Judith Merion performs Bach & Ravel

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome local pianist Judith Merion for a live performance of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach and Sonatine by Maurice Ravel. Judith will play the Steinway piano generously donated by Laurene Krasny Brown. This event will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, October 20th, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

Judith Merion has been playing piano since she was 5 years old. She studied with Frances Ferdman at Settlement Music School; Harvey Wedeen at Temple University; Inessa Zaretsky; and Lisa Weiss. She has concertized at Settlement Music School, where she also taught. She has also performed at Summertrios, Newbridge on the Charles, Waterstone, the MV Hebrew Center, and numerous library and house concerts. It gives her enormous joy to be able to share the music she so loves with people in the place she so loves. 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

 

Storm Cancellations and Updates, September 25th-September 26th

The library will be closed on Saturday due to expected weather conditions.

Due to the forecast storm, some library events have been changed:

• The Teen Smash Brothers Pizza Party, scheduled for Friday September 25th, has been postponed until next week, Friday October 2nd from 5-7pm
• The Author Talk with Lesley Mahoney O’Connell, scheduled for 4pm Friday September 25th, has been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
• The Friends of the Library meeting on Saturday September 26th at 10:15 will meet on Zoom only, register for Zoom info.

History BINGO: The Vineyard in the Revolution!

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome local historians Norah Van Riper and Bow Van Riper for a fun, fast-paced game of BINGO with a twist. This event will be held on Tuesday, October 13th, at 6:00 PM at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

In honor of America’s 250th birthday, this edition of History BINGO is all about the American Revolution on Martha’s Vineyard. Come play along and learn about the facts, the fictions, and the in-betweens of the Revolution here on the Island!

Itinerant historian Norah Van Riper has been in the museum and living history trades for the better part of twenty-five years. Her focus is primarily on historical agriculture and domestic life in New England before the Industrial Revolution, however, she’s known to dabble in a number of other subjects and periods. Her real passion lies in giving voice to the forgotten and misunderstood people of the past. She lives in Vineyard Haven.

A historian for 40 years (so far) A. Bowdoin "Bow" Van Riper received his BA from Brown University and his MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. He taught at the college level for more than 20 years and is the author, editor, or co-editor of 22 books and over 100 articles. He has been Research Librarian at the Martha's Vineyard Museum since 2014. A third-generation washashore, Bow first came to the Island in 1963, at the age of 3 months, and moved here permanently in December 2011. He lives on the shores of Vineyard Haven Harbor in a 19th century house where, as far as he can tell, nothing of historical significance ever happened.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Memento Morrie with photographer Heather Pillar

Mitch Albom with Morrie on Tuesday October 3, 1995 © Heather Pillar

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome photographer and teacher Heather Pillar for a presentation about her photographic collaboration with Morrie Schwartz, subject of the best-selling memoir “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom. This event will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 19th, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

In 1995, Heather Pillar collaborated with Morrie Schwartz to document Morrie during the last six months of his life struggling with ALS. The project illustrates Morrie's philosophies about death and dying through photographs Pillar made of him interacting with family, friends, and caregivers. Over a quarter-century later, Morrie's wisdom resonates with people around the world largely due to the best-selling memoir “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom. Morrie's warmth and vitality comes through in each photograph to illustrate love, loss and the power of community. Morrie taught people, including Heather, how to live fulfilling lives with love. “It is by facing fears of death that we learn how to live.” 

"Memento Morrie: Images of Love and Loss" published by Daylight Books will be available for purchase before and after the talk. The book includes 44 duotones and four outstanding essays from professionals in their own fields plus short stories from interviews with Morrie’s friends and family. Some images are paired with Morrie’s now famous aphorisms giving imagery to the bittersweet themes of end-of-life: building a caring community; friends; family; caregiving; self-care; spirituality; and death and beyond.

