Category: Tanka in Australia

Submissions for Edition 6 of ‘Catchment – Poetry of Place’ close on 21 May!

Australian poets working in Japanese verse forms are encouraged to offer up to five (5) stand-alone tanka or a string which is four (4) pieces in length.
Up to three (3) free-verse poems would also be welcome, no longer than 30 lines.

Continue reading “Submissions for Edition 6 of ‘Catchment – Poetry of Place’ close on 21 May!”

Catchment – Poetry of Place: submissions open 21 March

Catchment – Poetry of Place will remain open for contributions between 21 March and 21 May, towards release of the journal’s 6th issue online on 21 June, 2026. Guidelines and our submission portal can both be accessed through the following link:
https://www.bawbawartsalliance.org.au/bcms/catchment/

As before, Australian poets working in Japanese-based forms can offer: either up to 5 tanka of a stand-alone nature; or a sequence of pieces, no larger than 4 tanka in total.
Contributors may submit up to 3 poems in free verse also/ instead, each as long as 30 lines, likewise showing a sense of location.
A biographical statement (no more than 50 words) should be submitted for each issue as well, please.

Discussions of Tanka on offer

In the meantime, 2026 will continue to bring you essays on poems of place, released each month under Catchment News & Views, accessible on the journal’s home page.

To coincide with the opening of our upcoming submission period, on 21 March I will be posting an evaluation of mine about portrayals of the marshland bird snipe in both haiku and tanka.

AHS members may likewise be interested in listening to a half-hour interview with me about tanka – broadcast recently on 3CR Community Radio (855 AM) – as presented by Di Cousens, a fellow member of the Fringe Myrtles Haiku Group in Melbourne:
https://www.3cr.org.au/spoken-word/episode/discovering-tanka

On 21 April, readers can also look forward to a new piece by our co-editor Jo McInerney, who will discuss interactive sequencing created by tanka poets working in collaboration.

Rodney Williams
Editor, Catchment – Poetry of Place
Baw Baw Arts Alliance, Gunaikurnai country, West Gippsland, Victoria

Catchment – Poetry of Place : fifth edition, submissions open

The Spring-time submission period for Catchment – Poetry of Place will remain open between 21st September and 21st November, towards release of the journal’s 5th issue online on 21st December, 2025.

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Submissions for Catchment 4 due by 21st May

A big thank you goes out to all AHS members who have already offered contributions to the fourth edition of Catchment – Poetry of Place!
 
With submissions set to close on 21st May 2025, other Australian poets are encouraged to send in new work which shows a sense of location. 

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Catchment – Poetry of Place : fourth edition

Submissions welcome for Catchment 4.
Thanks to all AHS members who have offered contributions to the first three issues of Catchment – Poetry of Place.

The next submission period will span between 21 st March and 21st May 2025, with the fourth edition due to go live online on 21st June, via the Baw Baw Arts Alliance website

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