PB Poetry Festival Launches Ekphrastic Poetry Contest Inspired By 'Tech Effect' Exhibit At Cornell Museum

Susan R. Williamson, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, has announced the 2019 Ekphrastic Poetry Contest, inspired by the TECH EFFECT exhibition which is on display through February 17 at the Cornell Museum at Old School Square in Delray Beach.

To enter, writers are encouraged to submit up to 30 lines of original poetry inspired by one of eight designated images featured in the TECH EFFECT exhibition that explore the complex influences of technology on the human experience and the natural world. It features artists whose work deals with technology in some way.

"Museum visitors will be fascinated by augmented reality works, interactive touch screen works, the prevalence of social media in contemporary art, artwork that utilizes code, and countless ways that technology is integrated into contemporary art," says Williamson. "The selections in our annual Ekphrastic Poetry Contest offer poets the opportunity to take inspiration from eight works selected from the exhibition."

The eight designated images include Backup by Ellen de Meijer, Emotion #2 by Walter Brown, Fractal by William Montgomery, Galloping Towards the Dream by Camomile Hixon, Graine by Alain Le Boucher, No More Dialects #4 by Daniel Fiorda, Mona Lisa by Antoine Geiger, and Skull by Brian Dettmer.

The winning poet will receive a $100 prize, and $25 will be given to each of the four runners-up. Their submitted poems - along with another five "honorable mentions" - will be published on the Poetry Festival's website at http://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

"The poetic tradition of taking inspiration from works of art is called 'ekphrasis' from the Greek," explains Williamson. "Ekphrastic Poems may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art. It's a tradition quite alive in America today, and we're pleased to once again join with the Cornell Museum to present this opportunity for poets to be inspired."

For more details and to view the eight designated images from the TECH EFFECT exhibition, please visit: https://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/news/tech-effect-poetry-contest/.

Deadline for submission is February 17, 2019. All submissions will be accepted via Submittable:

https://palmbeachpoetryfestival.submittable.com/submit/96d4137f-d6c6-4674-be04-18eaf0a15fb0/2019-palm-beach-poetry-festival-tech-effect-poetry-contest

The Contest Judge is Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize, selected by Billy Collins and nominated for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for 32 years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.