Author Talk

Author Talk

The Vineyard Haven public library will host a Sunday afternoon talk with poet and novelist, the Rev. Judy Campbell, on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. Judy will talk about the writing process and getting your work published. There will be time for questions, and an opportunity to hear Judy read from her work as a writer. The event is sponsored by the friends of the library.

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Author, Editor Frances Tenenbaum Named Outstanding Garden Writer
Phyllis Meras

By PHYLLIS MERAS

Longtime Aquinnah seasonal resident Frances Tenenbaum was lauded last week in the Boston Globe’s Gardening Column as “one of the 20th-century’s outstanding American garden book editors.” Columnist Carol Stocker described the former Houghton Mifflin garden book editor as one “who helped elevate garden writing by American authors instead of following the book industry’s long trend of simply reprinting British garden books.”

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Torts Amid the Tombstones? Author Probes Afterlife Laws
Peter Brannen

When Boston College Law School professor Ray Madoff set out to write a book about the legal rights of the dead in America, she only intended to include one chapter on the law itself, devoting the rest of the book to a philosophical, psychological, sociological and even religious interpretation. But as she began prying into the more remote and cobwebbed corners of the legal system, she stumbled upon a bizarre legal world of grave robbing, posthumous procreation and cryogenic preservation that was too rich a topic; in the end, she devoted the entire book to this world.

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Yiddish Book Discussion

Prof. Herb Foster, author of the best selling book, Ribbin’, Jivin’, and Playin’ the Dozens: The Persistent Dilemma in Our Schools, will discuss his recently completed manuscript, Yiddish and Jive in American English, at the Vineyard Haven library at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23.

The manuscript explores how Americans of Jewish and African descent have contributed more words, phrases and inflections to today’s American English usage than any other ethnic group.

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Festival of Poetry

Festival of Poetry

Featherstone Center for the Arts, in conjunction with the Martha’s Vineyard Writers Residency, presents a summer-long festival of poetry at Featherstone.

All readings will be held on the third Thurday of each month at 7 p.m.

This summer’s lineup includes both local and nationally known poets.

On Thursday, June 17, locals Jennifer Tseng and Clark Myers will be sharing recent and published work.

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Books, Not Bumper Stickers: Stephen Carter Defends Debate
Mike Seccombe

Best-selling author and Yale law professor Stephen Carter deplores those bumper stickers with which people advertise their views on political and social issues.

He’s sorry if that offends anyone, but he really can’t stand them, for a couple of reasons.

First, they are overwhelmingly stuck on the backs of cars; thus they convey the message “Here’s my opinion, I don’t have to look at yours.”

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Bunch of Grapes Hosts Writers’ Open Mic Night

After a successul start this week — with eight writers, from the well-known Shirley Mayhew to charter school student and emerging novelist Hannah Vanderlaske, wowing the audience with their works in progress — Open Mic Night for Writers continues this Tuesday at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore on Main street in Vineyard Haven.

The evening’s emcee will be West Tisbury poet Laura D. Roosevelt.

Anyone currently working on a novel, short story, poetry or essay is invited to read for five minutes.

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Gilded Age Gardener

Gilded Age Gardener

Landscape historian, author and Vineyard gardener Judith Tankard offers a look at the life and work of Beatrix Farrand, one of the foremost landscape designers of the early 1900s, at the Polly Hill Arboretum on Wednesday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Born into a prominent New York family, Ms. Farrand eschewed the social life of the gilded age to pursue her passion for landscape and plants.

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Shamar Rinpoche Returns to Bodhi Path

Bodhi Path Buddhist Center founder Shamar Rinpoche, the 14th Sharmapa, will be on Martha’s Vineyard for a weekend teaching series July 24 and 25, teaching from his latest book, The Path To Awakening. Teachings will be 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 to 4 p.m. both days. There will be a welcoming reception and book signing on Friday, July 23, from 5 to 8 p.m.

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Book Launch Takes Kids on Wild Trip
Holly Nadler

For a weekday in late March on Island, it was a book launch of exceptional glamour: 46 avid fans showed up. The author lectured, read and fielded questions in a turret room flanked by a small amphitheater of seats. Even paparazzi were on hand, if you count the duo from the Gazette. The reception to the reading was rousing. The questions were intelligent and penetrating. The event ended with a round of applause and a platter of cupcakes.

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