Katrina Volunteers

More than two years after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, volunteers still are cleaning up and rebuilding areas ravaged by the hurricane.

Skip and Mary Ann Danforth of Chatham, through the United Methodist Committee of Relief, have been leading such groups of volunteers, returning to Louisiana four times. They will be leading another group from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2.

Hungarian-Canadian author and sailor Ferenc Mate, author of The Hills of Tuscany, the critically acclaimed A Reasonable Life, and two books of photography including the highly acclaimed World’s Best Sailboats and A New England Autumn, will discuss his new book, A Vineyard in Tuscany: Shooting for the Moon, and offer a taste of his wines, on Friday, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m. upstairs at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore on Main street in Vineyard Haven.

Renowned photojournalist Peter Simon will present a slide show documenting his life in photography and music at the Chilmark Public Library on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 4 p.m. Mr. Simon has documented many historic events from the protest-filled 1960s to the greatest names in rock and roll, reggae and pop music.

Writer Holly Nadler of Oak Bluffs is busily scribbling away at a sequel to her book Haunted Island: True Ghost Stories of Martha’s Vineyard, released by Down East Books in 1994, and now going into its ninth printing. The new book will be titled Vineyard Supernatural: True Ghost Stories from America’s Most Haunted Island, expected to go on sale in the fall of 2008.