"I am 3/4ths Canadian, and one 4th New Englander - I had ancestors on both sides in the Revolutionary war." - Elizabeth Bishop
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Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Elizabeth Bishop in Glasgow: A Symposium (26th to 28th June 2024) Early Announcement and Call for Papers

The University of Glasgow, College of Arts & Humanities, is delighted to welcome the 2024 Elizabeth Bishop Symposium to our beautiful, historic and friendly city. Following on from similar events in Oxford, Paris and Sheffield, Elizabeth Bishop in Glasgow provides an opportunity both to hear about recent and emerging work in Bishop Studies, and to consider Bishop’s writing in a Scottish Atlantic context – a legacy that helped to shape the history and culture of Great Village, Nova Scotia, Bishop’s maternal family home and her imaginative lodestone. Bishop was familiar from childhood with the poetry of Robert Burns (and had editions of his work in her adult library); our Symposium will consider the influence of Burns – and of other Scottish writers and artists – on Bishop’s writing. And it will ask, in turn, about Bishop’s influence on her successors in Scotland up to the present day. 

Confirmed speakers include Professor Langdon Hammer (Yale University) and Victoria Fox (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). 

Elizabeth Bishop in Glasgow is open to anyone with an interest in Bishop’s life, work and reception; in modern poetry; in Scottish and American literature and culture, in the Scottish Atlantic and in related fields. We welcome proposals for short papers (c. 20 minutes) or other forms of participation on these and related themes. Other areas of focus might include (but are not limited to): 

Boundaries

Travel and walking

The North

Mystery

Bishop’s correspondence

Religion, Protestantism, the Bible

Language: Gaelic and Scots

Music, Scottish Song, hymns

Diaspora

The Atlantic

Trade

Scottish Atlantic slavery

Publishing history

Visual culture

Bishop’s contemporaries

Bishop’s influence

Bishop in / and translation

Gender and sexuality

Robert Burns, Alexander Selkirk, Thomas and Jane Carlyle 

Please send brief proposals for papers, panels (3 contributors) or other forms of participation to: vp-arts@glasgow.ac.uk by MONDAY 15th JANUARY 2024. 

Location: Elizabeth Bishop in Glasgow will take place in the James McCune Smith Building on the University of Glasgow’s main (Gilmorehill) campus in the lively West End of Glasgow and will open on the morning of Weds 26th June and close after lunch on Fri 28th . The booking page will open shortly. There will be time in the programme to visit the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Hunterian Museum or the Charles Rennie Mackintosh House. The campus is easily accessible by bus or subway from the city centre and there are hotels, guesthouses and restaurants close by.

 For further information about the campus, visitor attractions, accessibility information and transport links see: University of Glasgow - Explore. For details about the city of Glasgow, including accommodation, things to see and do, and where to eat, see: Visit Glasgow - hotels and accommodation - People Make Glasgow and for information about the rest of Scotland, see: Accommodation in Scotland - Plan Your Stay | VisitScotland

Organisers and Steering Group: Jo Gill (University of Glasgow); Jonathan Ellis (University of Sheffield); Angus Cleghorn (Seneca College); Bethany Hicok (Williams College); Tom Travisano (Hartwick College).

 

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Kafka, Bishop and Literary Pilgrimage: A response to Elana Wolff’s Faithfully Seeking Franz

 

“Should we have stayed at home and thought of here? / Where should we be today?” Elizabeth Bishop, “Questions of Travel”

