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In the Garden: Part of a poetry garden series
June 7 @ 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm
For over 178 years, the Tudor Place garden has evolved from agricultural uses to recreational and ornamental purposes, reflecting the growth and changes both in Georgetown and the rest of the nation. Each generation of the house’s owners preserved original design elements as well as many of the earliest plantings, while adapting the landscape to their own needs. On June 7th from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM, visit Tudor Place Historic House & Garden for a special poetry garden event. In the Garden features special guest fiction writer and florist Matthew B. Kelley in conversation with a poetry garden series founder Maria Fernanda Chamorro to discuss their creative and historic connections to the gardens in our communities. This event will take place in the historic Dower House’s front and middle parlors.
Guests are encouraged to arrive at 1:30pm for a garden tour or a map for a self-guided experience. This conversation launches the second season of Chamorro’s ongoing interview series a poetry garden, a series honoring Black people who engage with the literary arts and horticulture across D.C.’s eight wards.
Matthew B. Kelley is a writer from Atlanta, GA. He holds degrees from Morehouse College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow in fiction. He has received fellowships from Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and Kimbilio [Fiction]. He is an assistant professor of English at Emory & Henry University in Emory, VA.
María Fernanda Chamorro (she/hers) is a poet. From Northeast DC, her work explores the intimacy of sisterhood, the anchor of intergenerational coexistence, and grief. Awarded the Norma Elia Cantú Award in Creative Writing, the Andrea Klein Willison Poetry Prize, and a Hurston/Wright Amistad Award Finalist, she has appeared at The National Museum of African American History and Culture and more. She is a Callaloo fellow.
Tudor Place Historic House & Garden preserves the stories of six generations of descendants of Martha Washington and the enslaved and free people who lived and worked at this Georgetown landmark for nearly two centuries. By examining their legacy, we challenge ourselves and our visitors to celebrate the triumphs and confront the complexities of the past.
