Thursday, March 31, 2011

Still time to book up for the Purely Haiku course!

I'm really looking forward to this residential course.

Monday Afternoon 11th - Friday Breakfast 15th April 
Claridge House, Surrey, South East England
(just outside London)

Phone: 01342 832150
Phone: 0845 3457281
 

The Purely Haiku Course details:
http://area17.blogspot.com/2011/02/purely-haiku-unique-uk-based.html

Claridge House:
http://www.claridgehousequaker.org.uk/courses.php#April

I think that's a brilliant price. It's a bargain for what you are offering. I thought it was going to be much more.

Annie Bachini (previous President of the British Haiku Society)

There may be some people who think, I know what haiku is, do I need a short residential course?

The answer is yes!  


photo©Rosee aka ridlydidlysventures

 


It is surprising just how much there is to learn about haiku and how the enjoyment can be tripled, quadrupled even.



The residential course starts Monday late afternoon after scrumptious teas and coffees, cakes and biscuits, in a leisurely get to know each other before we get to any workshopping at all. 

There's just the one session on Monday, and then relaxed sessions throughout Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.





photo©Rosee aka ridlydidlysventures




The course is as relaxed and leisurely as you'd personally like,  or can be stepped up to your individual needs.  

The main thing is that I'm there to work hard for you, with gentle prompts and workshop exercises, with encouraging lively, engaging, inclusive group discussion and feedback.

Find out about  
kigo; kireji; gendai; shasei; juxtaposition and disjunctive methods; and how to make concrete images stand out, and even come across as lyrical in so short a poem, and help improve your other writing styles.

For those new to haiku, it will be a delightful introduction;
for those who know a little about haiku, it will be an astonishing journey to find out just how much more there is to know and enjoy.

For those who are seasoned and regularly published in haiku magazines, this is a chance to work on a body of work that can be submitted to various magazines, and become a cornerstone of your next, or first collection.


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Traditionally 
we always conclude the course with a fun renga party*, and a souvenir Haiku Journal notebook with our renga verses, and exchange of haiku from each other!

Friday is breakfast and saying goodbyes and hopefully staying in touch!

photo©Anne Simpson
















Alan Summers

Alan Summers is a Japan Times award-winning writer for haiku and renku.  He has been a Poetry School Visiting Tutor for haiku, tanka, and renga, as well as appointed as the Japan-UK-150 roving renga poet-in-residence.

Alan is a founding editor for the haijinx humor in haiku magazine; renku/renga editor for Notes from the Gean haikai literature magazine; and creator of the Bath 1000 Verse Renga, and Hull Global Renga Projects.


The Purely Haiku Course details:


*
Comments from previous renga workshops:

"we really enjoyed the renga event...it was a very intensely creative act, and I was really struck by the renga form itself, what it could be capable of...a whole new poetic energy" 
Mark, University of Winchester

"Thanks again for a wonderful poetry session."
Yu Yan, U.S. citizen currently visiting England

"I just wanted to thank you again for such a great event...I want to do some more!"
Susan, Plymouth

"Thanks so much for yesterday's renga event - it was fantastic! Really got the creative juices flowing. Let me know when the next one is, I will definitely attend!" Tracey, Bath

"Looks like I missed a fantastic event..I hope to be at the next one."
Caroline, Bristol (she was!)

"More! More!" Libby, Bristol

"It is so tempting to get involved in renku/renga with all the excitement you...generate."  
Melinda, USA

Alan's haiku attempts for NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month





image©NaPoWriMo

About NaPoWriMo http://www.napowrimo.net/about/

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

NaPoWriMo was founded in 2003, when poet Maureen Thorson decided to take up the challenge (modeled after NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month), and challenged other poets to join her. 

Since then, the number of participants has gotten larger every year, and many writers’ organizations, local, national and even international, organize NaPoWriMo activities.

Need more information? See the Wikipedia entry for NaPoWriMo!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Pictures of Karen Hoy and Alan Summers reading haiku at the Dylan Thomas Centre as part of the Another Country: Haiku Poetry from Wales, Gomer Press: double booklaunch programme at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, Wales, U.K.


Two Day Book Launch Events for 
Another Country: 
haiku poetry from Wales
the first ever Welsh national anthology of haiku poetry
Published by Gomer Press and edited by Nigel Jenkins, Ken Jones and Lynne Rees, it features haiku, tanka, haibun and somonka – in both English and Welsh – by forty poets, from Wales's haiku pioneers.