Sometime in the late 1990s, I was sitting in Trident cafĂ© in downtown Halifax with the writer and broadcaster Jane Kansas and a young friend of hers, whose name I forget. Jane and I were having a lively conversation about our literary passions hers: the American writer Harper Lee; mine: Elizabeth Bishop (“3/4ths Nova Scotian and 1/4th New Englander,” or a “herring-choker Bluenoser,” as Bishop described herself to Anne Stevenson). As I remember the conversation, it was animated, with a lot of talk about original sources, such as letters; and also about going to places that were important to these writers. The young friend sat quietly listening to us until at one point she blurted out, in a rather disgusted tone, “You are literary stalkers.” We paused and looked at her. I was surprised by this characterization, but as I thought about it, I couldn’t discount the assessment. I had already made several Bishop pilgrimages (Great Village, Vassar College, Worcester) and was mining her letters and archival documents for information about her life. Jane and I argued that what we were doing wasn’t intrusive, rather an honouring not an invasion of privacy but of course on some level it was. Harper Lee (still alive then) was a known recluse. Bishop, long dead, was regarded as a very private person, having once declared to a friend she perferred “closets, closets and more closets.” (OB 327) I have never forgotten that conversation and have endeavoured ever since to conduct my research and writing about Bishop in the most respectful manner. Not sure that made what I did any less objectionable, but I took solace in knowing that Bishop herself was keenly interested in the lives of the writers she read.

 In a 1964 letter to Anne Stevenson, Bishop wrote: “I went to see O Processo “The Trial” which is absolutely dreadful. Have you seen it? I haven’t read the book for ages but in spite of the morbidity of Kafka, etc. I like to remember that when he read his stories out loud to his friends he used to have to stop because he got to laughing so. All the way through the film I kept thinking that any of Buster Keaton’s films give one the sense of tragedy of the human situation, the weirdness of it all, the pathos of man’s trying to do the right thing all in a twinkling, besides being fun — all the very things poor Orson Welles was trying desperately to illustrate by laying it on with a trowel.” (PPL 864)

While Bishop said she wasn’t a fan of “German art,” its “heaviness,” she had been a reader of Kafka since her adolescence. In a 1949 letter to Robert Lowell, she noted: “I’m glad you like ‘In Prison.’ I had only read The Castle of Kafka when I wrote it, and that long before, so I don’t know where it [her story] came from.” (OA 182) And in a 1958 letter again to Lowell, writing about her response to some “short instrumental pieces” by Webern she had just heard, she noted how much she liked them, “That strange kind of modesty that I think one feels in almost everything contemporary one really likes — Kafka, say, or Marianne [Moore], or even Eliot, and Klee and Kokoschka and Schwitters … Modesty, care, space, a sort of helplessness but determination at the same time.” (WIA 250)

As noted above, Bishop was interested in the lives of the artists she admired, so I can’t help but think she would find the new book by Toronto writer Elana Wolff, Faithfully Seeking Franz, intriguing. Just published by Guernica Editions, Wolff’s book is a collection of poems and prose pieces about her search for Kafka in the places that were significant to him. I can certainly appreciate such a compulsion. So when this book came to hand, I was keen to read it. I have enjoyed every page. Each journey, encounter and account conveys not mere “compulsion” but deep, abiding and respectful dedication, devotion even, to understanding the meaning of Kafka’s work, Kafka’s life in his work, Kafka’s impact on posterity, especially on the young woman who read first The Castle and took its impact with her for the rest of her life, following in the footsteps of a compelling mystery: 

Yet having taken steps the author took; steps his ciphers, stand-ins, and characters also took; in seeing and feeling convergences of life and art on location, in company with M., in triangulation with ‘atemporal-aspatial’ Kafka, through signs, signals, messages, indications and ‘visitations’ — through these, the experience of reading has become heightened and deepened, ‘lived into’. Questing has whetted the appetite for more. I’ve become compulsively recursive in my search. I can’t settle. (263) 

As a fellow pilgrim, I could identify with every word of this passage. The identifier in Bishop’s work would be from “Sandpiper”: “poor bird, he is obsessed.” But I prefer to call it passionate, and Elana Wolff’s passion unfolds in the most delightful, insightful, unexpected ways. We follow her footsteps and in so doing, not only learn about Kafka, but also begin to understand what the power of art really is. Connection, coincidence, conundrum: all are experiences along the way; and accompanying it all: questions, surprising revelations, satisfying and disappointing conclusions. Such is life itself. 

