How do you deal with a crazy year and not give way to despair? The 2017 Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival was designed to be an antidote to chaos — a means of better understanding the turmoil in our country. Here we would have the luxury of a little extra time to identify problems and discuss solutions while also giving us reason to celebrate the creativity around us. Change happens by individuals who make it happen, and this year we looked for authors who were change makers. Among them were Carol Anderson who identifies the backlash of African American advancement, Dr. Willie Parker, an OB/GYN who provides abortion services to women in the rural south as his moral responsibility, Deborah Tannen who explains the double bind women face by either being likable and seen as weak or powerful and reviled, Min Jin Lee who spent years in Japan to help us better understand the complexities of its culture, and Gillian Thomas who advocates for women’s rights, to name just a few.

The festival included first-time novelists and blockbuster authors, professors, deans, comedians, poets, numerous Pulitzer Prizes and PhDs, scientists, medical doctors, chefs, entrepreneurs, film producers, booksellers, White House staffers, newspaper columnists, radio hosts. They helped us understand a year that defies understanding, and distracted us when we needed distracting. I went away with renewed confidence that the First Amendment is alive and well despite the era of alternative facts. The authors were smart, clever, entertaining and sometimes astonishing.

Conversations were assisted by an adept group of moderators, interviewers and introducers. These experts read, researched and prepared. They drew out the authors and enriched our understanding. Special mention goes to Barbara Krauthamer who swiftly reorganized her schedule to get to the island to moderate the breathtaking Black Female Resistance panel.

There are many people to thank for making this year’s book festival happen. The towns of Chilmark and Edgartown were patient hosts, despite the traffic jams we created, and we were much better off for using the Menemsha Shuttle Parking lot. We are grateful for our fine venues, the Harbor View Hotel and the Chilmark Community Center and the dedicated and helpful staff of each of these organizations. The fine libraries of Chilmark and Edgartown were also our helpful supporters and advocates.

Without the Vineyard Gazette, I feel certain that this would have been an effort that was abandoned long ago. With their sponsorship, their excellent supplement, their savvy advice and the brilliant Friday night event, we are stronger and way more interesting. Similarly, Bunch of Grapes Bookstore is our vital enabling partner. They understand the reading habits of the Island community and we make better choices because of them.

A grant from Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Foundation Trust allowed us to fly in authors from across the country as did the support of Cape Air and the Massachusetts Center for the Book. We are delighted to be working with WBUR who provided both sponsorship and its talented hosts as moderators.

As significantly, generous individual donors paid for tents, sound and recording. It is because of their support that we can preserve all of the discussions. Recordings of all of the sessions will soon be available online at our website, mvbookfestival.com. This is thanks to the fine work of Dan Martino and Martha’s Vineyard Productions. Greg Martino and his staff of sound technicians worked tirelessly for three days and many set changes to calibrate us perfectly. Melissa Patterson and About Signs & Design produced another glorious logo and endless amounts of promotional material.

A cadre of volunteers abandoned houseguests and children to manage the tents, welcome guests in the green room, staff the signing and information tables, beautify us with flower arrangements and drive the authors around the island. Thank you to Howard Harrison and Jon Harris. The staff of the Chilmark Community Center managed an unwieldy site and kept traffic moving. Betty Frank Bailey kept our accounts accurate and paid the bills. And then there are the many kind hosts who opened up their homes to show the authors Vineyard hospitality at its finest. There is also the group that mobilized into action to put together an intimate dinner for 85.

The distinguished members of the book festival advisory panel were always accessible, talked me down and helped identify authors and set themes. Several people did extraordinary work in facilitating the details of this event that has endless details: Wendee Wolfson, Kate Treitman Brown, Billy Lazarus, Ginny Morris, and Christine Skidmore warrant special mention. And Hank and Carol Brown Goldberg are the best party givers.

As one guest noted, “This weekend was so much fun!” And maybe, we will approach the year ahead with more hope and purpose with the help of these wise authors.

Suellen Lazarus
Chilmark

The writer is director of the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival.