Upcoming reading at the Elizabeth Bishop House

 

Exploring Elizabeth Bishop’s Great Village World in Words and Art, September 19, 2026, by Catherine Walker, new member of EBSNS

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in September, I travelled to Great Village to learn more about how Elizabeth Bishop’s visual art informed and inspired her poetry.

On arrival, we were welcomed into the dining room and invited to take a chair in the circle. The dining room table was piled high with Bishop books and sketching materials, and the nearby kitchen table offered cookies and cake, strawberries and watermelon. The tea kettle was on and the coffee was brewing. A cozy start to the day.

We were a varied group. We had three participants from the village—one long-time member of the Society plus two sisters, who as daughters of founding members of the Society, Lois and Alan Bray, felt a deep connection to the house. A local fibre artist who creates rugs inspired by Bishop poems joined our circle, as well as two people new to Bishop’s poetry, who as painters themselves were eager to learn about both her poetry and art.

Our facilitators were Society board member and writer, Rosaria Campbell; author of A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop, Rita Wilson; and illustrator of this beautiful picture book, the multi-talented Emma FitzGerald. We were in good company!

(Left to right: Rita Wilson, Emma FitzGerald, Rosaria Campbell.

All photos by Catherine Walker)

Emma opened the workshop by introducing us to samples of Bishop’s artwork, using Objects & Apparitions, a small but beautifully illustrated art book from a 2012 exhibit of Bishop’s paintings. She also shared fascinating details from an essay by Joelle Biele (editor of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence), quoting Bishop’s advice to her Aunt Grace, who had just recently taken up painting. Bishop emphasized direct observation, the pleasure of looking at the world’s smallest details. In a letter to her aunt, Bishop comments, “It is fun isn’t it—I’m always completely happy when I do get around to paint a small picture—whereas writing is hell, most of the time.” The essay goes on to describe some of the ways Bishop used drawings as outlines for poems, even illustrating letters to her mentor, Marianne Moore. Bishop labeled her own paintings “primitives” because of her emphasis on detail. Biele says, “Much like her poems, watercolours and pastels, her drawing’s understatement urges one to ‘Watch it closely’.”

(Emma FitzGerald with the table of books)

And then it was our turn to ‘watch it closely’. Emma distributed new sketchbooks to each of us and we spent the next hour pencil to paper. Exploring blind contour drawing was a fun and freeing way to start drawing, especially for us somewhat reluctant less-experienced sketchers. We drew hands, light fixtures, and inspiring objects from the house. And we continued this “untidy activity” as we used our new books to sketch and make notes during Rita’s and Rosaria’s part of the program.

(Sketchbook impressions)

Rita began by sharing her initial inspiration for writing the picture book, A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop. After showing us a few of the original word and picture maps she had made to outline her ideas for the book, Rita created a beautiful collage of Bishop’s Great Village childhood by skillfully weaving excerpts from poems and stories about village life, the house, and life with the beloved Bulmer grandparents. We could clearly see how Bishop’s descriptions are like drawings, and she was, as Marianne Moore put it, “three-fourths painter” in whatever she writes.

(Rita Wilson and her A Pocket of Time)

To wrap up the afternoon, Rosaria shared how Bishop’s poetry inspires her practice as a poet and a prose writer. She talked specifically about Bishop’s sense of attention, her skill with containment (and how no two of her poems were the same), her keen memory, and her sense of context and place. Rosaria read “Sestina”, “Manners”  and we had a lively discussion of each. Rosaria then shared two poems of her own. The first poem was begun at a previous workshop at the EB House, and the second, “Sestina’s for October’s Order” is published in the Society’s 2025 souvenir booklet “life shadows in a glass”: Poems inspired by Elizabeth Bishop.

(Left to right: Deborah Felt, Rosaria Campbell, Judy Vali)

The afternoon ended with a shared reading of “The Moose,” in which all participants and facilitators read (beautifully) stanzas from the iconic poem. This was followed by another lively discussion. It was at the same time a poignant and energetic reading, and a perfect way to end the workshop.

We all left the house feeling grateful and inspired. As participant Lorraine Endicott shared— “It was so wonderful to sketch together and to listen to fascinating and moving stories read aloud about and by Bishop. And to be introduced to her poetry! What a gift.”

(Catherine Walker's workshop bag)

EBSNS holding drawing workshop at the Elizabeth Bishop House

On Saturday, 19 September, the EBSNS will host a drawing workshop at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village, N.S. Space is limited, so if you are interested, email the contact person quickly.

Remembering Meredith Layton (1932-1926)

“Losing a person with a century’s lifespan is losing a testimony of a world. You remember them in order to reconstruct it.” Yiannis Doukas

Great Village lost one of its most respected citizens on 17 June 2026. Meredith Layton spent her life engaging every day with her community, as a nurse, a business woman, an active member of many organizations. And as a friend. I met Meredith when I began going to the village in the early 1990s in search of Elizabeth Bishop. She and her husband Robert welcomed not only me but also many other Bishop fans, scholars and seekers in their wonderful general store. In the 1770s, the Layton family had been Yorkshire immigrants, along with the Bulmers; they came together on the same ship, Two Friends, and eventually settled in the village, becoming part of its bedrock. So interested was Meredith in the connection Bishop had with the village, she became a founding member of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia (formed in 1994), and spent the next thirty-plus years helping to spread the word about that connection.