In a world filled with chaos and violence and uncertainty, art matters. How so is such a complex and mysterious condition that it cannot be distilled or confined. Wolff never tries to delimit this mystery, even as she charts borders and boundaries (geographical, physiological, aesthetic, existential). One of the many things I admire about Faithfully Seeking Franz is its “Un-endness” (261): 

Invisible and thin and free,

as baffling as Kafka —

whose rendering of difficult things

was easier for him, it seems to me,

than birthing breath.

Will teachers of any persuasion contravene me? (285)

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Key West Sketches now available

The folks of the Key West Literary Seminar have some news to share:

We are thrilled to announce the publication of Key West Sketches: Writers at Mile Zero, a new anthology out today from Blair. Edited by Carey Winfrey, the former editor-in-chief of Smithsonian magazine and longtime KWLS board member, the 250-page volume tracks Key West's extraordinary and eclectic literary history. The book's many treasures include Thomas McGuane's account of a long-ago dinner with Tennessee WilliamsElizabeth Bishop's description of Key West folk painter Gregorio ValdesJoy Williams on Ernest Hemingway in Key West; and Judy Blume's real-life story of becoming a bookstore owner-operator at the end of the road. There are poems by Billy Collins and James Merrill; heart-rending recollections of Harry Mathews by Ann BeattieRichard Wilbur by Phyllis Rose; and David Wolkowsky by William Wright. And so much more, with contributions from Pico Iyer, Philip CaputoDaniel MenakerBrian AntoniAlison Lurie, and many others.

Not since the beloved Key West Reader, published by the late George Murphy more than 30 years ago (and long out of print), has a book so deftly captured and conveyed the literary culture of our island city. This book has enough genius and wit to fill a volume ten times its size. Carey Winfrey has made an enormous contribution to Key West's rich life of letters.

If that weren't enough reason to go out and buy this wonderful book, Winfrey has generously donated 100% of his royalties to support the Elizabeth Bishop House. Click on any of the images or links below to buy your copies of Key West Sketches from Books & Books.

Friday, September 8, 2023

A stay in the Elizabeth Bishop House

My sister and I were fortunate to spend a week at the EB House from 21 to 26 August. What a privilege it was to be back in the village for a sojourn that included lots of company and visiting with friends, who we see seldomly these days, and to sit for long stretches on the verandah and watch the big sky, the lush green meadow. We saw lots of birds and deer. We are deeply grateful to Laurie Gunn and the St. James Church of Great Village Preservation Society. They are looking after the house so well and it is wonderful to know that writers and artists from all over still get to stay there. 

I will admit that my heart aches whenever I drive into the village and see that the piercing steeple of the church is gone. Well, it now sits quietly beside the building which once it topped, anchored by concrete blocks, its beautiful lightning rod so much closer to the ground. Life is change, but some changes are  harder to come to terms with than others. How I wish that the funds could be found to replace and restore it, but that would require a significant effort and expense, I am sure. I am glad to see that the steeple is still appreciated, and occupying a prominent spot under a canopy of trees. 

Here are a few photos taken by my sister, Brenda Barry, during our visit.

(View from the look off on Hustler Hill.)

(The anchored steeple.)

(An evening view from the verandah.)

(Sitting on the verandah with a friend, Greg Riley.)

(Canada Geese in the evening sky.)

(Waxing moon.)

(The EB corner in the library of the house.)

Saturday, September 2, 2023

“Out of the Ninth-Month Midnight” 

In memoriam, Flight 111 (2 September 1998)

 

Late afternoon, wind off the land.

Mountainous clouds backlit by sun.

The water is quicksilver.

Systaltic ─ now and then, now and then.

The harbour is a heart, whole

and shattered, held together,

torn apart by its own pulse ─

the circle of sun, the season,

the millennium.

Suddenly, two quivers of light

as though far away has epitomized.

Plovers, a pair, semipalmated,

winter-ready, rare

on this bit of beach at the Point.

My gaze caught on their bright white

airborne bellies;

I follow them to the shoreline.

They become stones.

Have they come to answer the question

I ask of the Atlantic?

They have come to rest in the midst

of their imperative ─

the space between them

is the moment between contractions

when eternity relaxes

and the chambers of the world

fill with silence.

