The world of plants, whether in our daily surroundings or favourite green spots, may seem familiar, but just beneath the leafy surface is an endless supply of wonder. Close observation and scientific exploration are two ways to delve into the mysteries of plants. Words are another: poetry bridges the gap between what can be seen and measured, and what we feel and intuit in our encounters with plants.
What better setting to enjoy the meshing of these ways of knowing plants than in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, surrounded by a rich diversity of plants and the work being done to understand and protect them? Join us for a botanical poetry reading in the Garden, where a lineup of green-loving poets will take us on a journey of scientific, sensory, and personal discovery in the plant realm.
Featuring poems by local poets and special guest Matt Howard, former poet-in-residence of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. Matt Howard’s first full collection, Gall, was published by The Rialto in 2018 and was winner of the 2018 East Anglian Book Award for Poetry, shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Prize in 2019 and won Best first Collection in the inaugural Laurel Prize 2020. After eleven years working for the RSPB, Matt is now the Douglas Caster Fellow in Poetry at the University of Leeds.
Please email education@botanic.cam.ac.uk to book your place.