Steam rose from many, many mugs of coffee on Saturday morning as the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival began at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown. More than 30 authors attended the two-day festival, participating in readings and panel discussions at the Harbor View on Saturday and on the grounds of the Chilmark Community Center on Sunday.

The book festival has been held on the Vineyard every other summer since 2005, conceived and organized by Suellen Lazarus, a seasonal resident of Chilmark.

A portion of South Road in Chilmark is slated to be closed to traffic during President Obama's visit to the Island, the Chilmark selectmen learned on Tuesday.

Each year, artist Gertrude (Gee Gee) Barden and her family plan their annual trip to Martha’s Vineyard around one event: the All-Island Art Show.

In the Gazette newsroom, we all knew the stories. And over the course of about a year, Bill Eville, managing editor of the Gazette, shared in intimate essays with the rest of the Island community the challenges of raising two small children, Hardy and Pickle, and supporting his wife, Cathlin, through diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer.

The Oyster Pond estate of Richard and Nancy Friedman is the setting for Water Tasting By The Sea on Thursday, August 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The sprawling waterfront location was the summer White House for former President Bill Clinton. Richard and Nancy Friedman are well-known Island philanthropists.

With concerns ranging from storm water management to the fate of town-owned bathrooms, public review of a proposal for a major renovation and expansion of the Tisbury Stop & Shop store continued Thursday before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

Set on a hilltop surrounded by meadows and stone walls, this gentleman's farmhouse off State Road offers the privacy of an up-Island getaway yet proximity to both Vineyard Haven and West Tisbury centers.

Joseph F. Frawley and Mary T. Frawley purchased 74 Whalers Walk in Edgartown for $1,075,000 on July 23.

On the pristine lawn of the Styron residence, where the pink and orange tones of sunset moved in above the gently-rocking sailboats of the Tisbury harbor, it was hard to imagine conflict lurked anywhere in the world.

And yet 85 Island residents and visitors had convened there last Wednesday night to discuss not just conflict, but its effect on the brain.

On Wednesday, August 7, the 18th Camp Ground Cottage tour takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tour this year consists of six cottages, two just 500-square-feet, and one in the initial stages of renovation. Four cottages are owned by second or third generation Camp Ground residents.

Five of the cottages are located around Victorian Park — 6, 19, 24, 27, 30. The sixth home is at 3 Butler avenue.