Heather Pillar, photographer and teacher, has lived, taught and photographed in seven countries over four continents during the past 25 years. Her personal and collaborative photographic projects reveal her ongoing interest in women, girls' education, and aging. Heather's photographs have been exhibited internationally as well as published in numerous newspapers and magazines, such as People Magazine and The Boston Globe, and in the books “The Wisdom of Morrie,” “Tuesdays with Morrie,” and “Morrie: In His Own Words.” Her work has also appeared on television (CBS Sunday Morning, Today Show) and online (NPR, Next Avenue [AARP], PBS’s Inside E Street). She is the author of “Memento Morrie: Images of Love and Loss” (Daylight Books, July 2024).

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Open Mic Night: Where Dreams Come True!

Do you dream of performing on stage? 

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to announce a monthly Open Mic Night in collaboration with the Vineyard Haven Harbor Cultural District. The Open Mic Night will be held in the library’s new Community Room at 6:00 PM on the third Thursday of the month, beginning September 17th.

Each attendee may perform 1-2 songs or pieces in a genre of their choice, be it music, dance, drama, or the spoken word. Free and open to the public. Sign up on arrival. No registration required.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

2026 Great Reads Community Discussion: “Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity” by Joseph Lee

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to host a community-wide discussion about the 2026 Massachusetts Great Reads title “Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity” by Joseph Lee. This program will be held in collaboration with the Aquinnah Cultural Center at 2:00 PM on Thursday, September 17th, at the 200 Main Street Library or via Zoom. Click here to register.  

This discussion series is part of the 2026 Great Reads MA program, sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. The first 20 registered participants will receive a free copy of the book. All registrants will be invited to the Vineyard Haven Library to participate in a statewide, virtual Q&A with author Joseph Lee at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, September 29th. 

About the book: 

Before Martha’s Vineyard became one of the most iconic vacation destinations in the country, it was home to the Wampanoag people. Today, as tourists flock to the idyllic beaches, the island has become increasingly unaffordable for tribal members, with nearly three-quarters now living off-island. Growing up Aquinnah Wampanoag, journalist Joseph Lee grappled with what this situation meant for his tribe, how the community can continue to grow, and more broadly, what it means to be Indigenous.

About the author:

Joseph Lee is an Aquinnah Wampanoag writer based in New York City. He has an MFA from Columbia University and teaches creative writing at Mercy University. His writing has been published in The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, Vox, Electric Literature, High Country News, and more. He was a Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and a Senior Indigenous Affairs Fellow at Grist. He has won multiple awards from the Indigenous Journalists Association for environmental coverage, health coverage, and beat reporting and was awarded a 2024 Silvers Grant for Work in Progress. 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Virtual Literary Lecture Series: "Gender Dramas" with Professor Philip Weinstein

 Professor Philip Weinstein, the Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor Emeritus of English at Swarthmore College

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to announce "Gender Dramas," a seven-part virtual lecture series with Professor Philip Weinstein, the Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor Emeritus of English at Swarthmore College. Beginning September 8th, Professor Weinstein will explore dramas of yearning and desire in three remarkable novels of the 19th and early 20th century: Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1851), Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1878), and Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925). This virtual lecture series will be held via Zoom from 7:00 - 8:30 pm on the following Tuesdays: Sept. 8, Sept. 22, Oct. 6, Oct. 27, Nov. 10, Dec. 1, and Dec. 15. 

Gender Dramas will be hosted on Zoom by Lifelong Learning Swarthmore. Professor Weinstein and Lifelong Learning Swarthmore have generously arranged for Martha’s Vineyard library patrons to participate in this program at no charge. To sign up for complimentary access, patrons may register here. Login instructions will be sent to registered library participants prior to the first session. 

Lectures will be held from 7:00 - 8:30 pm on the following Tuesdays as follows:

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Tuesday, Oct 6, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Tuesday, Oct 27, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Tuesday, Nov 10, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Tuesday, Dec 1, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Tuesday, Dec 15, 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

“What does a woman want?” Freud’s famous question has been asked — and in strikingly different ways illuminated — by writers well before and after Freud. We shall explore dramas of yearning and desire in three remarkable novels of the 19th and early 20th century: Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1851), Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1878), and Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925). The heroines in these novels memorably confront and engage gender norms operative in their culture. What light does each novel shed on the struggles engaged? How do the novels’ embodied stance toward such gender arrangements affect that light? Perhaps a third question as well: how does their way of dramatizing these issues provoke questions of your own? “Gender” serves as the fulcrum in this course description, but our aim goes beyond any set of “prescriptions” or “proscriptions.” Rather, it is to do justice to each writer’s creative take on the drama of yearning and desire.

