"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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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Elizabeth Bishop House sale presentation

In the 2013 Elizabeth Bishop House Year in Review, we announced our intention to sell the house. This decision was not made lightly and our primary concern in this process is to find someone who will love and care for the house as much as we have for the past ten years. We have been working with realtor Lois Hart (Oceans & Orchards), who has helped us create a comprehensive presentation about the house. We have decided to share this presentation first with the Bishop world, before going to the general public, because our preference would be to have someone from this world buy the house. Please feel free to share this presentation about the Bishop House with your own network and with anyone you think might be interested.

 

You can view the presentation by clicking this link:


Thank you for taking time to have a look at this presentation, which provides particulars about the EB House for prospective buyers. We want to let the EB House family/community know this information first and hope that this network will help us spread the word. The house is actually quite busy this summer, which is great. Our intention is to take our time and be as thoughtful and careful as possible. The owners are deeply grateful for all the support we have received over the years from so many people. It is hard to believe almost ten years have passed since we bought the house. It has been an amazing decade, but it is time for the house to enter a new chapter.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Bulmer Street

I do not know what line of the Bulmer family warranted this street in Toronto, but it is interesting to see how this Yorkshire name (which was and still is both a surname and a place name in England) has spread out across North America. I don't think Elizabeth Bishop ever visited Toronto (she twice spent a brief time in Montreal, indeed, she was hospitalized there in the late 1960s), but she surely would have been delighted to see this ancestral name in such a public space in Canada's largest city.

This photo was taken by Suzie LeBlanc who has just sung St. Matthew's Passion in Toronto and is now working on a Masque based on the myth of Europa. Thanks, Suzie, for sending us a "sign" connected, in spirit, to Elizabeth Bishop.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Elizabeth Bishop in Maine

A quick alert to a nice essay about Elizabeth Bishop's connection to Maine, by Stephanie Bernhard, posted online (13 April 2014) at the Los Angeles Review of Books: http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/visiting-elizabeth-bishops-maine. Check it out.

It is nice to note, as well, that after a few years without ferry service between Maine and Nova Scotia, a new ferry, the Nova Star, arrived the other day and will begin plying the waters of the Gulf of Maine once again: http://o.canada.com/travel/new-ferry-for-trips-between-nova-scotia-and-maine-arrives-in-yarmouth/. More than once Elizabeth Bishop took the ferry between these regions -- as a child she arrived on the North Star and in the 1970s she travelled on the Prince of Fundy.


People can tour the 161-metre ferry on Wednesday. (ANDREW VAUGHAN / The Canadian Press)
 

Saturday, April 5, 2014

"I am in need of music" WINS ECMA AWARD!!

The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia is THRILLED to announce that "I am in need of music," the Elizabeth Bishop legacy recording spearheaded by our own renowned soprano Suzie LeBlanc has won the East Coast Music Award for best classical album. CONGRATULATIONS Suzie, and all the wonderful composers, musicians, technicians and Centrediscs who made this amazing music a reality. Thank you to all the donors who contributed to the crowdfunding campaign. Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts for its generous funding. And ESPECIALLY, thank you to Suzie LeBlanc for her unwavering commitment to this project, her dedication and contribution ensured its success. Her glorious voice will always be connected to these wonderful songs. We are so proud of all the magnificent artists, who have honoured Elizabeth Bishop and her brilliant poems in a truly memorable way. BRAVO!! BRAVO!! (You can find out how to buy the CD on Suzie's website or go to Centredisc's website).

Check out Suzie's website and follow her on Twitter: 
http://suzieleblanc.com/site/classical-recording-of-the-year-nomination-more/

Check out the ECMAs on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/EastCoastMusicAssociation

Friday, April 4, 2014

Suzie LeBlanc's most recent newsletter -- check it out

Just a head's up about Suzie LeBlanc's most recent newsletter, with more information about "I am in need of music" and the ECMAs. Check it out at: http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fbfb5ddb45212bdddbcd30722&id=9503b091ce&e=cb84cf9d8c

Suzie and friends launching "I am in need of music" in Halifax, October 2013

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Emma Fitzgerald art exhibition

Emma Fitzgerald is a Halifax artist who has spent time at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village, Nova Scotia. She is having an exhibition of her work in Halifax in April.


Though this exhibition focuses on her love of the North End of Halifax, some of Emma's delightful drawings are also from her time in Great Village. The opening is later this week.

The Great Village Post Office
Learn more about Emma here: http://globalnews.ca/video/1231497/illustrators-finds-inspiration-in-halifax-buildings