From the moment I met Meredith and Robert, they shared with me their deep and extensive interest in the history of Great Village, which included documents directly connected to the Bulmer family and Elizabeth Bishop. One thing I vividly remember was the small but amazing mercantile museum they had set up in their store, a room filled with countless fascinating artefacts collected and preserved from over a century of commerce in Colchester County. One specific memory I have of this space: I am with Thomas Travisano, an important American Bishop scholar, who was visiting to deliver a lecture in St. James United Church in 1995. We are looking at the guest book in the museum and find signatures of some of Bishop’s friends: Lloyd Schwartz, J.D. McClatchy, Alfred Corn, and the poet James Merrill, whose poem “Overdue Pilgrimage to Nova Scotia” was triggered by his visit. 

(Meredith at the EB House, June 2024. Photo by Brenda Barry.) 

When I learned of Meredith’s passing, I contacted a couple of friends who had known Meredith for many years. One of them was the Japanese Bishop scholar and translator Michiru Tsubura. I want to share some of what she wrote upon hearing the news: 

I met them [Meredith and Robert] in 1991, during a family trip to Nova Scotia only because I wished to find any little hint about the poet and her hometown. By then, I just knew her poems and her life story only through books, never thinking of the chance to really witness the place. Anyway, it was simply luck, a happy coincidence I must say, that we dropped in … Layton’s Store at the centre of the three-forked road. There I met Meredith and her husband Robert who gave us the first precious information about the house of the Bulmer family. Oh, I have such a good memory and strong impression about that day even today…. Thanks to the Laytons, I could continue my quest for Bishop since then, later joining conferences in Canada, the US, Brazil, and as far as translating Bishop’s poems into Japanese. Sandra, you know all about it, for we have shared lots of experiences at every place connected to the poet. But meeting Meredith was really the starting point. I met her in 1991, again in 1995 and 2011. She showed me the house, while Robert showed me the photographs of Elizabeth in her Nova Scotian days. All I feel now is...the deepest gratitude and love for her.

I could not say it better. I last spoke with Meredith just after Christmas last year. I had fallen and broken my right arm and she expressed deep empathy as she herself had fallen in her icy driveway. Miraculously, she was shaken up but uninjured. Two good Samaritans passing by had stopped and helped her get back into her house. We both agreed: it is not good to fall! Regretfully, I did not talk with her again. My conversations with her over the years were always lively, uplifting and enlightening. I was often the beneficiary of her grace and gracious hospitality, sitting in her welcoming home with the birds at the feeders outside. The conversations ranged widely from local activities to history to politics to sports (she was a huge fan of curling, as am I). She was always interested in what was happening in the wider Bishop world because she had met many of the principals doing those happenings. I miss her so much. 

(Meredith cutting the EBSNS 30^th anniversary cake, June 2024.

That’s me looking on. Photo by Brenda Barry)

EBSNS AGM 2026

 On Saturday 20 June 2026, the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia held its AGM at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village, Nova Scotia. You can click here to read the Minutes of the meeting, posted on the EBSNS website. Below are some photos of the gathering taken by new board member Brenda Barry.

(The chairs await.)

(Door prizes for fun.)

(The assembled. There was a good turn out of keen folks

who ensured a lively discussion.)

(From another angle.)

(Emma FitzGerald, our guest speaker, talking about

her illustration of Man in Motion.)

(An attentive audience.)

(Drawing for the door prizes.)

The society wishes to thank all those who attended and especially Emma who gave a fascinating presentation of behind the scenes as an illustrator. Look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

EBSNS 2026 AGM

The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia will hold its Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 20 June 2026, at 1:30 p.m., at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Great Village, N.S. The guest speaker will be artist and author Emma FitzGerald, who will talk about illustrating the recently published picture book The Man in Motion: How Rick Hansen's World Tour Helped Break Down Barriers for People with Disabilities (2026).

No admission. Everyone is welcome. There will be door prizes!

(Emma FitzGerald, photo by Kim Campbell Sullivan)

Emma FitzGerald, trained as both an artist and architect, celebrates people and places in her “Hand Drawn” series, which has taken her from coast to coast in Canada, starting with Hand-Drawn Halifax (Formac Publishing) and most recently with Hand-Drawn Victoria (Penguin Random House). She has illustrated several children’s books, including the Elizabeth Mrazick Cleaver Award-nominated A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop (words by Rita Wilson, Nimbus Publishing). Most recently, she illustrated The Man in Motion: How Rick Hansen’s World Tour Broke Down Barriers for People with Disabilities, written by Lorna Schutlz Nickerson with Rick Hansen, and published in April 2026 by Owl Kids. She will give a presentation about this book at the AGM. Emma lives and draws in Lunenburg, N.S.