Philip Weinstein earned his PhD in English from Harvard University, staying on to teach at Harvard for the next 3 years. He then accepted a position at Swarthmore, where he remained for over 40 years, becoming the Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor of English. He has written several books of literary criticism, many focused on Faulkner, including “Becoming Faulkner: The Art and Life of William Faulkner,” which won the Hugh Holman Award for the best book of literary scholarship or literary criticism in the field of southern literature published in 2010. In 2015, Weinstein retired from Swarthmore and moved to Martha’s Vineyard full-time. Since then, he’s gone on to write three more books and to continue teaching adults through the Vineyard Haven Public Library, Swarthmore Lifelong Learning, and the 92nd Street Y in New York.

Update on Neurocognitive Disorders and Alzheimer’s Disease with Dr. Nicole Absar

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome back Dr. Nicole Absar, a specialist in Neurocognitive Disorders at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, for an update on neurocognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease. This event will be held on Tuesday, September 15th, at 6:00 PM at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

In the lead to World Alzheimer's Day on September 21st, Dr. Absar's lecture will focus on the updated differential diagnosis of various forms of major neurocognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy body, and other types of non-Alzheimer’s dementia. She will also cover recent updates on Alzheimer’s disease including molecular biomarker-focused early diagnosis and treatment. 

Dr. Nicole Absar is certified in Cognitive/Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry with a subspecialty in Neurocognitive Disorders. She has treated cognitive neurological disorders in Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York, and currently provides neurocognitive and Alzheimer's disease services to patients at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. She has served as teaching faculty at Harvard Medical School, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Tufts Medical School, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and SUNY Stonybrook University Medical School. 

Dr Absar is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology as well as a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a member of the American Medical Association. A registered yoga teacher, she believes in Integrated Neuroscience and utilizes yoga, mindfulness and brain health as a modality for Cognitive Rehabilitation. She is a National Yoga Alliance certified educational provider in specialty yoga therapy for brain disorders. 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

The Light of Awareness 2–The Ancient Art of Zen Meditation and the 21st-Century Work of Byron Katie

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome back Jonathan Herrick, LCSW, for a two-hour meditation workshop combining two powerful, pragmatic approaches that can reduce personal suffering and increase the capacity for happiness and love. This program will be held on Saturday, June 27th, from 10:00am-12:00pm at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, located at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven (above Tisbury Town Hall). Free and open to the public. Interested patrons may register on the library’s event calendar. 

Building on the concepts and practices introduced at his June workshop, Jonathan will continue his exploration into the nature of awareness, providing participants with practical skills that can benefit their lives. The workshop will cover four primary Zen meditation practices as well as Byron Katie’s four-step “CBT on steroids,” demonstrating the similarities, differences, and strengths of each practice in the process. Suitable for newcomers as well as those who may have participated in Jonathan's previous workshops. Ample time is included for questions and answers.

Jonathan Herrick has been in private psychotherapy practice for over 40 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. After receiving his master’s degree from New York University, he trained extensively with some of the world’s foremost mentors and institutes, including a decade with Byron Katie, who asked him to write about her work's relationship to Zen Buddhism. Herrick also trained with leading Zen, Tibetan Buddhist, and Advaita Vedanta masters including Philip Kaplea, H.W.L. Poonja, Ramesh Balsekar, Jean Klein, and Anam Thubten. He has practiced and led workshops on the Psychology of Self in Westport, Park Slope, San Francisco, and now on Martha’s Vineyard.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Book Talk: Washashores Review, Volume 2

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome local authors Bernice McIntyre, Constance Belton Green, Polly Simpkins, and Terri Potts-Chattaway for a reading and discussion from the “Washashores Review, Volume 2,” a literary anthology featuring over thirty pieces of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry connected to the theme of “wanting.” This event will be held at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, September 1st, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required. 