 

With my binoculars I see their dark

brown eyes keeping watch,

the single dark breast bands,

the nearly all dark beaks.

So still, so alert

they are perfectly aware of survival’s

fragility. They simply know

the temperature of tomorrow.

It is me who holds us

inside a compass,

a dial; but there is no circumference

except what I need to cradle

my desperate longing.

Time is broken and mended

in every breath, and the ocean

ticks strangely in the blood...

Here, on a September littoral,

where late afternoon sun slants seaward,

with a warm wind blowing off the land,

on a long journey between now and then,

these two together pause

because life and death will not.


(I wrote this poem years ago and had forgotten it until I was reminded that today is the 25th anniversary of the crash of Swiss Air 111 off the south coast of Nova Scotia. Much has happened in the world since that terrible night and its aftermath, but it behooves us to remember. The photo was taken by Brenda Barry in late August in Great Village, the waxing moon, several days before it became the Blue Super Full Moon on 31 August.)

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Summer poetry reading at the EB House

I had the great privilege and honour to read with three exceptional poets on Saturday, 8 July 2023, in Great Village, N.S., at the Elizabeth Bishop House: Rosaria Campbell, Kalya Geitzler and Margo Wheaton. Over 25 people attended – a lively gathering if ever there was one. I hope everyone had as nice a time as I did. I am so grateful that once again such in person convegences are possible. Ever so uplifting to meet with friends and strangers and share poetry, especially in such a beloved setting as the EB House. Here are a few photos of the event. 

(Gathering in the dining room of the EB House. Photo by Brenda Barry)

(Rosaria Campbell reading. Photo by Brenda Barry.) 

(Kayla Geitzler reading. Photo by Brenda Barry) 

(Margo Wheaton reading. Photo by Brenda Barry)

The quartet on the verandah of the EB House.

Standing: Kayla and Rosaria; seated: Margo and Sandra

(Photo by Roxanne Smith)


 

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Poetry reading at Elizabeth Bishop House

 On Saturday 8 July, a poetry reading will take place at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village, N.S. The poets reading are Sandra Barry, Rosaria Campbell, Kayla Geitzler and Margo Wheaton. Learn more about the reading on its Facebook event page.

Monday, June 19, 2023

EBSNS holds its 2023 Annual General Meeting in Great Village, N.S.

For the first time in its history, the EBSNS held its AGM in the Elizabeth Bishop House. A merry band of 20 members and guests gathered for a lively afternoon of business, an uplifting presentation and delicious treats. You can read the minutes and see other documents connected to the business side of things on the EBSNS website.

The highlight of the afternoon was a fascinating presentation by writer Rita Wilson and illustrator Emma FitzGerald, who collaborated on A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop, published by Nimbus Publishing in 2019. They shared rich descriptions and details of their respective creative processes, which lead to a timeless book about Bishop’s childhood in Great Village. The assembled sat with rapt attention as both artists shared the often surprising path that brought the book into being. The location was perfect for the presentation, as the book is set mostly in the house. We all felt the magic of being in the place that meant so much to Bishop. After the presentation, Rita and Emma conducted an exercise with the audience, having them draw pictures connected to memories of childhood. Lots of questions were asked that generated lively discussion.

Here are a few photos of the gathering.

(Rita Wilson)
(Emma FitzGerald)
(The assembled listening closely.)

N.B.: 2024 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia. The EBSNS board is planning a series of events at the EB House in June next year to mark this milestone. More information about these events will be posted as it becomes available.

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One of the new additions to the EB House is a hand-made hooked rug done by Colchester fabric artist Penny Lighthall, based on Bishop’s poem “First Death in Nova Scotia.” Appropriately, it has been placed in the parlour. You can learn more about Penny’s work on her Facebook pages. Thanks to Penny for giving such a delightful gift to the EB House. Rug hooking was an art form that Bishop's maternal grandmother and aunts engaged in regularly. She noted in a letter to a friend that the house was full of such rugs.

