A 4-Week Generative Ekphrastic Prose Workshop
Tuesdays: April 15 - May 6, 7-9 PM
Ekphrasis—the literary response to visual art—often takes the form of poetry, but this class will be geared toward generating narrative. Participants will receive prompts in the form of specific artworks (to be viewed online) and methods for translating the art into fiction, memoir, or other narrative forms. These exercises will be followed by analysis of published texts created in response to the same artworks. Techniques will include imagining an instance of seeing the work, imagining the life of the work’s subject or artist, letting the work trigger associations and memories, acknowledging the work’s historical context, or facing the abstract with the concrete. Visual artists used likely to include Jennifer Bartlett, Gerhard Richter, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Jacob Lawrence, Yves Klein, Frida Kahlo, Liu Xiaodong, Kerry James Marshall, or Helen Frankenthaler. Writers studied likely to include Deborah Eisenberg, Don DeLillo, John Keene, A. S. Byatt, Tyehimba Jess, John Yau, or Ali Smith.
All levels of experience are welcome. The goal is to think like a beginner, take risks, and discover new veins of subject matter or approaches to the page. New work will be shared aloud. Light reading and writing homework.
$185 Members/$245 Nonmembers
Anne Elliott's short fiction can be found in Story, A Public Space, Crab Orchard Review, Ploughshares Solos, Witness, Hobart, Bellevue Literary Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, and in her collection, The Artstars. Honors include the Blue Light Books Prize, the Story Foundation Prize, and fellowships from The Elizabeth George Foundation, the Table 4 Writer's Foundation, and Vermont Studio Center. Her essays on the craft of fiction have been featured in TriQuarterly, CRAFT Literary, and The Writer's Chronicle. Elliott holds an MFA in visual art from UC San Diego, and an MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College. She lives in Maine, where she teaches fiction writing online for A Public Space and Harvard Summer School.
ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via our website. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.
PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICIES
If you need to withdraw from a class after registering for any reason, please email or call the MWPA immediately. You may be eligible for a partial refund or credit, depending on how far in advance you cancel. → MORE INFORMATION
QUESTIONS
For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact programs@mainewriters.org.
REGISTER BY PHONE
Call 207-200-7180 and register with your VISA or MasterCard.
REGISTER BY MAIL
If you prefer to pay by mail, please print this registration form (downloadable PDF) and mail it to the MWPA with a check or credit card information.
SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer one partial scholarship to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Application Due by April 30 at 9:00 a.m.
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