Wiltshire College Haiku Course led by Alan Summers: Become well-versed in haiku

New course on haiku!

For those on any of my previous courses, this one contains new approaches and subject matter. 

Suitable for people new to haiku poetry or already familiar with the subject.

Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers.


  

Become well-versed in haiku
Weblink: 

http://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/courses/part_time/detail.aspx?ref=CHAIKU&year=11/12 

Who is the course for?

This course is for everyone, whether new or familiar with the haiku genre.  It’s both for those wishing to increase their confidence in creative writing, and those wishing to further their general written skills.  This course is also ideal for those who enjoy trying something different, and new, in a relaxed, friendly, fun, supportive and inclusive atmosphere.
 
What does the course aim to do?

The course aims to bring participants a new depth of knowledge of a fascinating and addictive  form of writing, and to familiarise them with its leading writers and history.  It aims to bring a new creative outlet to student’s lives that can continue after the course – nobody is too busy to write haiku!

What will be covered?

The following topics will be covered during the course:

•    The origin, background, and history of Classical, Modern, and Contemporary haiku.
•    The various styles of haiku inside and outside Japan.
•    A number of tools and techniques to understand, and write, contemporary haiku.
•    How to keep a Haiku Journal.
•    How to edit & strengthen your haiku drafts with confidence using a self-critical and analytical eye.
•    What haiku editors and publishers are looking for in online and print journals, and competitions to send your haiku to (if you are interested in seeing your haiku published).
•    Depending on course length we will also cover forms related to haiku such as tanka and renga.



Alan Summers has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University; he is a past General Secretary of the British Haiku Society; and a Japan Times award-winning writer for haiku and renga.  His haiku are translated into 15 languages, including Japanese, Russian, and French, and includes British Sign Language.

Alan is an experienced workshop leader, and editor, in haiku and other haikai disciplines. He has appeared in literary festivals, and readings, all over Britain  His 1000 verse renga city-wide projects have been supported by local councils and libraries, and reported on by the BBC’s Poetry Season.

His poetry has been published and anthologized worldwide, including four leading British haiku anthologies: Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku; Stepping Stones: a way into haiku; The New Haiku; and the Iron Book of British Haiku.

He is also regularly published in Japan, including Japanese newspaper publications: Yomiuri Shimbun; Asahi Shimbun; Mainichi Shimbun; The Japan Times; and The Mie Times.


QUOTES:

Alan is able to work with people who have no experience of poetry to encourage them to try it.  He watches and listens with patience and respect and offers guidance that is flexible enough to empower the workshop participants but firm enough to support them.

Rachel Sutton-Spence (2010)
School of Applied Community and Health Studies
Centre for Personal and Professional Development



"Very many thanks again for all your constant and splendid help, support and
patience.  I am well aware of the fact that I wouldn't be having such an
amazing journey with my haiku if wasn't for you."

Student, October 28th 2011


"As you probably know by now, I use every corner of my life as a way of
reflection of my psychological personal development - haiku in itself is
great for this, but working with you has just elevated the experience a 100
fold.  I can not put into words how much this has meant to me, so as I tried
to say on the phone the haiku is almost secondary, but of course both mean a
lot to me.  Your support over the last couple of years or so have just
been such an amazing gift to me - bless you."

Student, 27 September 2011


"Astonishingly moving haiku" 
YOMIURI SHIMBUN (Japan) January 2005


"Widely known haiku poet...as dry as vintage champagne"
YOMIURI SHIMBUN (14 million readers in Japan) September 2002

"...you are one of the poets I have been most interested in. I love your haiku style." 
Keiko Izawa, Yokohama, JAPAN

"Thank you very much for your support and participation to our festival. Everyone enjoyed it immensely."
Dr. MICHIKO KANEKO, British Sign Language Haiku Festival Organiser
Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol

“Please keep up the great work!”  
Patrick Wafula, Community Based Organization (CBO) Teacher, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa 2007

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Tanka by Alan Summers appears in 140 and Counting ebooks for Kindle, Nook etc...

http://www.upperrubberboot.com/140-and-counting/

I'm delighted to announce I have tanka poems published by Twitter based magazine.