Friday 18th March 2011

Karen Hoy reads a selection of her work




















A tri-part reading of headlining Welsh haiku writers MC'd by Lynne Rees
Group 1

Vivien Kelly
Sarah Coles
Humberto Gatica
Noragh Jones

Group 2

Karen Hoy
Rona Laycock
Brian White
Ken Jones

And finally, a reading from Group 3

Alex Morden (for Matt)
Stephen White
Chris Torrance


Saturday 19th March 2011

The Saturday Haiku Night 
At The Dylan Thomas Centre
with music

First Event: Readings from workshop participants from earlier in the day

Second Event: Headlining haiku writers including Karen Hoy and Alan Summers

MC'd by Nigel Jenkins, who explained that as well as playing between performers's readings, the musicians will improvise during the actual readings.   This was a tremendous success.





Order of performers:
Noragh Jones
Karen Hoy
Alan Summers
Nigel Jenkins
Ken Jones
Lynne Rees

Musicians: Peter Stacey and Maggie Nichols




Karen Hoy enthralls the audience!















Alan looking far more serious than he should. ;-)

Weblink to further book details:

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Karen Hoy and Alan Summers reading at Haiku & Music: Dylan Thomas Centre

Scroll down for further information 
on both events.

1. Booklaunch 
Friday 18th March, 7pm:
Another Country: Haiku Poetry from Wales 
the first ever Welsh national anthology of haiku poetry
Published by Gomer Press and edited by Nigel Jenkins, Ken Jones and Lynne Rees, it features haiku, tanka, haibun and somonka – in both English and Welsh – by forty poets, from Wales's haiku pioneers.

2. Music/haiku:
Peter Stacey and Friends including Karen Hoy & Alan Summers
7.30pm Saturday 19 March 2011
Admission: Full price £5; Concessions £3.50; PTL £2

Both events are at:

Dylan Thomas Centre
Somerset Place, Swansea, SA1 1RR
tel: 01792 463980
fax: 01792 463993
The focal point for fans worldwide, the Centre's home to a permanent Dylan Thomas exhibition, and year-round programme of arts events, including Dylan Thomas Festival. Explore the books and gifts in the bookshop-cafe. Talks and tours available on request. Open from 10am - 4:30pm every day including Bank Holidays. Free admission. VAQAS accredited.

1st EVENT:

Friday 18th March, 7pm:
Booklaunch  
Another Country: Haiku Poetry from Wales 
the first ever Welsh national anthology of haiku poetry:
http://area17.blogspot.com/2011/02/karen-hoy-appears-in-major-new-haiku.html

Karen Hoy will be reading from her work featured in the anthology at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea. 

Another Country: Haiku Poetry from Wales
Gomer Press
ISBN: 9781848513068 

Published by Gomer Press and edited by Nigel Jenkins, Ken Jones and Lynne Rees, it features haiku, tanka, haibun and somonka – in both English and Welsh – by forty poets, from Wales's haiku pioneers.
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Karen Hoy 
was born in Newport, and lived in Caldicot, Caerphilly and Cwmbran before moving to Hertfordshire.  

She is published by Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar; Presence magazine; and British Haiku Society Journal Blithe Spirit

Karen appears in My Mother Threw Knives (Second Light Publications 2006); and was Highly Commended in the BBC Wildlife Magazine's Nature Writer of the Year competition (2009). 

In 2006 Karen founded the TV development company Gilded Lily.  She has previously worked on documentaries and wildlife films for the BBC, National Geographic, the Discovery Channels and other leading broadcasters. 

Karen is also published in the American/British haiku anthology:
2nd EVENT

Music/haiku:
Peter Stacey and Friends including Karen Hoy & Alan Summers
7.30pm Saturday 19 March 2011
Admission: Full price £5; Concessions £3.50; PTL £2

Tel: 01792 463980
Email: dylanthomas.lit@swansea.gov.uk
Website: http://www.swansea.gov.uk/dtc

A celebration, in words and music, of haiku poetry, featuring some of Wales’s leading haiku poets in creative collaboration with musicians, including the renowned flautist and saxophonist Peter Stacey.

Alan Summers

Japan Times award-winning writer of haiku and renku, with parents from Wales (Monmouthshire and Swansea) proudly serving Wales during WWII in the WAAF and RAF.

Alan was the founder of With Words, which evolved into Call of the Page where he is the co-founder along with Karen Hoy. Both incarnations are UK-based providers of quality literature, education and literacy projects, often based around the Japanese genres: www.callofthepage.org

Alan and Karen regularly run online courses for haiku and its related genres. For further information please don't hesitate to drop us a line by emailing: admin@callofthepage.org


Alan and Karen ran this residential haiku course in Apriln2011, and watch this space for more live events coming up:

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