You are invited to join the Geelong Writers Ekphrastic Experience!
We invite everyone – members and non-members alike – to participate.
Here is a different, edgy challenge for you to consider.
Use this image (‘Professor Brian Lewis returning to Melbourne from a trip to Turkey, greeted by architecture students in oriental costume,’ 20 April 1951, Argus photograph courtesy of State Library of Victoria) as a prompt to write a poem or piece of prose (fiction or non-fiction) specifically written for the image presented, using up to 300 words. [The upper limit for each submission is 300 words, not including the title and author’s name.]
As noted by the State Library of Victoria, which has made this copyright-free image available, State Library Victoria does not endorse or support any derogatory uses of this work. (Neither does Geelong Writers.)
We invite:
– writing that connects with the image or springs from it
– writing that has been written for the specific purpose of being published on the Geelong Writers Ekphrastic Challenge webpage
– only one submission per person
Please provide a title for your response to the image and please check your work for errors
Be bold, be creative, and let the image provoke your imagination.
And, most importantly, have (respectful) fun!
When selecting submissions for publication, we look for original responses to the image, rather than responses to any factors other than the image (e.g. the title). We collate submissions for publication so that we can showcase how the challenge has provoked wide-ranging, inventive responses which all clearly reference the image.
This is a challenge; not a competition. There is no extra credit for submitting your response early. Every submission received by the due date will be reviewed for publication, according to the criteria we have set out here. Your considered response to the image is appreciated by our readership.
Please email your work to ekphrastic@geelongwriters.org.au with PROFESSOR LEWIS in the subject line by Sunday 27 April 2025.
If you are submitting any work that has unusual indents or forms such as shape poems, please send them as an image, for example in .jpg format.
Please do not send PDFs. Due to the nature of our publishing software, we may be unable to include any submissions using PDF in our published selection.
If you are under 18 please confirm that you have permission from a parent, guardian or teacher (if the challenge is being written as part of a school activity), to have your work published online.
A selection of the best responses will be published online by Sunday 4 May.
Previous submissions to the Geelong Writers Ekphrastic Challenges which were published are available here:
Geelong Writers Ekphrastic Writing
We strongly encourage you to read the examples there, as well as those listed in the links below.
The Ekphrastic Review archives
Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Rattle Ekphrastic Challenges
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