Seven by Twenty is an online magazine using Twitter as its publishing platform. Here is a collection of the best twitter literature from the first two years of the journal's history, on relationships, nature and the night, work, animals, seasons, science fiction and fantasy, and mortality, by 119 authors from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

Plucky underdog online journal Seven by Twenty is an online magazine using Twitter as its publishing platform, for readers at home and on mobile devices, which started publishing weekdaily in July 2009. Seven by Twenty specializes in literary and speculative writing that fits in a tweet – they mostly publish haiku and related forms (like scifaiku and senryu), and cinquains and American sentences, and very, very, very short stories.

140 And Counting is a collection of the best twitter literature from the first two years of the journal’s history, on relationships, nature, work, animals, seasons, science fiction and fantasy, and mortality: 141 clever little allotments of literature by 119 authors in 1 exquisite ebook!

• ISBN 978-1-937794-05-7 (epub) available for iPad, Nook, etc. from Goodreads.
• ISBN 978-1-937794-03-3 (mobi) available for Kindle on Amazon.com.

Amazon.com kindle version:
http://www.amazon.com/140-And-Counting-ebook/dp/B006KLYF8G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324468534&sr=8-1

Amazon.co.uk kindle version:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/140-And-Counting-ebook/dp/B006KLYF8G/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324467915&sr=1-15


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Spasms of Light Wonder Haiku Worlds Anthology 1

Some of my work appears in this anthology.

Spasms of Light ~ Wonder Haiku Worlds Anthology 1

Editors Shyam Santhanam and Narayanan Raghunathan (founders of Wonder Haiku Worlds)

 

Wonder Haiku Worlds are pleased to announce their first anthology available on Amazon.com. 

This 248-page book features almost 50 authors who had contributed to Wonder Haiku Worlds in its initial years of operation, between 2005 and 2007. 

The book is divided into 6 parts: Haiku, Haibun, Tanka, Senryu, General Short Verse and Cinquain. It is available as an 8.5 X 11 inch paperback volume featuring large print for easy reading.

Wonder Haiku Worlds Anthology 1

·  Paperback: 248 pages 

·  ISBN-10: 1453883223

·  ISBN-13: 978-1453883228

Available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Spasms-Light-Wonder-Worlds-Anthology/dp/1453883223

For enquiries contact myself at: alan@withwords.org.uk

and I'll contact the editors. 

Helen Buckingham's new collection by Waterloo Press

 One of With Words favourite haiku writers!

Helen Buckingham

Armadillo Basket (2011)

ISBN 978-1-906742-37-9

£10.00

http://www.waterloopress.co.uk/#/helen-buckingham-2011/4555530929

Helen’s strength is her killer lines and an honest dissection of her life, from haiku poetry, and haiku prose, to tanka and longer poetry: she taps the green light in us. From modern one line haiku: that point of white before christ muscles in to tanka that doesn’t relax into clichéd dreams of love, but our fears of losing

   out on life:
   counting stars
   in lieu of sheep
   not daring to blink
   for fear of missing
   one leap

But Helen has another strength in her humour: you will find the most hilarious story, set in haibun form, that highlights cultural differences, via tales of the most dramatic American legends being confused with British TV series The Prisoner, set in a small Welsh village. The mood changes with her ‘Summer is a Hospital’ which reveals the vulnerability in Helen’s formative years, with killer lines: bikini-line nerves… with some fumbling kid… to check into Summer. Strangely this is her most comfortable place as a writer: letting us know she’s been there too; and made mistakes alongside the best of us: that we’re simply not alone in doing this.

Alan Summers, With Words


We all have our ‘armour’ but Buckingham has raised her visor to allow us a glimpse into her life. Pain or pleasure — whatever you find in Armadillo Basket —it is all part of Buckingham and the hard outer protects the softer inner. With this collection she is certainly ‘Moving On Up’.

Colin Stewart Jones (Notes from the Gean, Editor-in-Chief)



One of the things I most admire about Helen Buckingham’s poetry is its ability to live within the moment of its making, a moment that goes on occurring over and over in the smallest of spaces. It’s a facet of the best haiku and one that, despite its reliance on the fewest words, is the hardest to produce.

