Some books require research, the writer visiting archives and interviewing all manner of people. Other books require travel to places of meaning that the characters — real or imagined — lived and worked and grew into who they would become.
But in the end, all books arrive at the same place for writers, a room alone where they carve out the story word by word by word.
And eventually this baton is passed from solitary writer to solitary reader, who whether lying in a hammock, settled into a rickety beach chair or squished thigh to sweaty thigh on a crowded subway train, is wholly alone while making the journey from cover to cover.
It is a gift the writer gives to the reader, a way of re-confirming one’s own existence by taking time apart from the increasing chaos of the world to visit with the mind and heart.
But occasionally this bond between reader and writer is allowed to enjoy another life, one in which an actual meeting takes place rather than just an emotional and intellectual one. Such is the case with the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival, a biennial bonanza which this year features nearly 30 authors and thousands of readers all gathering once again on the grounds of the Chilmark Community Center.
In creating this special section, Gazette reporters spoke with many of the authors at the festival, learning about process and the seeds of inspiration. It was a chance to peek behind the curtain of creativity and begin the process of creating a community, where for one weekend in August all of these individual stories merge into one.
Because at its heart, the book festival is yet another gift, a uniting over words and ideas in order to learn from, rather than hide from, hard truths about the past and present.
Let the conversations begin.
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