Certified qigong instructor Nan Doty will offer a four-week workshop based on the book The Healer Within: The Four Essential Self-Care Methods for Creating Optimal Health, by Roger Jahnke. Running on Wednesdays throughout January, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Library, the workshop promises the opportunity to begin the new year with vitality.

Now and Zen Win

Martha’s Vineyard, Now and Zen by Susan Klein and Alan Brigish is the winner in the Wild Card category of the New England Book Festival.

The following is from newenglandbookfestival.com:

Submitted works are judged by a panel of industry experts using the following criteria: general excellence, the author’s passion for telling a good story, and the potential of the work to reach a wider audience.

ITW Annual Meeting

Island Theatre Workshop Inc. announces that their annual meeting will be held on Sunday, Jan. 9, at their headquarters at 12 Music street in West Tisbury. There will be a potluck luncheon at 2 p.m. followed by the meeting at 3 p.m. Both are open to all.

He who makes really, really, really big swords will be appearing at the West Tisbury library at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 31. Actually, these are not just big swords. These are the biggest swords the world has ever seen.

West Tisbury native Michael Craughwell built a sword that is 8 feet, five inches long. It weighs 54 pounds. And you thought your Island neighbor with the chicken coop and hogs was doing something cool.

Talkin’ Otters

Wildlife biologists Luanne Johnson and Elizabeth Baldwin are hoping Island hikers will be on the lookout for otter trails and slides in the woods this winter. The two are studying the Island’s river otter population with a goal of mapping otter habitat and understanding the diet of these aquatic mammals — the top predators in our coastal ponds.

Review Your Rumi

The poet, Sufi mystic, theologian and jurist known as Rumi will be the subject of the three-week study group at the Vineyard Haven Public Library starting Tuesday.

Jim Norton, aided by special guest Demaris Wehr, will lead the series Conversations about Jalal al-Din Rumi, Persian Poet.

The workshop will study Rumi as a familiar outstanding religious figure among world religions, exploring the Persian and Muslim contexts of his work.