Worcester County Poetry Association
Established 1971
Worcester County Poetry Association /1 Ekman Street, Worcester, MA 01607 / 508-797-4770 / wcpaboard@yahoo.com
Elizabeth Bishop Centenary 2011 Calendar
EB100 Calendar of Worcester Events
During 2011, the Worcester County Poetry Association will celebrate the centennial year of Elizabeth Bishop's birth by sponsoring, or co-sponsoring, Elizabeth Bishop events at least once a month. Plans include the following programs, which are open to the public and, unless noted in the description below, are free of charge. Events will be added throughout the year -
check for updates to the EB100 calendar!
Monday, January 3 - 7:30pm
Why Elizabeth Bishop’s Poetry Still Matters – Poet and scholar Bob Cronin presents an overview of Bishop’s influence on contemporary poets and poetry and presents several Bishop poems for discussion. Francine D’Alessandro hosts this program of firsts: First event in the EB Centenary, First Monday Poetry Series, at First Unitarian Church.
Bancroft Room, 90 Main Street, Worcester
Monday, January 10 - 7:00pm
Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil -- N.O.W. Women’s Issues Book Group hosts an informal discussion of The More I Owe You, Michael Sledge's recent, highly-praised novel. Sledge’s book centers on Elizabeth Bishop's 17 years in Brazil with her friend and lover, prominent city planner Lota de Macedo Soares. All are welcome.
Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Lincoln Street, Worcester
Tuesday, February 8 - The anniversary of Elizabeth Bishop's birthday
At 4:30pm - A ceremony of gravesite readings of EB poems, including “The Bight,” whose last lines provide the inscription
on her tombstone. Hope Cemetery, Worcester. All are invited to read or to listen at this event, which is followed
At 6:00pm with a buy-your-own Brazilian dinner at Pampas Churrascuria Restaurant, East Central & Shrewsbury Streets, Worcester. If you can let us know in advance that you plan to join us for dinner, the owners will set up a section of the restaurant for our group. WCPA.EB100@gmail.com
Thursday, February 10 - 7:00pm
Street Beat Celebrates Elizabeth Bishop at 100 -- Two days after Bishop’s actual 100th birthday, Street Beat‘s Anne Marie Lucci hosts an Elizabeth Bishop birthday party, with festive, participatory readings of her prose memoir, "The Country Mouse." Refreshments & music! At Street Beat events, a hat is passed for donations.
WCPA Office, 1st Floor, 1 Ekman Street, Worcester
Saturday, February 26 - 7:00pm
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney reading from the works of Elizabeth Bishop - Open Mic followed by featured poet. All participating poets are asked to begin their reading with a poem by Elizabeth Bishop. At 4th Saturday Poetry Night, Carle Johnson, host. Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Lincoln Street, Worcester.
Sunday, March 27
WCPA collaborates with Master Singers of Worcester and the Worcester Women's History Project in a Tuckerman Hall program of choral music based on the writings of famous women, including Elizabeth Bishop. Admission to the concert and the pre-concert talk. Details to follow.
Thursday, April 21 - 7:00pm Entry updated 12-30-10
A Mirror on Which to Dwell: Elliot Carter’s Musical Settings of Elizabeth Bishop Poems –Insomnia, Anaphora, The Argument, Sandpiper, A View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress, and O Breath--performed by New York City group, ECCE, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble. Clark University is hosting and providing commentary on the program. TitltonHall, Clark University.
Wednesday, May 11 - 7:00pm
Mapping Elizabeth Bishop -- A talk and slide show by Laura Menides & Carle Johnson on Bishop’s life and works .
At the Shrewsbury Public Library, co-sponsor, with WCPA. Program is designed as a prelude to the musical performance on May 15.
Sunday, May 15 - 3:00pm
Chamber music (solo piano & voice) -- Performance by composer JB Menides, with vocals by Victoria Nors, of the "Elizabeth Bishop Suite," musical settings of six EB poems--The Wit, In the Waiting Room, Letter to NY, The Argument, One Art, & Anaphora. At the First Congregational Church, Shrewsbury. Donations accepted.
A sample of what's in the works, details to follow:
August
A Major Event: Gatherings & Readings at Worcester’s Hanover Theatre -- Starting at noon, in Hanover’s spacious lobby, A Celebration of Worcester County Poets and Poetry, with readings, exhibits, music, broadsides and chapbooks. And in the evening, as the culmination of the day’s activity, readings from the Hanover stage by three nationally-known poets.
September
Correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop & Robert Lowell –
Thomas Travisano regales us with anecdotes from his edition. Place TBA (Funding needed)
Thursday, October 6
The anniversary of Bishop's death -- another ceremony at Bishop's gravesite in Hope Cemetery, with readings from her works, including her poem, “First Death in Nova Scotia,” and her elegy for Robert Lowell
Saturday, November 26
Elizabeth Bishop & Me: Readings by Local Poets -- Those who have new books, or have won prizes will each read one poem by Bishop and one-to- three of their own poems. At 4th Saturday Poetry Night, Host Carle Johnson. Barnes & Noble, Worcester
Tuesday, December 6
Elizabeth Bishop and the New Yorker -- Joelle Biele, Ph.D., Fulbright Senior Scholar, discusses the findings of her 2011 book about the relationship between Elizabeth Bishop and the editors of the New Yorker magazine, where most of her poems were initially published.
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvellous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.
"Sestina"
EB100 Links
Calendar of Worcester Events
In Worcester, Massachusetts
Poetry Challenge
Call for Papers
The Worcester Review
EB Centenary Issue
