The Art of Ekphrastic Poetry Reading with David Starkey

Join SBPL and former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, David Starkey, for an afternoon of ekphrastic poetry (writing poetry about works of art).

Participants from the January 12 workshop will each read their ekphrastic poem in the Faulkner Gallery, where images about which they have written will be projected on screen. In the second half of the program, David will read from his new book, You, Caravaggio, a biography in poems of the great Italian painter while Caravaggio’s paintings are projected on screen.

All are welcome!

David Starkey served as Santa Barbara’s 2009-2011 Poet Laureate. The Founding Director of the Creative Writing Program and Professor Emeritus at Santa Barbara City College, he is currently Co-editor of Anacapa Review and The California Review of Books, and the Publisher and Co-editor of Gunpowder Press. Over the past thirty-five years, he has published twelve full-length collections of poetry with small presses—most recently You, Caravaggio, a biography in poems of the great Italian artist. More than 500 of his poems have appeared in literary journals such as American Scholar, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner and Southern Review. His textbook, Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2022), is in its fourth edition. Visit his website for more information.

Disclaimer(s):

Participants in this event may be photographed by Library staff. These photos may be used in promotional or educational publications, including in print, social media, and presentations. Please see staff if you do not consent to having your photo taken. Staff will obtain individual, signed photo releases of photographs that contain only an individual as opposed to a group.