Liam Wilkinson, Editor, Prune Juice

Liam's Full review:
http://prunejuice.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/review-helen-buckingham/ 
 

Helen’s earlier book from Waterloo Press:

Talking The Town Red - Waterloo Sampler 6 (2004)

SBN 1-902731-21-2

£3.00

http://www.waterloopress.co.uk/#/helen-buckingham/4548185413

Notes from the Gean Ginko Samurai Gala Day, Aberdeen, Scotland, 17th September 2011

Gean Tree Press

Colin Stewart Jones
Gean Tree Press

photo by Cauliay Publishing

 

Alan Summers

Notes from the Gean haikai literature and tanka poetry online magazine Editor-in-Chief/Resources Editor Colin Stewart Jones and myself as renga/renku editor will be holding our first live event together.

As part of our commitment to furthering the understanding of haiku at a grass roots level NFTG will be conducting:
 

Notes from the Gean Ginko

Samurai Gala Day, Aberdeen, Scotland

9a.m. - 1p.m. 17th September 2011

This event is part of Aberdeen’s celebrations for Thomas Blake Glover; “The Scottish Samurai” where Notes from the Gean will lead a Ginko (haiku nature walk), which will be free and open to the public, from St Machar Cathedral through Seaton Park along the Don River and on to the Brig O’ Balgownie past Glover’s old home and then proceed through the Nature Reserve to the Murchar (Don Estuary).

This should take around 2 – 2.5 hours, but we will cater to all ages and abilities.

PHONE NUMBERS TO CONTACT US ON THE DAY

If you miss us at the early start, text or call us at either my mob. 07979 656 775 or Colin's: 07756093433

People should bring a notepad and pen to take down notes of images from the ginko, and wear good shoes/boots and dress for the weather.

We will then hold a session (in a venue TBA) where the walkers can work on images gathered from the Ginko and we’ll newcomers to haiku to produce these into haiku.

I’ll also lead a Renga/Renku session and there will be an opportunity to perform the finished work too, in the special way renga is read.  You’ll love it!

Notes From the Gean will also run a special feature on the event which will be published along with selected haiku and renga from the ginko in the next issue of the NFTG: www.notesfromthegean.com

Alan Summers, renga editor, England, and Editor-in-Chief/Resources Editor, Colin Stewart Jones, Scotland.


Gean Tree Press

based in Scotland, which already brings you the highly successful Notes from the Gean; our flagship journal has recently undergone a major restructuring and is also currently undergoing a program to modernize it and, therefore, NFTG will now be completelyy aligned with its mission to "encourage excellence, experimentation and education..." The mission of GTP is no different.

Further to this, GTP is also committed to bringing quality book and e-books containing modern English-language haiku and/or related genres, to the wider reading public. Although poetry is a niche market, and haiku even more so, GTP understands its market and believes that haiku books should be, and must be, produced by specialist publishers. GTP is, at present, in discussions with various funding bodies and arts agencies with a view to producing a catalog to further this aim.

Though we are forward thinking, GTP is also a traditional publishing house which believes that the quality of the work is paramount and they poetry should stand on its own merit. We will, therefore, never charge reading fees nor ask our authors to contribute towards the costs of publishing their books. All our authors will be offered contracts and they will be paid a percentage of the profits from sales of their books.

GTP already has some very exciting projects in the pipeline and will be looking to bring even more to you very soon. A press release and a call for manuscript submissions will be forthcoming but in the meantime we ask that you do not send us any submissions.

Colin Stewart Jones
Gean Tree Press

Catch my haiku on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app

Eight of my haiku are part of a new iPhone app!

And it's free
and there's 365 haiku and growing.

THF Haiku 

By Luke Bradford

UK:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/thf-haiku/id453464896?mt=8

USA:  

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thf-haiku/id453464896?mt=8

Description

THF Haiku brings contemporary haiku to your Apple mobile device with a shake of your hand—literally.

Shake your phone or other mobile device and a new poem appears.

The app is loaded with 365 haiku from poets around the globe, showing the range of topics and form characteristic of today’s haiku.

Additional poem packets soon to be available!

Requirements:  

Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, 
and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

You can download THF Haiku from the App Store on your Apple device.

