Lota de Macedo Soares


Maria Carlota Costallat de Macedo Soares was a well-connected Brazilian woman who became a well-known landscape designer and architect. Despite not having a degree in either area, she was invited by governor Carlos Lacerda to design and oversee the construction of Flamengo Park in Rio de Janeiro. She was born in Paris, France into a prominent political family from Rio de Janeiro.

Biography

Lota, as she was known, had a relationship with the American poet Elizabeth Bishop from 1951 to 1967. Bishop dedicated her 1965 volume of poems Questions of Travel to her. Their relationship is depicted in the Brazilian film Reaching for the Moon, based on the book Flores Raras e Banalíssimas , by Carmen Lucia de Oliveira, as well as in the book The More I Owe You'', by American author Michael Sledge.
In 1967, Soares joined Bishop in New York City after a period of extensive hospitalization for a nervous breakdown. The same day she arrived in New York, 19 September 1967, Soares took an overdose of tranquilizers. It is believed the problems with her work and her failing relationship with Bishop were what led to her suicide. She died several days later.

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On March 16, 2017, Google celebrated her 107th birthday with a Google Doodle.