(Rug by Penny Lighthall)

Saturday, May 27, 2023

EB event on 1 June 2023

Grolier's Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, MA, will host a Bishop conversation (in person and virtual) on 1 June at 7 p.m. Click here to learn how to register: Upcoming Readings — Grolier Poetry Book Shop


This conversation has been made available online and can be
accessed at the this link.

Monday, May 1, 2023

Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia 2023 Annual General Meeting

 EBSNS Annual General Meeting

Saturday, 17 June 2023, 1:30 p.m.

Elizabeth Bishop House,

Great Village, N.S. 

No admission. Everyone is welcome!

Special guests will be writer Rita Wilson, author of A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop, and the book’s illustrator Emma FitzGerald. They will talk about the creative process for this delightful and important book about Bishop’s deep and abiding connection to Great Village.





Monday, April 10, 2023

New additions to the Elizabeth Bishop House

Some years ago (pre-pandemic), the EBSNS set up an exhibit of Elizabeth Bishop and Bulmer family artefacts in the sanctuary of St. James Church in Great Village, N.S. It remained there, with items being changed periodically, ever since. Recently, the church was sold and is now in private hands, the sanctuary being transformed into a concert space. The EBSNS decided that it was now time to move the exhibit to another place. The board is delighted to report that this new place is the Elizabeth Bishop House in the village. The principal elements of the exhibit were two stunning hand-made cabinets built by Great Village carpenter Garry Shears. Early in April 2023, EB House administrator Laurie Gunn secured the assistance of several strong fellows and the cabinets and their contents were removed from the church and taken across the road to the EB House. A minor adjustment was required to the larger cabinet, so it would fit, which Garry Shears kindly did – and now both cabinets are installed in the house. The larger cabinet is in the front room (the good parlour). The smaller cabinet was put on the upstairs landing. The EBSNS board wishes to thank all those who had a hand in this transfer. That it was done so quickly is all due to Laurie Gunn. While not as public a space as the original location, it is felt that the cabinets and their precious artefacts are now in a safe space, and one that is entirely appropriate to them. Here are a few photos of the cabinets in situ. 

(Photos by Laurie Gunn)


Stay tuned for more information about the EBSNS AGM, to be held on Saturday, 17 June 2023 at the EB House, Great Village, N.S.

Monday, February 20, 2023

World premiere of new Elizabeth Bishop inspired choral work

Word just in from the Elizabeth Bishop Society in the US: We are pleased to announce the world premiere of a choral work titled The Unknown Sea by renowned composer David Conte. This new choral orchestral work is inspired by the texts of the poet Elizabeth Bishop and will feature mezzo soprano Lena Seikaly, chorus, piano, and chamber orchestra. Conte himself will be in attendance and participate in a pre-concert conversation led by the former Poet Laureate of California, Dana Gioia

The concert will be performed by the Washington Master Chorale and will be held on March 5, 2023, at 5:00 PM at Washington’s National Presbyterian Church, at 4101 Nebraska Avenue, NY in Washington, DC.

According to the Master Chorale, "The Unknown Sea will be paired with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s masterful cantata, Dona Nobis Pacem based on Walt Whitman’s poems, as well as texts from the Hebrew Bible and Latin Mass.”

This world premiere was originally planned for the spring of 2020, but the premiere was delay by the outbreak of Covid. We are very pleased that the event will now be held.

More information may be obtained by contacting Travis Hare: travis@kendrarubinfeldpr.com

Friday, February 17, 2023

Sable Island “Total Immersion”: A response to “Geographies of Solitude”

On Wednesday evening, 15 February 2023, at King’s Theatre in Annapolis Royal, N.S., I had the privilege of attending a screening of “Geographies of Solitude,” film-maker Jacquelyn Mills’s stunning documentary about Sable Island and its long-time “inhabitant” Zoe Lucas, who first arrived on the island in 1971, and who has spent time there every year since then.

“Geographies of Solitude” is a visual and sonic feast, an intimate and profound exploration of Zoe’s decades-long connection to one of the most mythical and historical islands of Canada. At once richly factual and breath-takingly lyrical, by turns earthy and ethereal.

