Events

Ekphrastic Poetry Contest

Sigma Tau Delta is working with UMD’s Writing Studies and English programs, along with the Tweed Museum of Art, to host an ekphrastic poetry contest. The artworks one can choose to write about are now on display in the second-floor study room in the Tweed.

To avoid stifling anyone’s creativity, there are no formal submission requirements. However, in line with the aesthetics of the artworks, poems should attempt to address some sort of ‘cosmic’ subject (e.g., astrology, the stars, sky, space, etc.). The best poems will be displayed alongside the artworks in the Tweed to which they pertain.

All students are welcome and encouraged to participate in this exciting creative writing opportunity. Poems must be emailed to dbeard@d.umn.edu by Monday, April 10, 2023. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

A live reading of the poems will take place Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 6 pm in the Tweed.

Inspirations for Ekphrastic Poetry (from the National Council of Teachers of English)

As you begin to write your ekphrastic poems, consider the following approaches:

Some approaches are writing as if inside or part of the art:

Write about the scene or subject being depicted in the artwork.
Write in the voice of a person or object shown in the work of art.
Write a dialogue among characters in a work of art.
Imagine a story behind what you see depicted in the piece.

Some approaches emphasize the artist:

Imagine what was happening while the artist was creating the piece.
Write in the voice of the artist.
Speculate about why the artist created this work.

Some approaches emphasize the experience of seeing the art:

Write about your experience of looking at the art.
Relate the work of art to something else it reminds you of.
Speak directly to the artist or the subject(s) of the piece.

Authorship Q&A with Rain Taxi and Alex Messenger

Join us Friday, April 21 from 1-4 pm for a two-part authorship Q&A.

At 1 pm, we will discuss the Minnesota literary publishing scene with Minneapolis’s own Rain Taxi magazine via Zoom in the Humanities 464 room.

"Rain Taxi is much more than just a magazine! We are a literary organization that fosters engagement with innovative writing through programs and publications. Our main vehicle is the award-winning print quarterly Rain Taxi Review of Books and its corollary Online Edition, which each have unique material that connects readers to books of merit that might otherwise get overlooked. With coverage of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, graphic novels, translations, and more, Rain Taxi exists for readers and writers, literary publishers of all shapes and sizes, booksellers, educators, and kindred spirits who want books to keep flourishing in a distracted society." — Rain Taxi | About

Then, at 2:30 pm, we will discuss writing, marketing, photography, and publishing with Alex Messenger in the Humanities 420 reading room.

"Alex Messenger is a Duluth, Minnesota, author, marketer and photographer who, at seventeen, was mauled by a grizzly bear. In the decade afterward, he’s worked as a wilderness guide, marketing specialist, photographer and volunteer search and rescue operator. His love of adventure, nature, and cultures has taken him all over the globe, but the north woods and canoe country have always been among his favorite subjects. His memoir, The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra was a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards, among other accolades. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Men’s Journal, National Parks magazine, Outside, and Backpacker." — alexmessenger.com

Outdoor Concert in Ordean Court

New Duluth alternative rock band “Indoor Recess” is to play outdoors on Tuesday, April 25 from 7-8 pm in Ordean Court at the University of Minnesota Duluth. The event is to take place immediately following live readings of ekphrastic poetry in the Tweed Museum of Art.

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