I’ll be running another online creative writing course starting in May, and it is now available to book! Inspired by Art: Ekphrastic Poetry & Prose begins on 11th May, focusing on seeking inspiration from visual art. It is self-paced, running for 9 weeks, with weekly writing prompts, feedback and discussion of example texts, including three live workshops delivered online, via Teams.This online creative writing course will explore the versatility of ekphrasis as a poetic mode that draws inspiration from visual art. Each week we will read and discuss ekphrastic texts, and use writing prompts to inspire new creative work, using a wide range of art as inspiration (from Van Gogh to Frida Kahlo and Gwen John). While the focus of this course will be on poetic ekphrasis, we will also include some discussion of ekphrastic narrative, and short prose forms such as prose poetry and flash fiction. Topics will include: the artist’s life and process, inventing a fictional narrative, the ekphrastic encounter, and ekphrasis as exploration of experience.

This self-paced online course includes 3 Live Workshops delivered via Teams, on Wednesday mornings 10:00-12:00 (on 13th May, 10th June, 8th July).

Course Content

Week 1: Introducing Ekphrasis. We will reflect on the origins of ekphrasis and consider how it has developed over time. We’ll discuss some of the most famous ekphrastic poems, and reflect on the relationship between word and image. This week includes a 2 hour online workshop to introduce the course.

Weeks 2 and 3: The artist’s life and process. We will read and discuss poems that respond to paintings by artists such as Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh and Gwen John, reflecting on the similarities between the process of painting and the process of writing. We will explore the ways in which writers have dramatized the lives of these artists through ekphrasis, using ventriloquism and other ekphrastic approaches.

Weeks 4 and 5: Inventing a fictional narrative. We will read and discuss poems and short prose texts that draw out a new narrative from a work of art, inventing new characters and situations. We will also discuss the differences between poetry, prose poetry, and flash fiction, looking at example texts that play with the possibilities of form and genre. At this half-way point in the course, we’ll begin to reflect on the editing and revision process, and we’ll schedule a second live workshop on Teams.

Weeks 6 and 7: The Ekphrastic Encounter. We will discuss ekphrastic texts that engage with the process of viewing art, reflecting on the difference between viewing art online and viewing art in museums. We’ll write from our own perspective as art viewers, and consider the differences in how people respond to art.

Weeks 8 and 9: Ekphrasis as Exploration of Experience. We’ll discuss ekphrastic poems that use visual art as a catalyst for self-reflection, in order to explore, analyse or process personal memories or feelings. Week 9 will include a final live workshop on Teams to celebrate the work produced on the course, draw our ideas together and reflect on next steps, including preparation for the assignment.

Book your place here…

The course costs £140, and there are also ‘fee waiver’ scheme options as well, which allows some people to study for free – see their website for further details. Students and staff at Aberystwyth University can take these courses for free.