I met Zoe about 20 years ago and thanks to her invitation, I had the even greater privilege of going to Sable Island in May 2008, with our mutual friend Janet Barkhouse. I was there only for a day, but it was a day I will never forget, a trip of a life-time. I was keen to see Mills’s film and was thrilled by its scope, from the microscopic to the celestial, the great sweep of the island and the ocean were the backdrop for an unfolding of Zoe’s remarkable work (research, recording, education, advocacy) that includes geology, meteorology, zoology, botany, etc. She has been involved in one way or another with all the research work that has happened on Sable Island in the past half-century.

(Photo by Janet Barkhouse. Sable Island from the air)

One of the many reasons I wanted to go to Sable Island was that Elizabeth Bishop visited there in 1951.  Her great-grandfather Robert Hutchinson had been shipwrecked out there in 1866 and she was keen to see the Ipswich Sparrow, which nests only Sable Island. Her intention was to write a piece about the island for The New Yorker, which she tentatively titled “The Deadly Sandpile,” an acknowledgement of its more famous moniker, “The Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Sadly, she never finished the piece; but her interest in the island remained with her for the rest of her life.

(Photo by Zoe Lucas. L. to r. Gerry, Janet, Sandra on the south beach)

Zoe’s first landfall there in 1971 overlapped for a few years with Bishop, who died in 1979. I like to think Bishop would have been as intrigued, as thousands are, about this young woman who ended up devoting her life to the place and the cause of Sable Island and environmentalism in general. Towards the end of the film, Zoe observes that there wasn’t an actual single decision she made that put her there, but a series of small decisions that in and of themselves didn’t mean much, but added up: then “something happens.” This idea about how life unfolds was one Bishop herself shared.

Mills’s film, shot on 16 and 35mm film, is a feast for the eyes and ears. The soundscape is especially rich and vibrant, even at times a bit overwhelming (which is saying a lot because the images are astonishing, one after another after another). One fascinating expression is the sound of invertebrates walking: beetles, snails, ants somehow Mills was able to bore down into what is inaudible to human ears (especially in an environment like Sable where the wind blows and waves crash continuously). And then somehow, using magical technology, the sounds of these creatures moving is transformed into music! Bishop was passionate herself about music and would have been awed by this wonderful gesture in the film. We also hear the horses, the seals, the birds (one newborn seal sounds hauntingly like a human baby – we are not separate from the natural world, though our daily, political and social realms often create walls/barriers that keep us from feeling the connections and to our peril).

And most importantly we hear Zoe talking about her connections to the island the history of her time there, details about her work, reflections on all manner of experiences. All the while we follow her on purposeful wanderings across the dunes and beaches, hearing that wind blow, while, pen and notebook in hand, she records everything she sees and finds; and we sit with her in her inner work spaces sorting and washing garbage, inputting data into colossal spread sheets that are searchable by dozens of categories.

There is so much glory and tragedy and mystery connected to Sable Island and Zoe has thought about all of it, noting at one point that after decades of living there, she still can come upon something and say, “Wow!” That actually happens in the film when she finds an especially large (terrifying) spider among some flora and puts it in a specimen jar. Exciting!

Of course, the horses are the great wonder of the island (even more so than the tens of thousands of seals that congregate there to have their pups) – and Mills gives us a great dose of them in all their splendor – in life and death. Mills does not look away from the natural cycle of life on the island, which is uplifting, rather than sad. What is sad and deeply troubling, however, is the garbage that Zoe has been collecting and documenting minutely for decades. Mills makes us look right into the heart of the results of our gross consumption and disposable society. Zoe has been recording this impact long before there was the global consciousness of the immeasurable amount of plastics in our oceans.

(Photo by Janet Barkhouse. Zoe and foal)

To account for all the elements in this intimately shot, intricately woven documentary is not possible it must be seen because it is immersive. But there are often distilled, crystalized moments, always thought-provoking, that shine. For me, one of the most delightful is the archival footage of Jacques Cousteau in 1981 landing on Sable Island in the helicopter from “The Calypso,” being greeted by a young Zoe Lucas, who takes him on a tour. How cool is that!