 

Alan Summers is one of the Wednesday haiku for Issa's Untidy Hut

http://lilliputreview.blogspot.com/

down the sidewalk
an old vagrant
daisies in his mouth

Alan Summers

reprinted from Hobo (June 1999)

The 2011 Kids Count for Earthday Haiku Contest Results!

This competition, sponsored by HSA this year, was an incredible world-wide success.


Alan, With Words





REPORT

Hai Five To The Winners Of The Earthday Haiku Contest 2011!

HSA (Haiku Society of America) were our new sponsors, thank you HSA!

Other sponsors are: 

With Words (UK); Sketchbook Haiku Journal (USA); and Planetpals (Worldwide).

From co-founder Judith Gorgone of Planetpals:

"It was quite and honor to receive so many creative entries from children and classrooms around the world. This year we decided to add comments written by the esteemed Judge from the Haiku Society of America, an'ya.  Her comprehensive commentaries help us all understand why the haiku were chosen as well as, helping us learn. We are quite pleased to have the Sponsorship of the Haiku Society of America who generously donated a years membership to the winner."

Haiku Art entries
Thanks to Planetpals and Judith, this year, many entries included Haiga (Art plus Haiku). So, we have featured them separately: http://planetpals.com/earthday-haiku-contest-2011-haiga.html

Earthday Haiku Contest for Children and Young Persons 2011 Contest Results

All 2011 entries will be published on Sketchbook Haiku Jounal http://poetrywriting.org/

Judges commentary (an'ya, representing HSA)

An excellent turn out of haiku!

Our main criteria was good writing which captured the haiku spirit. Not all the entries were necessarily 5-7-5, and as this was only a guideline, you will find the occasional exception.

A big thank you to all who entered, we enjoyed over 250 entries from various countries.

*All haiku comments below kindly written by an'ya, Haiku Society of America Judge

Overall First Choice

The overall winner for 2011 is Amy Claire Rose Smith (13) from Darlington, County Durham, UK for this wonderful haiku poem:


Earth Day dusk --
falling all around me
blackbird song



7-9 years old
First Choice:

the water is smooth
a bird dips down, and away
ripples on the water

Katy Smith
Fourth Grade,
Barrington, IL USA, Teacher: Michelle Pezzuto

Comment:
This haiku by Katy Smith still adheres to the 5,7,5 format we were originally taught in our various school systems (which is fine) although nowadays many haiku poets are using just a short, long, short count since the Japanese sound syllables differ in length from English syllables. 

Having said this, Katy's haiku moment is as smoothly written as her first line "the water is smooth" which opens the moment with a "wide setting", and then in line two she zeros or zooms in on a bird dipping down, then she takes that bird away and all that is left in line three, are "ripples on the water." 

A very good use of "showing" us this moment rather than "telling" us what to think about it. Well done!


Second Choice:

spring meadow
a single honey bee
sips nectar

Philip Painting,  (age 9)
The Paideia School, Atlanta, GA, USA  Teacher: Judy Cloues

Comment:
In this haiku by Philip, we are visually transported to the wide setting of a "spring meadow" full of flowers, and yet in line two we are given "a single bee"perhaps going from flower to flower throughout the meadow to "sip nectar." 

Nicely written with fine juxtaposition and continuity throughout all three lines. 

Thanks to this author for sharing his moment.



Third Choice

waterfalls falling
right over the mountainside
straight into a lake

Ben, 4th Grade
Teacher: Liana Williams, Pacific Palisades, CA USA

Comment:
Here we have a very good visual haiku by Ben of literally what a mountainside waterfall does, it falls from the top, right over the mountainside and straight into the lake. If we concentrate on writing exactly what we see in nature, the haiku will almost always come out good. 

Too often poets try to put too much into the moment and add poetic devices to enhance the image. Ben shows us that it isn't necessary and we should just accept each moment as a gift and leave it the way nature made it.


10 -12 yrs old
First Choice:

between trees
the moon rises
to let the light out

Camden Smith (12)
Keyser Primary-Middle School, USA

Comment: 

A fine haiku example written by Camden with well-thought out word choices. It is interesting where this author chose to break line 2 but because we all pause differently when we speak, another author might have chosen to place the words "to let" at the end of line 2, however in this haiku, I believe that Camden's version works very well.


