The Art of Ekphrasis 

with Emma O’Leary and Tiffany Troy

October 15th from 7:30PM to 9:30PM ET via Zoom

Horace, in his Epistles, writes, “poetry is like a painting.” Indeed, artists often liken poetry — and prose — to visual art. In this course, we will examine this connection through ekphrasis.

We will consider ekphrasis as a detailed description and/or story wrought from art: Ultimately, art will inspire us to write. We will interpret and confront visual art ranging from Georgia O’Keeffe’s desert landscapes, to René Magritte’s oblique floating men, to Marc Chagall’s stained class, and others. We will read short ekphrastic excerpts from John Keats, Homer, and more. This class will be a workshop. 

Meet Your Instructors

Emma O’Leary is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program, where she taught a course on Ekphrasis and volunteered with the Incarcerated Writers Initiative. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, and she teaches writing in New York City. She is at work on her debut novel. 

Tiffany Troy is the author of Dominus (forthcoming, BlazeVOX) and the chapbook When Ilium Burns (Bottlecap Press), as well as co-translator of Santiago Acosta’s The Coming Desert /El próximo desierto (forthcoming, Alliteration Publishing House), in collaboration with Acosta and the Women in Translation project at the University of Wisconsin. Her reviews and interviews are published or forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, The Cortland Review, The Los Angeles Review, Matter,The Laurel Review,  EcoTheo Review, Rain Taxi, New World Writing, Hong Kong Review of Books and Tupelo Quarterly, where she is Managing Editor. She has taught creative writing through Columbia University’s Artist/ Teacher and Pre-College programs.