 The “Washashores Review,” is a compilation of essays, short stories, and poems written by members of the Washashores Writers Collective, a diverse and vibrant sisterhood of Vineyard-connected writers. The anthology is published by the Washashores Writers Collective in partnership with the Featherstone Center for the Arts. Copies of the anthology will be available for purchase before and after the event, with proceeds supporting the Literary Arts Program at Featherstone.

Bernice K McIntyre is a retired attorney living on Martha’s Vineyard year-round since 2021. She has journaled since her teenage years and has written creative pieces. She previously served in numerous senior corporate legal and regulatory positions. Early in her legal career she served as commissioner, then chairperson of the Massachusetts Public Utility Commission. She was the first African American and first woman chairperson of this Commission. During her lengthy career as an environmental and energy lawyer she wrote numerous articles for publication in business journals. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College and her juris doctor from Boston University School of Law.

Constance Belton Green is an essayist. She is a former practicing attorney and college administrator. Her publications include “Still We Rise: African Americans at the University of Connecticut School of Law” and “The Trailblazing Bessye Bennett.” She is a contributing writer for the 2025 and 2026 Washashores Reviews. Green spends her time between Martha’s Vineyard, Connecticut and the New York City/ New Jersey areas. “Holding On and Letting Go,” Green's contribution to the Review, is a story about life transitions.

Polly Simpkins is an interspiritual minister, a ceremonialist, and the founder of Petal Sky, which provides spiritual care for all stages of life, including death. She is also a fourth-generation Islander, a story gatherer, and a DJ at MVY Radio. 

Terri Potts-Chattaway spent 20 years in the television industry which led to her writing and publishing her first book, “Journey to the Inner Light: The Life and Musical Voyage of Jay Chattaway, Star Trek, Jazz and Film Composer.” Terri is honored to be a member of the Washashores Writers Collective which has published two anthologies. Both her essay, “The Love of Catboats” and her poetry have been included in the Washashores Review, Volumes 1 and 2. She has also written for several international periodicals and has a sailing blog on her website, www.terripotts-chattaway.com. She is currently writing her memoir. 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Author Talk - “Numinosity: A New England Forester’s Search for the Ineffable” by Bob Perschel

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome Vineyard resident and professional forester Bob Perschel for a talk about his fifty-year quest in pursuit of something larger than all of us, a quest documented in his new book, “Numinosity: A New England Forester’s Search for the Ineffable.” This event will be held at 4:00 PM on Friday, September 4th, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

“Numinosity: A New England Forester’s Search for the Ineffable” is a collection of stories and poems offering a rare and moving account of what happens when deep scientific knowledge of the forest meets a search for transcendence within it. Drawing on Jungian concepts of the numinous, those encounters with an awe-inspiring force that defies full articulation, Perschel’s poems emerge from the lived intimacy of forest work: marking timber alone in winter woods, listening to the life cycle of an ancient oak, and reckoning with the weight of human impact on a landscape. The result is a collection that is both deeply personal and urgently ecological.

The collection is organized into three thematic sections. The first, Forestry, explores the spiritual and ethical dimensions of forest stewardship through poems including “Marking Timber,” “Lie Down: A Forester’s Directive,” and “The Last Twitch.”  The second section, Life, reveals how the natural world can provide meaning and weave its influence through our lives with poems such as “Meeting the Green Lady”, “The Place Where Life Begins”, and “Snake River Bar.”   The third section, Climate Change, confronts the moral stakes of the current environmental crisis with poems such as “Epistle to Left on the Earth,” “J.D. Skis Ukraine,” and “Memo to a Prospective Leader.”

Robert T. Perschel has helped conserve six million acres of New England’s forests during a four-decade career as a professional forester. He chaired the 53-member Northern Forest Alliance and co-founded the Forest Stewards Guild, a national organization of ecologically focused foresters. As Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation, he led the creation of Exemplary Forestry standards that use climate-smart management to offset significant regional carbon emissions. He holds a Psychology degree from Yale College (1973) and a Masters of Forestry Science from the Yale School of the Environment (1979). Bob lives in an oak forest on the north shore of Martha’s Vineyard.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

One Bad Crab: Screening, Discussion & Green Crab Tasting!