Second Choice:

rivers and oceans
with salmon going upstream
through the passages

Kristina Horchover, 6th Grade
Teacher: Scott Woodworth, The Out of Door Academy, Sarasota, Florida, USA

Comment:
A lovely haiku with an especially unique third line. We all know about salmon going upstream and we all know about rivers and oceans, but saying "through the passages" leaves Kristina's haiku open-ended so that each reader is free to imagine all sort of different passages. be it in between rocks, over the falls, even time a passage of time. etc. 

Keep up the good work!


Third Choice:

sun shows behind clouds.
shimmering rainbow appears -
river sweeps image away

Carl Mann (12) 7th grade
Kensington CT, USA Teacher: Elaine Kotler, Saint Paul School


Comment:
I like this haiku by Carl for its concept of the river sweeping the image of the rainbow away. To improve our haiku, we need to include articles such as "a" and "the" so when the haiku is read by others, it will be just as if we were speaking to them directly in person.
 

If we leave out articles, our haiku will sound choppy and not flow as smoothly as possible. Even so, as I said Carl's haiku shows depth, attention to detail and imagination.


13-15 yrs old
First Choice:

Earth Day dusk --
falling all around me
blackbird song

Amy Claire Rose Smith (13)
Darlington, County Durham, UK

Comment:
This particular haiku by Amy is absolutely stunning! and is what's known in the world of old-time haiku writers as a "wish-I-had-written-that-one-myself." Albeit, I would humbly recommend removing the emdash after line one in order to allow her haiku to pivot.

For instance it can be read two ways like so: "Earth Day dusk falling all around me" and then "falling all around me blackbird song." - a natural pivot in any haiku is desirable. 

The use of "d" sounds in line one is commendable, as well as the "l" sounds in line two carried over with the word "blackbird" in line three. I cannot overly stress the perfection of this write!


Second Choice:

the soft trill of birds
through the trees, straight to my ears
I listen to its claim

Michele H, 8th Grade
Teacher: Jane Scott, Kilo Middle School, Auburn, WA


Comment:
An intriguing haiku by Michele insofar as its 3rd line especially. Normally personal opinion or putting "self" into a haiku is to be avoided, however this author manages to include "I" in a way that is acceptable because of her use of one of the five senses (sound) via the word "listen." 

Also direct personification which is giving human characteristics to something in nature is not acceptable, but here again, Michele manages to subtly include the "soft trill of birds" as a claim which is subtle enough not to personify the birds. 

Excellent work Michelle.


Third Choice:

rolling in the grass.
rolling over little ants -
then helping them up.

Dallas Kaufman (14), 8th grade
Teacher: Elaine Kotler, Saint Paul School, Kensington CT, USA

Comment:
This haiku by Dallas reminds me of Issa (one of the old masters.) Issa wrote about the little things that are important in our lives and how to treat other creatures with kindness and respect -and many of his haiku were also written about insects. 

The empathy of this moment has "beauty of thought" which is often included in mainstream poetry and not nearly enough in our haiku, so kudos to you Dallas for sharing the tenderness of this moment with us, a fine example for Earth Day, which we should all heed.


16-18 yrs old
First Choice:

dark clouds-
he cuts out an akala
from an old tyre

James Bundi (17)
* James is the outgoing chairman of the Bambochaas Haiku Club
Bahati c.c Secondary School, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa

Comment:
Quite a fine haiku by James that links man and nature together nicely for this Earth Day Contest. If there had been more haiku submitted in this age category, I still would have most likely chosen this one. 

Akala (an example of a regional season word) are the tyre sandals worn by many people in Kenya who make good use of recycling what is already available to them. Wide setting in line one, subject and action verb in line two and follow through in line three. 

A perfect example of a typical haiku format, and in just 13 syllables and 11 words, we are walking right there in the moment.

