Ebony Walden — Where I'm From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents - with Robert J. Patterson
Ebony Walden presents *Where I’m From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents*, a soulful travel memoir combining poetry, global adventure, cultural connection, and personal transformation with reflections on race, identity, and belonging. In conversation with Robert J. Patterson, Walden will discuss how an eight-month solo journey through fifteen countries and five continents reshaped her understanding of home and self.
In 2010, at age twenty-nine, Walden left her job to travel independently. Her experiences included teaching English and volunteering in Guatemala and India, leading poetry workshops in Kenya, exploring Machu Picchu, and paragliding over the Swiss Alps. She wrote “Where I’m From” poems with people she met, bringing together their perspectives on family, identity, and culture. The memoir also considers the challenges of her upbringing in New York during the 1980s and 1990s, and presents travel as an opportunity to be transformed by the world.
Walden is an author, filmmaker, and speaker who has visited nearly fifty countries and all fifty U.S. states. She founded Ebony Walden Consulting, a racial-equity-focused consulting firm, and created *Black Beyond Borders*, a documentary series and podcast about culture, creativity, connection, and cuisine across the African diaspora. She also writes *Beyond Borders*, a weekly Substack newsletter on travel and transformation, and lives in Richmond, Virginia.
When: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Showtime: 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Politics and Prose at Union Market, 1324 4th Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
Featured speaker: Ebony Walden
Conversation partner: Robert J. Patterson, a professor of African American Studies and the inaugural chair of Georgetown University’s Department of African American Studies from 2016 to 2019. He is the author of *Destructive Desires: Rhythm and Blues Culture and the Politics of Racial Equality* and *Exodus Politics: Civil Rights and Leadership in African American Literature and Culture*, as well as editor or co-editor of several books on Black cultural production, slavery’s legacies, civil rights, and racial equity.
Tickets: Free
Seating: First come, first served.
Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. Requests made closer to the event will be accommodated when possible.
Run time: Not specified.
Age guidance: Not specified.