Finding your way around ekphrasis

Ekphrasis is a technique of writing poems (or prose) which respond in some way to visual art. Many ekphrastic poems ‘describe’ the visual art i.e. make a representation of it in words.

This is a useful starting point, but how can we go beyond just description in our ekphrastic poems?

How might consideration of the artist’s materials and processes help in shaping our poems?

This workshop will introduce a selection of poems and visual art as prompts for your new writing. It will offer ways to start with description and how to move beyond it. You will be encouraged to play and experiment just as artists do with their paint and other materials. The emphasis will be on having several ‘starts’ of poems which you can return to.

Suitable for all levels of experience.

About Pam Thompson

Pam Thompson is a writer, educator and reviewer based in Leicester. She has been widely published in magazines including The Alchemy Spoon, Atrium, Butcher’s Dog, Finished Creatures, Ink, Sweat&Tears, The North, The Rialto, Magma, Mslexia, and Under the Radar. Pam has been Highly Commended for the Forward Prize and has won the Magma and the Poetry Business competitions and gained second and third prizes respectively in the Ledbury and Poets and Players competitions. She has appeared at Ledbury and Aldeburgh poetry festivals. Her works include include The Japan Quiz (Redbeck Press, 2009) and Show Date and Time, (Smith|Doorstop, 2006), Strange Fashion (Pindrop Press, 2017). Pam has a PhD in Creative Writing with a focus on ekphrasis and holography. She was winner of the 2023 Paper Swans Pamphlet Competition and her winning pamphlet, Sub/urban Legends, will be published later in 2024. Pam is a Hawthornden Fellow.

Zoom

These workshops will be conducted via Zoom. We have put together this simple 'How To' document to help you download Zoom, join a meeting, and navigate around the meeting features (such as adjusting video and audio, uploading files, and sharing screens).

You will receive a confirmation email from Ticket Tailor with your ticket and the Zoom invitation, containing the meeting link and Meeting ID & Password.

Someone from The Poetry Business team will be on hand prior to each workshop to offer additional help in getting connected.

There is usually a lot of interest in our workshops: in the interest of fairness, please limit yourself to one workshop ticket in every two week period.

Bursary Spaces

There are two bursary spaces available per workshop for writers from groups that are under-represented in contemporary poetry (for instance because of ethnic background) or who are experiencing financial hardship. If you would like to apply for one of these bursary places, please contact workshops@poetrybusiness.co.uk

Refunds

If you no longer wish to attend the workshop please let us know by emailing us. We ask for 3 working days' notice before the workshop starts in order to offer a full refund, and enable us to offer the place to someone else.

Though we will do all we can to help you get set up with the technology it is the participants' responsibility to ensure that their camera, microphone and other computer settings are configured correctly. Please contact us (workshops@poetrybusiness.co.uk) if you are concerned about getting set up for Zoom.