalo Press), her first novel for adults, was published in May 2024. Kate also writes and does illustrations at the MV Times (and other publications on and off the Island) and is the Event Producer for Islanders Write. katefeiffer.com
JOHN FORTÉ is a Grammy-nominated recording artist, songwriter, activist, and filmmaker best known for having written and produced songs for The Fugees and their multi-platinum record The Score and subsequent collaborations with Wyclef Jean. For more than two decades, John has produced solo albums and a myriad of collaborative projects. Recently, he had the honor of scoring the forthcoming 6-part series "Eyes on the Prize" (HBO / TRILOGY, 2024) executive produced by Dawn Porter. He created The Brooklyn Nets inaugural theme song (2012), scored fashion shows, and contributed his art and advocacy to local, national and global social justice initiatives.
NICOLE GALLAND’S most recent novel “Master of the Revels,” is a sequel to “The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.” (cowritten with Neal Stephenson). Her historical fiction includes “I, Iago,” and “The Fool’s Tale.” Her contemporary fiction includes “On the Same Page,” about two competing newspapers on Martha’s Vineyard. She is a contributor to The MV Times, and recently returned from Ireland where she co-wrote and directed a play about the traditional music scene there. Her upcoming novel, “BOY” (Feb. 2025) is set in her favorite stomping ground, Shakespeare’s London. nicolegalland.com
PERRY GARFINKEL, a longtime contributor to The NY Times and a former features editor for the MV Times, is the author of four books. He wrote his national bestseller "Buddha or Bust" (Harmony, 2006) while living
in West Tisbury. His newest book, "Becoming Gandhi: My Experiment Living the Mahatma's 6 Moral Truths in Immoral Times'' (Sounds True, 2024), is a transformational nonfiction memoir. He now lives in Berkeley, California, but his soul still resides in West Tisbury. perrygarfinkel.com
SUSAN GOLOMB has been an agent of literary and upmarket fiction and nonfiction for more than 30 years, both with her own agency and now with Writers House. Her clients include National Book Award winners Jonathan Franzen and William T. Vollmann, The NY Times bestsellers Rachel Kushner (also a NBA and Booker nominee) and Noah Hawley, Imbolo Mbue (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award), Vauhini Vara (Pulitzer Finalist), Edgar award-winning author Angie Kim, Danielle Trussoni, Brando Skyhorse (winner of the PEN/ Hemingway Award), Janelle Brown and Harry S. Dent Jr., among others.
JUDITH HANNAN is the author of the memoir “Motherhood Exaggerated” (CavanKerry Press), as well a guide for writing about illness. Through her teaching, she is an activist in child and family health, education, and welfare. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications such as Lilith Magazine, the Washington Post, and the MV Times. She is a Writer-in-Residence for the Gold Foundation for Humanism in Medicine and on the boards of the Children's Museum of Manhattan and CavanKerry Press. judithhannanwrites.com
JAMES W. JENNINGS is a writer, artist, and educator with a BA in English from Emory University in Atlanta, and an MFA from CUNY-Brooklyn College. James has given himself as a mentor,
coach, non-profit consultant, substitute teacher, teacher, dean of students, etc… within the NYC Department of Education, and on Martha’s Vineyard, in the MV Regional High School and the MV Public Charter School. James is currently promoting his novel “Wings of Red,” on his 2024 Inspirations Tour, and connecting with people passionate about being the change they want to see and building true creative resonance. Instagram is best, @jameswjennings
GREGORY MONE is the author or coauthor of 19 books for adults and young readers, including the adventure novels “Sea of Gold” and “Atlantis: The Accidental Invasion.” A former editor at Popular Science, he has written books with Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, MIT AI expert Daniela Rus, and Skeletor. He lives in West Tisbury with his family.
MATHEA MORAIS is the director of literary arts at Featherstone Center for the Arts (formerly Noepe Center for the Literary Arts) and the author of “There You Are” (Chicago Review Press), which was called “a novel that effectively intertwines ruminations on race, music, romance, and history” by Kirkus Review (starred review), and was named one of Ms. Magazine’s “October 2019 Reads for the Rest of Us,” and Electric Literature’s “The 20 Best Debuts of the Second Half of 2019.” She has taught English and creative writing to young people for more than 15 years.