NOTE:
All entries will also be published in the Fall issue of Sketchbook Haiku Journal, and will appear on the contest blogsite: http://kidsearthdayhaiku.blogspot.com/


Much thanks to the following people for their time and effort : 

an'ya HSA; Alan Summers, With Words; Karina Klesko and John Daleiden, Sketchbook Journal 

Previous blogpage to explain about the contest:

http://area17.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-kids-count-for-earthday-haiku.html

http://kidsearthdayhaiku.blogspot.com/

Updates and useful information re The Worcestershire Literary Festival, and the Haiku Walk led by Japan Times award-winning writer for haiku Alan Summers

2017 update: we still offer haiku walks from time to time. Keep checking our new website: www.callofthepage.org

The Haiku Walk:
Nature As Inspiration

Saturday,  June 18th, Orchard Café, Worcester

I'll be around for walks from 11am to the last one ending late afternoon in time to enjoy a last cup of tea with everyone wishing to chat about haiku. 





 Orchard Café
http://theorchardcafe.co.uk/home/

The Haiku Walk: http://www.worcslitfest.com/the-haiku-walk-nature-as-inspiration

FFI:
http://area17.blogspot.com/2011/05/haiku-walk-nature-as-inspiration-alan.html

Fresh in from the Worcestershire Literary Festival organisers, some really useful information, and easy ways to get information about events and book them so you don't miss out!



The Festival Programme Is Now Online

The programme for the festival is complete and the countdown has begun to
the launch of the first ever Worcestershire Literary Festival.

NEW – Festival Hotline Number
The dedicated festival hotline number is 07971 379673

This number is now active and will be operational during working hours
(Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.30pm) from Monday 6th June 2011 until Tuesday
27th June 2011.  

During the festival this number will be based in the
Festival Information Point in the Crowngate Shopping Centre in Worcester.

Calls to the Festival Office will still be answered but we would try to
encourage you to call the hotline number with any queries that you have
about the Festival.


TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW FROM THE FESTIVAL OFFICE FOR MOST EVENTS USING PAYPAL:

http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=9280a4d093&e=a9362e0037

If you need any help with purchasing tickets for events, please contact the Festival Office on:

0845 652 0621 and they’ll do their very best to help you.

During the Festival itself we will be distributing information from Unit C7 in the Crowngate in Worcester as well as selling tickets for many of our events and merchandise. 

This will be the central information point for all things related to the Festival, and is situated next door to The Entertainer and opposite Huntingdon Hall and the Art House Café in The Crowngate Shopping Centre, Worcester.

Please do come and see them there, we will be open from 10am till 4pm from
Monday 13th June 2011 until Monday 27th June 2011.

You can download a copy of the Worcestershire Literary Festival brochure by clicking here.

Please note it is 5mb in size and may take a few minutes to download on slower connections. 

The brochure is currently being distributed to various locations throughout Worcester and Worcestershire: http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=b4755ef20e&e=a9362e0037

Blog for the Festival!
Would you like to blog for the first ever Worcestershire Literary Festival?

They are looking for reviews, photos and videos of WLF events for our new blog
www.worcslitfest.blogspot.com  

so that they can leave behind a permanent record of this years Worcestershire Literary Festival.

If you are running an event, appearing at an event, volunteering or helping at an event or are an audience member at an event, we would love to hear from you.

Please send in your blog entries, photos, or videos to: blog@worcslitfest.com and they will upload them onto their blog.

We will give each contributor a full credit and link to your website where
applicable in your blog entries: blog@worcslitfest.com

WLF Mailing List

Want to sign up to our mailing list and receive the latest news, updates,
offers and information about the forthcoming Worcestershie Literary
Festival? 

Simply send an email to: mailinglist@worcslitfest.com
with SUBSCRIBE in the subject bar to start getting updates from the WLF team.

Press & Photography Passes

If you are a budding writer, blogger, reviewer or photographer you can request a press or photography pass to gain access to all WLF events during the festival in June.  Please apply and request one by emailing: info@worcslitfest.com


How To Find Events During The Festival

Please click here to find out information about Worcester and Worcestershire and how to get to some of the venues taking part in the Festival:
http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=20d485244a&e=a9362e0037

Map Of Worcester City Centre and Map Of Worcestershire:
 
Links:
http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=a3bd62b8df&e=a9362e0037

http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=4ac3399cc1&e=a9362e0037

See you there!

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Vol. 3. An anthology that provides a valuable snapshot of tanka in the 21st century.

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Vol. 3 (2010) published by MET Press. ISBN 978-1-935398-27-1.

Price: $16.95 USD. 