Nelson Sigelman, writer and narrator of One Bad Crab, with the subject of the film

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome environmental filmmaker Sandy Cannon-Brown, along with members of the MV Shellfish community, for a screening and discussion of the film, One Bad Crab, followed by a green crab tasting appetizer. Speakers to include: MV Shellfish Group Executive Director Emma Green-Beach, MV Shellfish Group Founder Rick Karney, GreenCrab.org Executive Director Mary Parks, and Tisbury Shellfish Constable Danielle Ewart. This event will be held at 4:00 pm on Friday, August 28th, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

One Bad Crab is a 38-minute documentary film by environmental filmmaker Sandy Cannon-Brown, narrated by Nelson Sigelman. The Latin name for the European green crab, Carcinus maenas, translates as “raving mad crab", which gives some insight into the personality of this invasive crustacean with a voracious appetite that undermines valuable shellfish resources here on the Island. It's impossible to eliminate this fecund critter, but we can take advantage of its presence as a savory menu item. Attendees will be treated to a green crab appetizer following the screening. 

Sandy Cannon-Brown, founder (1985) and president (1985-present) of VideoTakes, Inc., is an award-winning environmental filmmaker. Before moving to Martha's Vineyard in 2020, she lived in DC and St. Michaels, MD and made nine documentaries about subjects important to the Chesapeake Bay with writer Tom Horton and photographer Dave Harp. In 2025 the team was honored by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum with the prestigious Bay Heritage Award. Sandy was also an associate director for the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University, honored as CEF’s first senior scholar in 2013, and named AU’s adjunct professor of the year in 2011. Among her many other honors, Women in Film Video DC honored Sandy as a Woman of Vision in 1998. She served as WIFV’s president 2011-2012.

Emma Green-Beach is Executive Director of the MV Shellfish Group. Emma grew up in Oak Bluffs and fondly remembers gathering shellfish from Sengekontacket, Edgartown Great Pond and Wasque. She started with the MV Shellfish Group as seasonal staff in 2006 after receiving her B.S. in Biology at U Mass Dartmouth. She went on to earn a M.S. in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers University in 2011. She joined MV Shellfish Group full-time in 2014 and became the Executive Director in 2017.

Rick Karney is Founder and Director Emeritus of the MV Shellfish Group. Rick came to the Island in the 1970s to create a shellfish management program that focuses on aquaculture to enhance public shellfish stock propagation. He also helped start the MV Shellfish Group, which celebrates its 50th year in 2026. His work with MVSG earned him the Gulf of Maine Visionary Award in 2001 for demonstrating "that shellfish aquaculture can be an environmentally and economically sustainable activity for coastal communities." Rick graduated from Rutgers University in 1972 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences.

Mary Parks is Executive Director of GreenCrab.org. Mary grew up in Penobscot Bay and first learned about the green crab's invasive impact from the surrounding lobstering and clamming community. After working in traceability for a commercial fish wholesaler in Boston, and learning more about bait markets for green crabs, she started asking what needed to be done to build a culinary market. In 2020, she went on to found GreenCrab.org: a nonprofit dedicated to building culinary markets for European green crab and spreading awareness of its invasive impact.

Danielle Ewart is the Tisbury Shellfish Constable. During the summer of 2004, between her freshman and sophomore years of college, Danielle worked as a summer deputy for the Town of Oak Bluffs and part-time at Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group. After graduating, she rose in the ranks to full-time deputy for the Town of Oak Bluffs. She became the Shellfish Constable for the neighboring Town of Tisbury in 2010.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Stories of Healthcare and Healing with Donna Bulseco and Ryn Gluckman

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome Donna Bulseco, editor of “Where It Hurts: Dispatches from the Emotional Frontlines of Medicine,” and Ryn Gluckman, ER nursing director at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, for a conversation about this newly released collection of essays, short stories, and poems. This event will be held at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, August 25th, at the Vineyard Haven Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

Health care workers see us all at our highest highs and our lowest lows. They’re heroes, healers, and confidants—but they’re also real people who struggle with burnout, doubt, frustration, fear, loneliness, shame, and anger. "Where It Hurts" (The Experiment; March 24, 2026; $18.95; Paperback; 979-8-89303-104-1) shares the stories of over sixty medical professionals, offering a window into the daily highlights and difficulties of the health-care industry. This collection of beautifully written poems and highly relatable essays and short stories paints health-care workers as real people, working every day in the spaces between health and illness, life and death. From funny stories (for instance, the story of a doctor who helps his patient find a cure, which, strangely enough, involves fajitas) to heart-rending and heart-mending tales of connection between doctors and patients, "Where It Hurts" shows us what it means to truly be human. 

