Robin Gabbert: The Magic of Ekphrastic

April 18, 2026, 11 a.m.
Finley Center in Santa Rosa

Please bring something savory or sweet to share in our potluck!

The Magic of Ekphrastic, where you’ll learn how to use artwork to inspire your creative writing, both poetry and prose. The aim is to enhance observational skill and generate creative responses in a fun, interactive environment. This session is suited for any writer interested in empowering creativity, finding ways to battle writer’s block, exploring new perspectives, and fostering a deeper appreciation of the visual arts. We hope you can join us in this space where where words and art meet.

About the Presenter:

Robin Gabbert is the winner of Redwood Writers’ 2025 Fran Claggett-Holland Award and is a Pushcart Poetry Prize nominee for her poem The Palm Reader. In 2024, her poem Invisible was a finalist in the San Francisco Writers’ Conference Poetry Contest and she was long-listed for the Frontier Poetry Tanka Challenge. Her book of ekphrastic poetry— The Clandestine Life of Paintings, in Poems was published in 2022 and a full-length book of poetry Somehow, I Haven’t Drowned was published by Blue Light Press in August 2025. She has poetry in state, national, and international poetry anthologies including the Ekphrastic Review. 

Robin lives in Sonoma County wine country with her husband Con and dog Hamish where she enjoys good food and wine and holds a Writers Salon bi-monthly for Redwood Writers. She is a frequent speaker and instructor on ekphratic poetry and has been a judge in multiple California Writers Club poetry competitions. She co-hosts North Bay Poetics and was a judge and editor of their 2024 anthology: Climate Shift.