7:30 am: Wake Up and Write!
Judith Hannan
For the early birds – there’s no better way to begin your day at Islanders Write! Essayist, author, and workshop leader Judith Hannan will lead participants in a series of quick writing prompts to encourage free association and the revelation of scenes and stories
Judith Hannan is an author and essayist who has facilitated writing workshops for those coping with physical and/or mental illness, medical professionals, homeless mothers, and those within the criminal justice system.
9:30-10:30 am: The Art of Layering for Scene and Character Development
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.” Just as visual artists use layering as a technique to build their canvas, as writers we can learn to layer our writing so that we build a canvas of words that catches the reader’s interest for the full length of a novel. How does the writer move the reader from being a distant observer to someone who is fully invested in the storyline? What causes the reader to want to root for a particular character or be so turned off by a character that they begin to love to hate them? All of this can be accomplished through thoughtful layering in your writing.
Jennifer Smith Turner is an award-winning author of the novel “Child Bride,” and the author of two poetry books. She has conducted online writing workshops for Storycircle Network and run poetry workshops for high school students in MA and CT.
10:30 am- 12:00 pm: Writing the Memoir: What to Cut, What to Keep, and How to Pull it All Together
Elizabeth Benedict
Telling our life stories is a primal instinct, and, these days, a hugely popular publishing genre—the memoir. Whether we’re focused on a dramatic event, an unusual family, or a lifetime obsession, as writers we are faced with a raft of decisions to make as we begin—among them voice, story arc, and style—and at every stage of the process. 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.
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 and the author of the critically acclaimed 2023 memoir “Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own.”
12:15 – 1:15 pm Life-Writing History: A Generative Workshop
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. The intensity of these times seem to reveal who we were more clearly than remembering the merely personal. We will write for about 15-20 minutes and then read aloud what we’ve written in the spirit of sharing in the safe space of a group.
Honor Mooore’s new book “A Termination” meditates on the continuing resonance of her 1969 pre-Roe abortion. She’s 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.
1:30 – 2:30 pm Saudade Project: Creative writing in Portuguese
Marcia Decastro Borges
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. O workshop busca desenvolver uma prática de escrita que seja exploratória, divertida e produtiva, acolhendo diferentes estilos e vozes de cada participante. No intuito de integrar a escrita em sua vida, equilibrando inspiração e rotina. Este Workshop de Escrita Criativa têm uma (1) hora e inclui instrução guiada e tempo de escrita independente.
Material: Uma foto ou pequeno objeto de alguém ou algum lugar que você sente saudades.
Quem pode participar: +14
Márcia 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. Atua como Intérprete de Português/Inglês em Martha’s Vineyard – MA. Doutora em Comunicação (UFSM).
2:30 – 3:30 pm
You finished writing your book—now what? Planning and Executing Your Book Publicity Strategy
Elisa Speranza
You’ve toiled away on your book, and you’re finally ready to get it out into the world. Maybe you’ve been lucky enough to get an agent and a publisher, maybe you’ve decided to go the independent route and self-publish. Either way, it’s unlikely there’s a marketing team ready to help you, so how will anyone beyond your friends and family find out about your book? This workshop will help demystify the world of book publicity and will provide practical advice for developing your book launch and marketing strategy.
Oak Bluffs summer resident Elisa M. Speranza spent thirty-plus years in marketing and strategic communications before publishing her 2022 historical novel “The Italian Prisoner,” a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.