Category: Tanka in Australia

Rick Rack by Julie Thorndyke

On March 14, a full room of supporters and fans gathered at Baulkham Hills Library, Castle Hill, for the launch of rick rack, Julie Thorndyke’s book of tanka poetry. It was a wonderful event with a variety of readings with complementary music. Tim, Julie’s husband welcomed the guests and introduced Beverley George who launched the book with a short history of tanka’s origins and readings from Izumi Shikibu.

Julie presented tanka from her book, talking about her tanka journey with each tanka or sequence displayed against stunning visual images. The audience was moved by the impact and effectiveness of Julie’s tanka that covered the gamut of human experience.
There were other readings – a very moving sequence by Beverley George and Meredith Collins, then Julie and Beverley readLocket, their prize winning tanka sequence. The special guest, well known Japanese poet, Mariko Kitakubo, beautifully dressed in a silk kimono, read some of her tanka in Japanese, with Beverley reading the English translations by Amelia Fielden. Mariko accompanied the readings with the Hamohn, a Japanese musical instrument. There were also readings by the Tanka Huddle group from Eastwood Hills Fellowship of Australian Writers ( Those present were Carolyn Alfonzetti, Jan Foster, Beverley George, Anne Howard, Carmel Summers, David Terelinck, Julie Thorndyke).
The star of the show, though, was Julie’s wonderful tanka, which demonstrated why Julie is considered to be one of the leading tanka writers in Australia today.

Carmel Summers

Bower Birds

Bowerbird Tanka Workshop 22 February 2009

The third Bowerbird Tanka workshop was held on Sunday 22nd February, 2009 at Pearl Beach, NSW.
Workshop leaders Beverley George, Amelia Fielden and Kathy Kituai supported a full house of tanka enthusiasts in workshopping participant prepared poems. All present were encouraged and entertained by the wide range of poetry submissions, the expert feedback from the leaders and mutual appreciation of workshop members. What a joy to have so many creative minds together in one room at this tanka think-tank.
Kathy Kituai shared some of her writing secrets, then led the group in a creative session designed to court the muse. We were invited to engage with and reflect upon the creative process. I came away with a renewed sense of the pleasure of writing.
The lunchtime kukai on the theme paperbark was won by Carolyn Alfonzetti. The afternoon took the form of small group sessions to write renga on the theme 2008 was the year. During the day many books changed hands and many connections were made. Once again we owe Beverley George a sincere vote of thanks for organising and throwing open her home for this lively and congenial tanka workshop.
Julie Thorndyke

Bowerbird Tanka Workshop

The second Bowerbird Tanka workshop was held on 26th October, 2008 at Beverley George’s welcoming home at Pearl Beach, NSW.

The presenters, Beverley George and Amelia Fielden, led a most enthusiastic and creative group of thirteen women throughout the perfect spring day.
Workshopping began with prepared tanka on the theme sport/recreation/hobby or an interest which was followed by a highly informative talk by Amelia Fielden about shasei (sketching from life).After lunch on Beverley’s sun deck by the lagoon, we worked in pairs rising to the challenge of writing a responsive string using memories as a theme and incorporating the newly learnt shasei.

Atlas Poetica – 25 Australian Tanka

To view these poems visit http://AtlasPoetica.org and select Special Features.

Thank you to Atlas Poetica’s publisher and editor, M. Kei, for the invitation to participate and to Technical Director Alex von Vaupel for design and presentation.

The full press release from Atlas Poetica follows:

6 September 2010 — Perryville, Maryland, USA

*Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka*is
proud to announce ’25 Australian Tanka Poets,’ the fourth installment
of the ‘Special Features’ section of its website. Edited by Beverley George,
the well-known editor of *Eucalypt*, twenty-five Australian tanka poets each
wrote a new tanka representing the diverse landscapes of their country. By
bringing together poets from communities around the world, *Atlas Poetica’s
*Special Features allows different tanka traditions to be appreciated
for themselves as well as offering the opportunity to compare and
contrast them with other traditions. The Special Features can be viewed for
free online at <http://AtlasPoetica.org>

Bowerbird Tanka Workshop #4

held at ‘Wirraminna’ Pearl Beach, NSW

February 27th 2010

Nineteen Bowerbirds, including three presenters, gathered at Beverley George’s tranquil home, hoping to take away with them some inspiration and technical tips for writing better tanka.
Not a single bird returned home disappointed.

Amelia Fielden spoke about the tricky question of punctuation, sharing her views and style. She also included a valuable exercise which involved punctuating a number of tanka to improve them.

Kathy Kituai’s presentation, ‘Write Below the Surface’ prompted a lively discussion on a tanka written by Izumi Shikibu and an excellent exercise on listening to our own and other peoples’ poems.

Empty Garden

empty garden by Beverley George – reviews

There are now eight reviews of empty garden : Beverley George’s tanka collection, listed on www.eucalypt.info under empty garden. Four of these reviews may be accessed online. The two most recent reviews are by South African tanka poet, Maria Steyn, In Ribbons the journal of the Tanka Society of America and by Japanese poet, Aya Yuhki, in The Tanka Journal {Japan].

Eucalypt

Eucalypt: a tanka journal is the first Australian literary magazine devoted entirely to the 1300 year old genre from Japan which has so much relevance to the way we think and feel today. Information is available from www.eucalypt.info or by writing with an SSAE to Beverley George, Editor: Eucalypt, PO Box 37 Pearl Beach 2256 Australia