Authors Cynthia Riggs and Tom Dresser will celebrate their mysteries on Tuesday, August 12, at 5 p.m. at the West Tisbury library.
Ms. Riggs, a 13th-generation Islander, lives in West Tisbury in her family homestead, now a bed-and-breakfast for poets and writers. Double Murder on Martha’s Vineyard combines her first two books, Deadly Nightshade and The Cranefly Orchid Murders. Her ninth book is scheduled for release next year. All of her books feature 92-year-old Victoria Trumbull, a poet sleuth based on Cynthia’s mother, Dionis Coffin Riggs.
Political commentator, George Mason University professor and author Michael Fauntroy will discuss his book, Republicans and the Black Vote, a historical look at the GOP and black voters, on Thursday, August 14, at 5 p.m. as part of the Chilmark Free Public Library adult evening series. The free talk is open to the public, hosted by the library and Friends of the Library. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
How do Jules Feiffer’s early comic strips hold up after half a century? For over 40 years, beginning in 1956, his provocative, often ironic cartoons appeared weekly in the Village Voice. Fantagraphics Books has just published Explainers ($28.99 hardcover), a complete collection of the first 10 years’ worth, from 1956 to 1966. The strips deal with politics and the battle of the sexes in an era when intellectuals obsessed about Marx and Freud and when humor might arise from observing hypocrisy in people’s politics and their intimate relationships.
Bridge to Baseball
Walk-offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs: Baseball’s Grand (and-not-so-grand) Finales is the title of former Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jim Kaplan’s latest book — and an evening talk he’s giving Wednesday, August 6, at 7 p.m. at the West Tisbury Library.
Mr. Kaplan will chat about the connection between baseball and bridge, which he describes as being “joined at the hip.” The program will include a trivia quiz and the winner will receive a free book.
Bass Talks Side Effects
Pulitzer Prize nominee Alison Bass will discuss her book Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial, today, August 5, at 5 p.m. at the West Tisbury Free Public Library.
Side Effects is based on a true story of a landmark case that exposed greed, corruption and negligence in the pharmaceutical industry.
On Tuesday, July 29, at 5 p.m. Prof. Renée Bergland as its next speaker in the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s summer lecture series.
Dr. Bergland will speak on her book, Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science, a cultural biography of the 19th-century Nantucket astronomer. Maria Mitchell, a Nantucket native, apprenticed with her father, an amateur astronomer. For years she swept the Nantucket night with the telescope in her rooftop observatory. In 1847, Mitchell discovered a comet and was catapulted to international fame.