Entries for the inaugural John Knight Memorial Poetry Manuscript Prize may be submitted until 17 May 2013. The prize is for an unpublished poetry manuscript of 40 pages by an Australian (citizen or permanent resident) author. Haiku collections are eligible for the Prize.

The winning entry will be published as a book with Fence Post Press in August. Guidelines can be viewed at http://www.eruditescribe.com/john-knight-memorial-poetry-manuscript-prize/

This Manuscript Prize is separate from the planned Paper Wasp haiku prize for Australian and New Zealand haiku poets which will also honour John Knight. Details of the Paper Wasp prize will be announced later in the year.

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:52 PM | Permalink

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.

Thursday March 21st 10:30 am - 11:45 am Peninsula Community Centre, 93 McMasters Rd., off Ocean Beach Road, Woy Woy. A U3A Central Coast (NSW) Inc. event.
East Meets West: Exploring Japanese Poetry: a performance Limited to 30 attendees. Three places remain. Bookings essential 0409743889

Thursday March 21st 6:30 pm Hornsby Library, 28-44 George St., Hornsby.
Learn about the ancient art of tanka poetry. Experience the artful and captivating Japanese readings presented by Mariko Kitakubo, visiting from Japan, joined with Beverley George with readings in English. Enhanced by Japanese percussion, dress and culture,the evening is sure to delight the soul and awaken the senses. Convenor: Kathleen Allan
Essential to register. Please call 9847 6614 or email [email protected]

Friday March 22nd 6:00 –7:00 pm Roseville Wellness Group 3/32 Barcoo St., Roseville
An Evening Recital of Tanka. Beverley George and Mariko Kitakubo. Mariko plays the hamon as accompaniment. Light refreshments. All welcome. http://www.rosevillewellnessgroup.com.au. Please book on 02 94174772

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:17 PM | Permalink

The paperwasp haiku group now meets every two months at Brisbane Central Library at North Quay in Brisbane City. Email Duncan Richardson for dates, times and meeting room details: [email protected]

Posted by Greg Piko at 05:15 PM | Permalink

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.

Poems appear in themed groups, and were written in response to daily writing prompts provided by 31 different prompters through the month of August 2012. The book also features nearly a hundred photos of fireworks by the editor. 140 pages, ISBN 978-1-878798-34-3.

To view or download, please visit www.nahaiwrimo.com (where you can also read about this every-February event) and click the link for With Cherries on Top. Also available on the site are the introduction, a list of the book’s daily prompters (who helped with initial poem selections), a list of contributors, and comments from readers.

Enjoy . . . with cherries on top!

Michael Dylan Welch

“Haiku fireworks! A must see/read, spectacular book! Most pleased to be included in this book, and be part of the NaHaiWriMo community.” —Stella Pierides

“Exploding with flavour!” —Pamela Cooper

“I am extremely impressed. I think it might be the best laid out e-book I have encountered.” —Violette Rose-Jones

“The photographs are just perfect to go with the mood of each prompt. I love the book.” —Jayashree Maniyil

“Fantastic! This is really beautiful!” —Daphne Purpus

“Very cool! I’m blown away by this.” —Terry Ó Ku

Posted by Greg Piko at 05:03 PM | Permalink

The Republic Bar and Café in North Hobart was the venue for the launch on 3 March 2013 of Australia’s newest haiku journal, Windfall. An audience of over forty people came for the regular Republic Readings, which this year moved from a monthly event to a seasonal event, the March readings being the first for 2013. This ensured a wide audience of poetry lovers, including and beyond readers and writers of haiku.

The featured guest readers were Lyn Reeves and Tim Thorne who both read from their recent poetry collections. Between their two brackets, Robyn Mathison launched Windfall, praising its design and content and reading a selection of the haiku.

Robyn commented on the distinctive Australian flavour and the variety of locations that inspired the poems, from the gritty Mallee to a sleepy Lismore Sunday to a camp in the Kimberley. She encouraged people to buy Windfall as a gift that could be easily slipped into an envelope with a card or letter, or to keep in a pocket or purse for reading at bus stops or in waiting rooms. Then those Tasmanian haiku poets who were present (Ron Moss, Lorraine Haig and Lyn Reeves) read their contributions to the journal. Ron read each of his twice in a row, which is what we did at Watersmeet Haiku Group and which was also a practice of Shiki.

It felt very special to have all those involved with the publication of Windfall present for its launch: the publisher, Peter Macrow of Blue Giraffe Press; editor, Beverley George; Rob Riel (and his partner Judy Johnson) of Picaro Press who designed and printed it; and Ron Moss who contributed one of his beautiful drawings for the cover art. Hobart welcomed our visitors from interstate with splendid weather, and the audience welcomed Windfall with appreciation and healthy sales.

At the launch, 55 copies of Windfall were sold with Lyn Reeves' recent poetry collection, Designs on the Body, and Tim Thorne's chapbook, Yes, No, also available for sale.

Copies of Windfall are available from Peter Macrow: [email protected]

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:26 PM | Permalink

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.

A review by Patricia Prime of Wind through the Wheatfields, may be found on Graham Nunn’s ‘Another Lost Shark’ web-site:

http://anotherlostshark.com/2013/01/30/patricia-prime-reviews-wind-through-the-wheatfields-by-beverley-george/

Posted by Greg Piko at 04:26 PM | Permalink

The sixth issue of A Hundred Gourds, a quarterly journal of haiku, haibun, haiga, tanka and renku poetry is now online:
http://www.ahundredgourds.com/
* Please note that AHG has a new url, as above. You may wish to replace the old url with the new one in your bookmarks.

Feature

Along with our regular haiku, haiga, haibun, renku and tanka sections, AHG 2.2 includes Susan Constable’s feature on Kozue Uzawa, tanka poet and founder and editor of the Canadian tanka journal, ‘GUSTS’.

Expositions Section
To our regret, there is no Expositions section in AHG 2.2. We apologise to our readers for any inconvenience. If you have submitted work to the Expositions section, either for AHG 2.2 or for AHG 2.3, please contact Lorin Ford.

And now the good news: We are delighted to welcome Mathew Paul to the AHG team as the new Expositions Editor. Many of you will be familiar with Matthew’s reviews in the UK haiku journal, ‘Presence’, and others will have recently enjoyed his selections of ‘Workers’ Haiku’ published in THF’s ‘ per diem’.

Due to the immanent deadline for submissions to AHG 2.3, we are not sure at this date whether Matthew’s first AHG Expositions section will appear in the June or the September issue. We encourage you to send any book reviews, essays/articles or your commentaries on individual poems for the June AHG, by March 15th, in any case.

We’ll publish Matthew’s email address for submissions on the AHG website as soon as we can. In the meantime, please send any submissions for the Expositions section or enquiries to Lorin Ford at [email protected] , being sure to include 'AHG Expositions Section' in the title bar.

Submissions DeadlineThe deadline for all submissions to AHG 2.3 (the June issue) is March 15th. Please check our submissions page for details and editors’ guidelines.

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Lorin Ford, Haiku Editor,
for the Editorial Team,
ahundredgourds
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Posted by Cynthia Rowe at 10:28 AM | Permalink