RICHARD MICHELSON’s children’s books have been listed among the Ten Best of the Year by The NY Times,
Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker; and among the Best Dozen of the Decade by Amazon.com. He has a National Jewish Book Award and two Gold Medals from the Association of Jewish Libraries. Michelson served as Poet Laureate of Northampton, Mass. where he owns R. Michelson Galleries which represents many of the country’s premier artists. He curated Featherstone Center for the Arts exhibits on Latinx and Black Illustrators. He’s often found on his Campground Cottage porch after each morning’s Polar Bear Swim. richardmichelson.com
HONOR MOORE’s new book “A Termination” meditates on the continuing resonance of her 1969 preRoe abortion. She's the author of three books of poems, and the memoirs “The Bishop’s Daughter,” shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and most recently, “Our Revolution, A Mother and Daughter at Midcentury.” She teaches in the MFA program at the New School in NYC. honormoore.com.
TORREY OBERFEST is a partner at Bloomvale, where she advises publishing companies on growth strategies, corporate strategy, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to that, she was VP of corporate strategy at Hachette Book Group. At HBG, Torrey focused on corporate acquisition and business strategy. Torrey was previously the managing editor of Bulfinch Press. She lives in New York City with her husband, two daughters, and a golden retriever named Sammy.
DAWN PORTER’s films include “Gideon’s Army” (Sundance 2013), “Trapped,” (Sundance 2016), “The Way I See It” and “John Lewis Good Trouble.” Dawn’s work has been featured on HBO, Netflix, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, MTV Films, and other platforms. Porter’s latest documentary, "The Lady Bird Diaries," an all-archival documentary about Lady Bird Johnson debuted at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival where it won the Lone Star Prize and is currently streaming on Hulu. trilogy-films.com/dawn-porter
CHARLES SENNOTT is the Publisher of the MV Times and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The GroundTruth Project. An award-winning correspondent for The Boston Globe, a best-selling author and editor with 30 years of experience in international, national and local journalism, Charlie started GroundTruth in 2014 and in 2017 launched the non-profit organization's new, local reporting initiative, Report for America. He is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. This year, Sennott received the World Press Freedom Award by the James Foley Legacy Foundation. He is a resident of Chilmark with his wife Julie and their four sons.
SHERRY SIDOTI is an award-winning author and yoga teacher. Founder of FLY Yoga School, Sherry leads embodied memoir writing courses, somatic healing workshops, and yoga + writing retreats globally. Her debut memoir, “A Smoke and a Song” received the 2023 Gold Medal for Inspirational Memoir with Living Now Book Awards (2024) Finalist Prizes for
Eric Hoffer Book Awards, Grand Prize Winner, the da Vinci Eye Prize, National Indie Excellence Awards, and a Readers’ Favorite Five Star Award. sherrysidoti.com
ELISA M. SPERANZA spent thirtyplus years in marketing and strategic communications before publishing her 2022 historical novel “The Italian Prisoner,” a finalist in the FaulknerWisdom Creative Writing Competition. A co-founder of the Washashores Writers Collective, Elisa serves on the New Orleans Writers Workshop board. She’s been a featured author at the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival, the Louisiana Book Festival, the Salem (Mass.) LitFest, and Islanders Write. www.elisamariesperanza.com
ALA STANFORD, MD is a pediatric surgeon, founder of the Black Doctors Consortium, The Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity, and a national leader in health equity. Dr. Stanford gained international recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic using the infrastructure of her pediatric surgery practice to create a grassroots organization focused on education, testing, contact tracing, and vaccination in communities lacking access to care and resources. She was named a CNN Hero, one of Fortune Magazine’s “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” and one of Forbes’s Most Influential Women. She received the George H.W. Bush Points of Light Award in 2021. dralastanford.com
