A Poetry Workshop with Austin Segrest: Ekphrasis and Identity

Find inspiration and create something new with visiting poet Austin Segrest at this special workshop. Writers of all levels are encouraged to attend.

Ekphrasis comes from an ancient Greek practice of extensively describing a work of visual art (a design on a shield or a mural, for example) in a poem. We'll look at some classic and innovative examples of ekprhasis and try writing our own. In particular, we'll explore ways that ekphrasis can illuminate the mystery of the self and identity, something I do in my new collection, Groom, in various poems that describe Caravaggio's painting Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601).

In advance of the class, find a work of art you'd like to try your hand at describing in a poem. It does not have to be a famous painting! It can be any visual art, made by anyone, any time. Please come with an image of the artwork for desribing in your poem (an image on your phone is fine).

BIO:

Originally from Alabama, Austin Segrest holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing (Poetry) from The University of Missouri (2014) and an MFA from Georgia State University (2009).

Austin has received fellowships from Ucross Foundation, the Fine Arts Work Center, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the NEH. A former poetry editor of The Missouri Review, Austin currently teaches at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI.

Austin's first book, Door to Remain, won the Vassar Miller Poetry Prize. His poems can be found in POETRY, VQR, The Yale Review, The Threepenny Review, Ecotone, The Common, New England Review, Ploughshares, and many other journals. His essays on poetry can be found in APR, Poetry Northwest, 32 Poems, Southern Humanities Review, On the Seawall, and Pleiades.

His second collection, Groom, is was released April 2025 with Unbound Edition Press.

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