Pulitzer prize-winning poet Jorie Graham has been coming to the Vineyard for thirty years. She often derives inspiration from the natural beauty of the Island.

“Perhaps my poems, if I am lucky, can awaken in [readers] a renewed relationship with the natural world which they can take with them into their lives...” she said.

On Tuesday, August 14, she will read from Place, her new book of poetry, as well as from work inspired by the Island, at the Pathways Poetry Festival at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs. Ms. Graham credits the light on the Island in part for nourishing the creative spirit in the multitudes of artists who feel drawn to its shores.

“One feels that it prowls around the Island, that life is lit somehow sideways at times, that the woods are pierced by it and the fields taken up in a syntax of light.”

Justen Ahren, poet and co-director of the poetry festival, describes hearing Ms. Graham read her work as an almost tactile experience.

“When you go to a Jorie reading, you really come in contact with such a brilliant and dynamic intellect... such an inquisitive mind,” he said. “I’m not just listening to a poet, I am getting an experience of the person and the inner workings of their mind.”

The reading begins at 7 p.m. Cost is $20. For details, call 508-693-1850 or visit featherstoneart.org.