list of Top Ten Bestsellers of 2016. Her most recent novel, “Rules for Moving,” about a beloved advice columnist whose own life is a wreck, takes place partly on Martha’s Vineyard. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Lit Hub and The Forward, among other places. Before writing fiction full time, Nancy worked as a movie executive at the Samuel Goldwyn Company, dividing her time between New York and London. She now lives in Chilmark and New York City. nancystarauthor.com
ADRIANA STIMOLA is a literary agent with the Stimola Literary Studio. She works with clients to usher books into the world that nourish us, make lasting impressions, and grow our cultural, social, and emotional intelligence. Adriana represents an array of adult nonfiction in the realms of food, mind-body-spirit, art, memoir and lifestyle, including IAACP award-winning cookbooks like “A Year at Catbird Cottage” by Melina Hammer, James Beard awardwinning writers Abena Anim-Somuah and memoirist Elissa Altman, and viral sensation Jeff Guenther aka “TherapyJeff.” She occasionally dips into the world of adult fiction. Adriana lives in West Tisbury with her husband and kids. stimolaliterarystudio.com
ROSEMARY STIMOLA, a former professor of language and literature and an award winning children’s bookseller, founded the Stimola Literary Studio in 1997. Representing both fiction and nonfiction from preschool through young adult, and selectively extending into adult fiction, she is honored to count among her clients many award winning and best-selling authors and illustrators, including Suzanne Collins, Matthew Cordell, Thanhha Lai, Karen McManus, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Tanya Lee Stone, Matt Tavares, and Renee Watson. stimolaliterarystudio.com
JENNIFER SMITH TURNER’s debut novel “Child Bride” won several literary awards, including Best E-book for 2020 by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and Biblioboard, and 2020 Winner of the Sarton Women’s Book Award. She is also the author of two poetry books. Jennifer has conducted online writing workshops for Storycircle Network and run poetry workshops for
NANCY STAR is the author of six novels including “Sisters One, Two, Three” which landed on Publishers Weekly’s
high school students in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Jennifer has written book reviews for the MV Times, and an article about the renaissance of Black art on Martha’s Vineyard for the MV Arts & Ideas magazine. theauthorjennifer.wordpress.com
FRED WAITZKIN studied English at Kenyon College, received his MA at NYU, and then taught poetry at the College of the Virgin Islands where he met his wife, Bonnie. After the two settled in New York City, he tried his hand at writing short stories, to no avail, and ended up launching his career by writing feature journalism, personal essays, and reviews for various magazines. He published “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” one of his best-known works, in 1984, and has been publishing books ever since. His most recent novel “Anything is Good” was published in June. fredwaitzkin.com
PATRICIA J. WILLIAMS is a Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities at Northeastern University, and director of law, technology and
ethics initiatives. A graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard Law School, she is also Professor Emerita at Columbia University School of Law. She is the author of six books. Her award-winning column, “Diary of a Mad Law Professor,” appeared in the Nation magazine for two decades. She is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her book “The Miracle of the Black Leg: Notes on Race, Human Bodies, and the Spirit of the Law,” (New Press) was published in June.
GRETCHEN YOUNG launched Regalo Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster in September 2022. The new imprint unites philanthropy with the business of book publishing. Before launching Regalo Press, Gretchen spent the prior 10 years as vice president, executive editor at Grand Central Publishing. Her books and authors have hit The NY Times bestseller list more than 75 times. They have also garnered a Pulitzer finalist, a Grammy, an Edgar Award, No. 1 Indie Next Pick, a Goodreads Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award, and two Time 100 honors.
Begun in 2014 by The Martha's Vineyard Times, Islanders Write is a unique festival where writers with a connection to the Island come together for robust conversation about the art, craft and business of writing. This free event includes panel discussions, author talks, book signings and workshops and is a highly anticipated part of the Island summer. We welcome your support.
Your donation is
and
Featherstone Center for the Arts' mission is to engage, enrich and connect our community through the power of art and creativity. www.featherstoneart.org
