This past summer I took a chance on a novel that I thought was sure to be awful (not cheerful). How happy I was to be proven wrong. Michael Sledge, author of
The More I Owe You, has written a poignant and beautiful book documenting the long standing love affair between Elizabeth Bishop and
Lota de Macedo Soares. Bishop's arrival in Santos, her winning of the Pulitzer Prize, and her time teaching in Seattle at the University of Washington are all told with a light touch -- backed up by meticulous research. Catch words like "pellucid" and "binoculars" show up in unexpected spots letting us know that Sledge is familiar with the poems as well as the biography. A guilty pleasure for any Bishop fan.
And fans of Bishop may already know that a festival in Nova Scotia is in the works for this summer. The
Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia is planning an art festival for August. See you there, perhaps?
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