Our Chicago Correspondent Writes:

Poetry Off the Shelf
Elizabeth Bishop’s Correspondence with The New Yorker

Thursday, February 17, 2011, 6:00 PM

University of Chicago
Home Room
International House
1414 East 59th Street
Free admission

In a program that will appeal to scholars and emerging writers alike, we celebrate the centennial of Elizabeth Bishop’s birth with a behind-the-scenes look at her correspondence with The New Yorker. From 1934 to 1979, Bishop submitted dozens of poems, stories, and essays to The New Yorker. Although much of her early work was rejected, by the time of her death in 1979 it was met with regular acceptance and praise. In their letters, Bishop and her editors discuss typography, the placement of commas, and the fact-checkers’ questions while sharing the details of their lives. The friendships they developed sustained Bishop, but her relationship with the magazine strained when she attempted pieces that were more experimental or involved her sexuality or love for Lota de Macedo Soares. Yet no matter how much she struggled with The New Yorker in private, she was grateful for her editors’ insightful reading and steady support. Actors will read the parts of Bishop and her editors, while Joelle Biele, editor of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011), will provide narration and answer questions.

Co-sponsored with the University of Chicago’s Program in Poetry and Poetics