From Grey’s Anatomy to The Pitt, our society has long been fascinated with stories of what it’s like to work in the high stress, high-stakes world of health care. According to the CDC, the health-care industry employs over twenty-two million workers, and "Where It Hurts" makes a great gift for anyone working in medicine—med school students, doctors, nurses, or EMTs. Literary and deeply moving, "Where It Hurts" reveals the challenges and triumphs of working in health care and invites us to live fully and empathize deeply with those around us.

DONNA BULSECO is a journalist and editor who holds graduate degrees in English from Brown University and in narrative medicine from Columbia University. Through the years, she has published work in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, InStyle, Self, and The Purist. As editor-in-chief of Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, a literary journal recognized as a leader in the medical humanities world, she works with an editorial board of clinicians, educators, and writers, who review and select from over one thousand submissions a year to produce the journal. She edited "Where It Hurts": Dispatches from the Emotional Frontlines of Medicine, a new anthology of work culled from the Intima Archives and published by NYC publisher, The Experiment, this year. 

RYN GLUCKMAN, BSN, RN has been an emergency nurse for over 18 years and is currently the Nurse Director of the Emergency Department (ED) at Martha's Vineyard Hospital. She received a nursing degree at the University of Massachusetts in 2008 and earned a BA in pre-law and sociology from Hampshire College in 2001. In addition to working as a frontline and nursing leader, Ryn has also served has an educator at the University of Vermont and faculty member in the Allied Health Program for the Community College of Vermont. Throughout her career Ryn has been committed to amplifying nursing voices and ethics, elevating nursing practice as a powerful tool for social change and centralizing the principles of justice, inclusion, and equity in nursing culture. She is currently a candidate for a master's degree in the Disaster Resilience Leadership Program at Tulane University, with a focus on alternative models of health care delivery. 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Small Pieces from the Big Composers with Silas Berlin

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome pianist Silas Berlin for an evening of classical piano music. This event will be held at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, August 18th, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

Silas will perform a wide array of eras and styles in short form composition, including preludes, etudes, and salon music by Chopin, Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and others. 

Raised on Martha's Vineyard, Silas currently lives in Seattle, where he teaches private piano lessons and performs when the occasion arises. Silas deeply values the opportunity to share music with the island community that itself places a deep value on music.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Cleo King's Open Mic

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to announce an evening of music, dance, drama, and the spoken word, emceed by acclaimed actress, Cleo King. This event will be held at 6:00 pm on Thursday, August 13th, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

Participants are invited to perform in a genre of their choice: music, dance, drama, the spoken word, etc. A sign-up sheet will be available at the event. Each performer will be given 5 minutes to display their talent. Come to perform or sit back and enjoy the show. All are welcome. 

Cleo King is an accomplished actor, singer & dancer. She can be seen on such shows as Nemesis, Mike & Molly, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, NCIS, Lemony Snickets, Shameless, Mom, Young Sheldon, Monk, and Deadwood, among others.  On the big screen, she has acted in The Hangover, Pineapple Express, The Life of David Gale, National Security, Dreamgirls, and Magnolia. Her latest film is The Dink, where she plays a pickleball obsessed attorney. Cleo’s Broadway & touring credits include Chicken & Biscuits, Jelly's Last Jam, Ain't Misbehavin, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Big River, to name a few! Cleo hails from St Louis, Missouri, by way of New York, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1995.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Exploring the Deep: Technology, Discovery, and the Future of Our Oceans

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome Dr. Anna Michel, a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Chief Scientist of the National Deep Submergence Facility, for a presentation on Technology, Discovery, and the Future of Our Oceans. This event will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, August 4th, at the Vineyard Haven Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public. No registration required.

