January 26, 2026 – (KEY WEST, FL). On Thursday, February 5, the Key West Art & Historical Society welcomes scholar and biographer Thomas Travisano for an in-depth exploration of one of America’s most celebrated poets in a lecture titled “Elizabeth Bishop: A Poet of the Shorelines.” The talk, part of the Society’s Distinguished Speaker Series and the annual Elizabeth Bishop Week in Key West, will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Tropic Cinema, 416 Eaton Street.
Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) is widely regarded as one of the great poets of the twentieth century and a central figure in Key West’s rich literary history. Writing in “The New York Times,” critic David Orr asserted that “in the second half of the 20th century, no American artist in any medium was greater than Bishop.” A noted traveler, Bishop lived in Key West from 1938 to 1948, a formative decade during which the island frequently became the subject of her poetry and letters.
While Bishop is often recognized as a master of landscape poetry, Travisano’s lecture will focus on her work as a poet of the shoreline. Her shoreline poems bring vividly to life the meeting place of land and sea – capturing water, birds and animal life, human structures, sky, and sand – while reflecting her life of continual movement. Travisano will explore a series of Bishop’s Key West poems, including “Florida,” “Little Exercise,” “The Bight,” and “Seascape,” placing them alongside related shoreline poems set in Nova Scotia, the Maine coast, Cape Cod, New York Harbor, Brazil, and even the abstract geography of maps. Together, these works offer a portrait of Bishop’s travels north and south and her enduring fascination with coastal spaces.
Thomas Travisano is the founding president of the Elizabeth Bishop Society and the author of the acclaimed biography “Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop” (2019). He is Emeritus Professor of English at Hartwick College and a leading scholar of twentieth-century American poetry. His forthcoming book, “The Elizabeth Bishop Phenomenon,” will be published in fall 2026.
“Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry is inseparable from her experience of place, and few places shaped her work as profoundly as Key West,” says Cori Convertito, curator for the Society.“ This lecture offers a rare opportunity to explore Bishop’s shoreline poems through the lens of both literary scholarship and island history, deepening our understanding of her work and our community’s cultural legacy.”
To reserve your spot at the lecture; visit kwahs.org/whats-on. Tickets are $13 for KWAHS members, $17 for non-members. Tickets will also be available at the door on the night of the event. For more information, contact Dr. Cori Convertito on 305-295-6616 x507 or [email protected].
Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.
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IMAGE 1: Poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), a central figure in Key West’s literary history, will be the focus of the Key West Art & Historical Society’s Distinguished Speaker Series lecture, “Elizabeth Bishop: A Poet of the Shorelines,” with scholar and biographer Thomas Travisano on Thursday, February 5, presented in conjunction with the annual Elizabeth Bishop Week in Key West. Tickets are available at kwahs.org/dss-elizabeth-bishop. (Photo Credit: Yale Collection of American Literature)
