Scholars, writers, poets, and an actor come together to celebrate poet Elizabeth Bishop’s life in Brazil, from 1951 to 1966, and her journeys there in subsequent years, exploring her central relationship to the brilliant, self-taught landscape architect Lota de Macedo Soares who worked with Roberto Burle Marx on her own landmark modernist masterpiece home, Samambaia, in Petrópolis, as well as the celebrated Parque do Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro.
Bishop’s friendships with key literary figures in Brazilian society, her adventures traveling in the Amazon and restoring an 18th-century home in Ouro Preto, and her sorrowful last experiences in Brazil following the death of Soares will be the subject of presentations and a panel discussion, which will include readings of Bishop’s poems by actress Maria Tucci. Moderated by Alice Quinn, Executive Director, Poetry Society of America. A screening of the film Reaching for the Moon will follow at 2 p.m. in Ross Hall.
Event Schedule:
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Presentations and Readings
2–4 p.m. - Film Screening: Reaching for the Moon
Presented by the Humanities Institute and the Poetry Society of America. Co-sponsored by Poets House and The Academy of American Poets. See a full schedule of events and speakers here: www.nybg.org/?p=46535&post_type=event&preview=1&_ppp=e9a3ae0169