Earth is an ocean planet—more than 70% of our home is covered by water an average of 12,000 feet deep, most of it unseen and unexplored. Dr. Anna Michel’s journey into this unknown began in high school, when she joined the Jason Project and traveled to the Galápagos Islands. There, she piloted her first underwater robot, sparking a lifelong passion for ocean exploration.

Today, Dr. Michel is a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Chief Scientist of the National Deep Submergence Facility. She develops new tools to monitor and understand the changing ocean. Her work takes her from the icy Canadian Arctic to track greenhouse gas emissions, to deep-sea volcanoes teeming with life, to coastal waters affected by microplastics. Whether three miles below the surface in the submersible Alvin or working with engineers in her lab, Dr. Michel is helping unlock the ocean’s secrets to better protect our blue planet.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

 

War for the Dawnland: Reimagining King Philip's War

Philip, King of Mount Hope,
line engraving by Paul Revere
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome Wôpanâak citizen and lifelong educator Brad Lopes for a Wôpanâak retelling of the events surrounding the historical conflict often referred to as King Philip’s War (1675 - 1678). This event will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, August 11th, at the Vineyard Haven Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public. No registration required.

The events commonly known by scholars and settlers as King Philip’s War (1675 - 1678) have been largely told through settler-colonial perspectives. Viewing events “from the land” instead of “from the boat,” participants will hear a retelling of the events leading up to, during, and after this historical conflict from a Wôpanâak perspective that takes into account written historical sources, oral history, and continued cultural epistemologies. The presentation will explore Metacom's (Philip’s) life, Indigenous resistance against English encroachment, violent and nefarious treatment by English settlers and courts, and the northern theater. Participants will come away with a greater understanding of the local and international context behind this war, often considered the bloodiest conflict in “American” history and a global moment of reverberation.

Brad Lopes is an Aquinnah Wampanoag citizen and life-long educator currently working within the traditional homelands of his people, the Wampanoag Nation. He currently serves as the Education Director for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Education Department (TED) and as the Education and Public Programs Manager for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, an Aquinnah Wampanoag museum located on Nôepe (Martha's Vineyard). Brad has a degree in Secondary Education from the University of Maine Farmington, located in Wabanaki Homelands. After graduation, he went on to teach Social Studies for five years to students in grades 7 - 12. In his time in education, Brad has sought to decolonize the pedagogies, content, and ways of understanding education, including the ways in which public education can reinforce stereotypes and harmful understandings of Indigenous people.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Author talk – Triage: A Novel by Elisa Speranza

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome local author Elisa Speranza for a conversation about her latest historical novel, “Triage.” This event will be held at 6:00 pm on Thursday, August 6th, at the Vineyard Haven Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven, with books available for sale by Edgartown Books. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

When the ghosts of war won’t stay buried, a former Army nurse must find a way to heal—or risk losing everything. In 1951 New Orleans, Laura Marino works as a nurse at Charity Hospital. She’s been home from World War II for six years, but peacetime has brought its own challenges. She’s frustrated at work, and her childless marriage to Nicholas, a surgeon she met in the Army, is strained. Laura is devastated when news arrives that Frances, her best friend from the front, has taken her own life. Turning to the wartime journal she has kept hidden away, Laura is plunged back into memories of the bonds forged amid chaos on the front lines of North Africa, during the siege of Anzio, and at a refugee camp in Italy. While her husband takes on an overseas assignment, Laura wrestles with her grief and guilt over Frances’ death. Then she meets Boyer, a wounded veteran who shares her pain. Their connection is intense— and dangerous, threatening to upend her life entirely. Triage is an intimate portrait of a woman’s hard-won journey through love, loss, and a quest for redemption. 

Elisa M. Speranza is the author of two historical novels, “Triage” (May 2026) and “The Italian Prisoner” (2022), a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. She is board chair and an instructor for the nonprofit New Orleans Writers Workshop and has been a featured author at the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival, the Louisiana Book Festival, Islanders Write, and the Salem LitFest. She is co-founder of the Washashores Writers Collective on Martha’s Vineyard and was a co-editor for and contributor to the 2025 anthology Washashores Review, Volume 1. She writes “The Bricklayer’s Daughter” newsletter on Substack. Originally from Boston, Elisa lives in New Orleans and Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. 

