New South Wales tanka programme with Mariko: March 2013

In March 2013, Tokyo poet, Mariko Kitakubo, will revisit Australia, performing her tanka poetry bilingually with Beverley George, editor of the journal Eucalypt and President of the Australian Haiku Society 2006-10.

Tanka, meaning short songs, is a 1300 year old poetic genre from Japan, relevant to the way we think and feel today. Mariko and Beverley have performed together in Tokyo, Sydney, Canberra, and Tamworth and on the Central Coast. In late March they will perform at two venues in Adelaide.

Below are details of three events to be held in New South Wales this month.

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With Cherries on Top: Free Online Haiku Book

Press Here is pleased to announce that With Cherries on Top: 31 Flavors from NaHaiWriMo is now available for free download. This anthology, edited by Michael Dylan Welch, features 190 haiku and senryu by 79 worldwide contributors to the National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) page on Facebook.

Continue reading “With Cherries on Top: Free Online Haiku Book”

Launch of Wind through the Wheatfields: held 3 February 2013

The writer-friendly Hughenden Hotel at Woollahra was the venue on February 3rd, for the launch by David Terelinck of Wind through the Wheatfields: Tanka by Beverley George writing with Friends.

This is a book of response tanka, gently gathered over years, and featuring the poetry of Andre Surridge, David Terelinck, Dy Andreasen, Giselle Maya, Janice M Bostok, Julie Thorndyke, Kathy Kituai, Kirsty Karkow, Maria Steyn, Meredith Ferris, M L Grace and Owen Bullock. Illustrations are by Pim Sarti.

The event was attended by 60 people and included the launch by Dawn Bruce of Beverley’s tanka chapbook, This Pinging Hail, with cover illustrations by Tumi K Steyn.

Red Dragonflies Autumn Meeting

The Red Dragonflies (minus their leader, Vanessa Proctor, regrettably) met on Saturday 23rd February at Cynthia Rowe’s home in Woollahra. Vanessa had preset members three interesting topics for their prepared haiku ― namely ‘books’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘natural disasters’.

These topics had produced a refreshingly novel collection of haiku. After lunch, the haiku bowl from which each member’s two additional (and anonymous) haiku were drawn and discussed produced their usual share of mirth. Given that, in Japanese, ‘hai’ means ‘amusement’ and ‘ku’ means ‘verse’, the blend of seriousness and levity that is always part of the Red Dragonflies’ meetings is obviously highly appropriate.

Lesley Walter

Cloudcatchers’ Ginko No. 28 (summer)

Due to the weather, it was off again/on again for the Cloudcatchers’ summer ginko, which was finally held at the Skateboard Park in Ballina on Thursday 14 February. And, yes, St Valentine’s Day did appear in some of the haiku.

In spite of the location we made no attempt to skateboard, but wandered around the area where North Creek enters the Richmond River, just before the river empties into the sea.

The predicted ‘occasional showers’ were off again/on again but interfered little with the absorbing of images in this delightful venue by eleven of us. Birds and breaking waves featured, of course, with casuarinas, fishermen, a beach shanty built of storm debris, driftwood, a spider lily and a bobbing buoy.

The autumn ginko is scheduled for Thursday 9 May 2013 – to be confirmed.

Quendryth Young