Ernest Williamson III, Ph.D.

The Langston Hughes Poetry Center and Library at Allen University in Columbia, SC, is a project ten years in the making, developed by Charlene Spearen, Chairperson of the Humanities Department at Allen, and Kwame Dawes, currently the Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner. The center was also established to commemorate Hughes' visitation and poetry reading at the college. It features art and books of poetry by Hughes and African American poets. On Saturday, January 31, 2015, the center was opened to the community with several poetry workshops, headlined by Kwame and Nikki Finney, Next. Ernest Williamson III, Assistant Professor of English at Allen, gave a workshop on writing ekphrastic poetry. Ekphrasis is poetry based on art. As both an artist and a poet with over 550 publications, Ernest shared his insight on using paintings as inspiration for poems. www.ernestwilliamsoniii.com https://soundcloud.com/user-331948827/sets/select-poetry-readings