Bravo to Mills for doing her own “total immersion” on Sable Island, looking through her lens so directly and deeply at the wondrous scope (temporal, physical, existential) of this unique place on our planet. A few years ago, Zoe and other keen supporters of her work and of Sable Island formed the Sable Island Institute. I was glad to see the institute so directly mentioned at the end of this film. Check out its website and learn more; this site is also a “total immersion” among many things, it shares dozens of Zoe’s astonishing photos of the island. I suggest that Zoe has taken more photos of it, collected more diverse data about it, and has shared more knowledge and insights about the island than any other person on the planet. It was a good thing, for us all, that she just happened to end up there!

 

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Long over due post

It has been some time since we last posted, and missed marking Bishop’s birthday last week (112th). The Bishop Society has been rather dormant recently and it is taking time to wake up and stir into action, but slowly it will happen. The society will be hosting it Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 17 June 2023, at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village. The society is excited to welcome writer Rita Wilson and illustrator Emma FitzGerald to speak about A POCKET OF TIME: THE POETIC CHILDHOOD OF ELIZABETH BISHOP. There will be more information about the AGM on the society’s website and on this blog, as the date approaches.


The American Literature Association conference in Boston from 25-28 May 2023, will feature two Bishop panels of exciting presentations by scholars such as Neil Besner, Rebecca Bradburn, Vidyan Ravinthiran and Thomas Travisano.

Here are links to two fascinating Bishop inspired projects. It is great to see so much creative response to Bishop’s life and art continue. 

https://www.themosaiccat.com/one-art/

https://lauremeloy.wordpress.com/one-art-making-something-out-of-nothing/

And, finally, here are two images of a needle art project done by Brenda Barry, inspired by the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village, N.S. (a petit point cross stitch rendition of this iconic and much loved house). I am happy to report that the artist retreat at the house is going strong, already well booked up for 2023.


Friday, October 21, 2022

Exciting Poetry Reading at the Elizabeth Bishop House, 29 October 2022

If you are anywhere near Great Village on Saturday, 29 October 2022, get yourself to the Elizabeth Bishop House for an exciting poetry reading, hosted by writer-in-residence Margo Wheaton. A stellar group of poets will reading! After all the damage and challenge presented by Hurricane Fiona, it is great to see the literary arts alive and well in the village.



Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Hurricane Fiona and Great Village

One of the most iconic buildings in Colchester County was damaged by Hurricane Fiona, which roared through the eastern part of Nova Scotia on 23-24 September 2022. The 112-foot steeple of St. James Church, now the Great Village Arts and Entertainment Centre, took a direct hit from wind, which knocked it off its axis. This structure, a registered heritage property, has stood for over 125 years, taking all kinds of weather. So that the winds of Fiona caused this damage indicates just how intense a storm it was.

All who drive along Highway 2 from Truro to Parrsboro see this building, which stands at the centre of Great Village. It is the heart of this historic community, which has been immortalized in the writing of the poet Elizabeth Bishop, who grew up under its spire.

Below are some images of the damage and the process to remove the steeple. Just what will happen is still up in the air (no pun intended). From my perspective, I hope the will and the resources either to repair and restore it, or to rebuild/replace it) exists.



Great Village Antiques (directly across the road from the church) has been sharing images and updates on its Facebook page. As has the Arts Centre, on its Facebook page. Word about this damage has spread far and wide, especially in the EB world. I have received messages from people as far away as the U.K. and the U.S.

In today’s Chronicle Herald, John Demont has written about the damage to the church, and to other natural iconic structures that did not survive the force of Hurricane Fiona:

JOHN DeMONT: How disasters teach us to how to master loss | SaltWire

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Viewing Window for John Scott's Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing


The full version of Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing will be available online via Eventive for a short window beginning Friday, August 26th, at 12:00 Canadian/US Eastern time (13:00 Atlantic; 13:30 Newfoundland; 15:00 GMT) until Sunday, August 28th, at 24:00 Canadian/US Eastern time (Monday, 29 August at 01:00 Atlantic; 01:30 Newfoundland; 03:00 GMT) at this link:



Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia -- Annual General Meeting in Great Village

We are excited to announce that the EBSNS will hold an in-person AGM in Great Village, N.S., on 25 June. We will welcome writer Laura Churchill Duke as our special guest. We also have an exciting announcement about the acquisition of an important Elizabeth Bishop artefact. Everyone is welcome!