Elisa will be in conversation with Robin Stratton Rivera. Robin is a former Emmy-winning producer and programming executive for ABC Sports, who continues to work on independent writing and video projects at her home in Chilmark.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Re-Engraving Paul Revere: "The Boston Massacre" with Andy Volpe

In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome living history presenter Andy Volpe for a presentation on Paul Revere’s "Boston Massacre” print. This program will be held at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, July 28th at the Vineyard Haven Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required. 

Revere's "Bloody Massacre" print is arguably one of the most infamous propaganda prints in American history. Better known today as the "Boston Massacre," its image has found its way into hundreds of publications, history books, and video. While the event itself is heavily analyzed and debated, the plate and print have an interesting backstory that is not often talked about. Andy will also touch on his own work replicating Revere's prints, including how he went about producing a hand-engraved, full-size replica of the Massacre—one of only two such replicas created in the 21st century—which he created for the event's 250th anniversary.

Andy Volpe is an artist, printer and living history presenter in Worcester MA. Since 2010, he has collaborated with Gary Gregory of the Printing Office of Edes & Gill, which replicates important American Revolutionary documents and images, notably the Declaration of Independence, using the same techniques and replica presses. Andy’s work focuses on replicating prints by Paul Revere as well as other notable 18th century prints. He is also involved with the Museum of Printing in Haverhill MA, where he gives tours, presentations and printing demos, and focuses on intaglio, graphics and illustration printing, spanning the years 1450-1800.  He holds a degree in Fine Arts from Westfield State University, where he fell in love with the printers in the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. He also regularly presents at the Higgins Armory Collection at Worcester Art Museum on various Arms & Armor periods with a few living history groups.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Book talk: “The Best Women's Travel Writing: True Stories from Around the World,” with Lavinia Spalding and Natalie Baszile

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome editor Lavinia Spalding and author Natalie Baszile for a conversation about the latest edition of “The Best Women's Travel Writing: True Stories from Around the World.” This event will be held at 4:00 pm on Friday, July 24th, at the Vineyard Haven Library, located at 200 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Free and open to the public, no registration required.

Volume 13 of this award-winning series features twenty-seven inspiring and thoughtful writers as they traverse the planet, crisscrossing all seven continents and exploring the ways travel can illuminate, heal, inform, and transform a life. The essays probe themes as diverse as the locations, immersing us in experiences of kindness, adventure, nature, friendship, strength, marriage, motherhood, spirituality, the environment, belonging, healing, history, identity, romance, and resilience. This beautiful and far-ranging collection helps us celebrate an appreciation for other cultures while proving that travel can be a profound gateway to connection, self-awareness, and an expanded worldview. 

Lavinia Spalding is the seven-time series editor of "The Best Women’s Travel Writing," author of “Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Keeping Traveler” (named one the best travel books of 2009 by the L.A. Times), and co-author of four other books, including “This Immeasurable Place,” one of NPR’s best books of 2017. She has published two Modern Love essays in the New York Times, and her writing also appears in The Walrus, Longreads, Tin House, AFAR, River Teeth, Post Road, Off Assignment, The Guardian, and many other national and international publications. Her work has been widely anthologized, has won gold SATW Lowell Thomas and SOLAS travel writing awards, and has been noted in “The Best American Travel Writing.” She lives with her family in New Orleans. Spalding will be in conversation with Natalie Baszile.

Natalie Baszile is a writer and filmmaker. Her new novel, "Friends and Family," will be published in October 2026. Natalie’s previous novel, "Queen Sugar," was adapted for seven television seasons by writer/director Ava DuVernay and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey. Her non-fiction work includes the book "We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land & Legacy" and has appeared in National Geographic, The Bitter Southerner, O, The Oprah Magazine, and numerous anthologies. Natalie’s documentary film, HARVEST, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. A native Californian, her southern roots stem from Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama. She lives in the Bay Area. 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.