Mark Leibovich’s new book This Town, a critical expose of the Washington power structure and New York Times best seller this summer, is as popular with the right as it is with the left. Or with anyone who believes that government is broken.

Kate Feiffer has made a name for herself writing children’s books and even transforming one of her books, My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life, into a play that ran off-Broadway this winter. The daughter of famed illustrator Jules Feiffer, she has not nudged up against his domain. Until now, that is.

On Saturday, August 17, Ms. Feiffer unveils her own talent with illustrations at the Vineyard Playhouse gallery located at 24 Church street in Vineyard Haven. The opening reception is from 4 to 8 p.m. and the exhibit will continue through August 29.

What if a deceased dog could talk? What if hippos went on holiday?

Those are some of the questions asked and answered by the former U.S. poet laureate and Island favorite Billy Collins in a reading of new and selected poems at Featherstone Center for the Arts last Friday evening. Among other disparate themes, he explored parenting, animal-human relationships, endearing soap bars and the experience of a traveler who arrives in a foreign place and is immediately told he has arrived too late in the year to witness the peak of the natural beauty.

Grace Burton-Sundman, age 25, set off on a Rwandan adventure at the end of last year, a journey she was able to make with the support of her family and the Martha’s Vineyard community where she grew up. Grace, a 2006 graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, is home for a visit and provided a glimpse into her life in Rwanda during a presentation, The New Rwanda, at the Vineyard Haven Library on August 6.

Michael Pollan left an overflow crowd at the Farm Institute with a clear message last week: start cooking.

“You can take a deep dive into the soul with cooking,” he said a during a sold-out a reading of his new book Thursday night.