(Click image to enlarge.)

Thursday, May 12, 2022

A Riverside Reading of EB Poems as recalled by Emma FitzGerald

To mark the closing of National Poetry Month, LaHave River Books in LaHave, Nova Scotia, hosted an afternoon reading of Elizabeth Bishop poems on Saturday April 30th, 2022. 

There were 4 readers: Lisa McCabe, a poet based on the Dublin Shore; Janet Barkhouse (“Jannie B”), a self-described fan of the bookstore, as well as a writer of books from Clearland; Sandra Barry, my host here on the blog, as well as a Bishop scholar based in Middleton, and Black Point’s Carole Glasser Langille, a poet and author of the newly released collection of poems Your Turn. 

(The readers, left to right: Janet, Lisa, Sandra, Carole.

Photo by Brenda Barry. Click images to enlarge.)

The setting, as always when at LaHave River Books, was pinch yourself picturesque. The interior of the bookstore, so homey with its wooden bookshelves, chairs, floors and even a piano, with geraniums and cacti at the window, and of course, books upon books.

(Interior of LaHave River Books. Photo by Brenda Barry) 

Beyond the windowpanes the LaHave River, more ocean than river, lay flat and blue grey, and along the shore some small buildings surrounded by sparse trees were in view.

(River through the windows. Photo by Brenda Barry)

The room was full and after introductions from book shop staff member Marion, the poems were read: 

1. First Death in Nova Scotia (read by Lisa McCabe)

2. Filling Station (read by Lisa McCabe)

3. Sestina (read by Janet Barkhouse)

4. Poem (read by Janet Barkhouse)

5. At the Fishhouses (read by Sandra Barry)

6. Sandpiper (read by Sandra Barry)

7. The Moose (read by Carole Glasser Langille)

8. Don't Kill Yourself (a poem translated by Bishop, written by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, read by Carole Glasser Langille) 

This was followed by an encore: 

9.  Shampoo (read by Lisa McCabe)

10. The Bight (read by Janet Barkhouse)

11. Five Flights Up (read by Sandra Barry)

12. One Art (read by Carole Langille)

(Those gathered. Photo by Brenda Barry)

What followed was a lovely chat, a kind of volley back and forth across the room, of warm reminiscences. 

First there was a memory of hearing Bishop speak at the Guggenheim in NYC (Carole), which was followed by a memory of reading “Primer Class” for the first time and seeing her own early school days in the Maritimes described, hatching a lifelong thesis (Sandra). Then there was a discussion of that strange indrawn breath described in “The Moose” and finding its echo in Scotland (Carole), adding resonance to Lisa's initial sharing of visiting Bishop's grave in Worcester one cold day in “sloppy snow” and finding a vintage robin's-egg-blue typewriter on the grave, and Janet's declaration that Bishop wrote “The Bight” in Florida on her own birthday. The personal seemed so intertwined with each reader's experience of getting to know Bishop and her work, and you can't help but sense that it is a never-ending journey. 

It was a very satisfying time and was followed by the serving of a “Queen Elizabeth Cake,” big enough to feed everyone present. Andra, the owner of the bookstore, ever gracious and cheerful, had made it for the occasion. It provided a nice, sweet snack before we dispersed and made our way back to our respective homes on an appropriately cold spring day. 

(The cake, almost gone! Photo by Brenda Barry)

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Emma FitzGerald is an illustrator living in Lunenburg, N.S. She illustrated Rita Wilson's A Pocket of Time, about EB's childhood. Her most recent book, with writer Andrea Curtis, is City Streets Are for People.

One of Emma's drawings of the riverside reading was of Sandra Barry.