A PDF ebook is also available for $8.95, ISBN 978-1-935398-28-8.  

I'm delighted to announce that some of my tanka are appearing in this anthology!

Take Five provides a valuable snapshot of tanka in the 21st century.

The Take Five editorial team for Volume 3 (2010), consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (India), Alex von Vaupel (NL), Aurora Antonovic (CAN), Magdalena Dale (Romania), Amelia Fielden (AUS/JP), Andrew Riutta (USA), and James Tipton (MEX), read all contemporary tanka published in English during 2010, including more than 175 venues totaling 18,000 poems. 

 

Sources ranged from tanka journals to social media to musical performances to chapbooks and many other formats.

The result is Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Three, featuring tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences by 187 poets and translators from around the world.

With an introduction by editor-in-chief by M. Kei, and commentary by the editorial team,. Cover art by Aurora Antonovic.

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Haiku Jam To Raise Money For Japan Earthquake Charity

.

Haiku Jam - one of a limited edition series of six haiku jams each featuring haiku by Alan Summers with japanese translations by Hidenori Hiruta. 

Haiku Jam - Paul Conneally 2011

This is a phototograph of one of a limited edition series of six jars of haiku jam created by artist poet Paul Conneally.

Each jar of haiku jam has a haiku by award winning haiku poet Alan Summers with a Japanese translation by Hidenori Hiruta (Akita, Japan) published on it.

This Haiku Jam series has been produced for the Japan Earthquake Appeal and will be available at Japan Earthquake Japanese Cultural Day at Derby Roundhouse on the 5th June 2011 11 am to 4 pm

A limited edition of Haiku Jam featuring haiku by award winning haiku poet Alan Summers with Japanese translations by Hidenori Hiruta will be on sale this weekend to raise money for the UNESCO Japan Earthquake Fund. There are six different haiku jams each with a haiku by Alan Summers on its label. The haiku jam can be eaten or just placed on a mantlepiece or shelf as a work of art made by cultural forager and artist poet Paul Conneally.

The haiku Jam will feature at the Japan Earthquake Charity Event at Derby Roundhouse this Sunday 5th June. The event is organised by The East Midlands Japanese Association, Derby Japanese School and Derby College. The Roundhouse is in Pride Park and the event will take place between 11am and 4pm. Click this link to see a poster about Japan Fundraising Event

Other featured activities on the day include Martial Arts, Origami, flower arranging and Sushi workshops and demonstrations; traditional Japanese sports competitions, Japanese refreshments and produce for sale, quizzes and competitions.

The Haiku Jam Series follows on from Conneally's art installation 'Snibston Preserves' for Transform Snibston at Snibston Discovery Museum. Summers and Conneally have worked together many times before and Conneally felt that Alan Summer's haiku were just perfect for the first haiku jam series:

"I was so pleased when Alan agreed to let me publish his haiku on the Haiku Jam jam jars. Alan's work is full of haiku spirit and exactly right for this project with its hope of raising money for and the spirits of those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan"

The piece also forms a pre-event of Phrase and Fragment - The First World Haiku Games which is devised by Conneally for Loughborough University RADAR to coincide with the Japanese Olympic team being based at Loughborough University for the London Olympics in 2012.

Every single penny paid for the Haiku Jam will go directly to the UNESCO Japan Earthquake Fund via the East Midlands Japanese Society and the Derby Japanese School.

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New haiku entries email for the Global Walk Haiku Competition

Just to let you know, we have a new E-mail address to mail your Kukai
submissions: haikubanditsociety@zoho.com

Our deadline for submissions is Friday, May 20th, after which we will
post the haiku for participant voting.

And if our readers are able, please consider a donation to a helping
organization for aid to the Tohoku region of Japan. 

Enjoy your Ginko walk!

For ffi: 

http://area17.blogspot.com/2011/05/join-us-in-global-haiku-walk-for-japan.html

Join us in a global haiku walk for Japan

As a blogger inspired initiative to honor 
the spirit and sacrifices of the people 
in Japan's stricken Tohoku region, 
we welcome you to

Cities of Green Leaves Ginko-no-Kukai 

May 14 and 15, 2011


We encourage everyone to join us in collaborating with like-minded poets and 
bloggers in combining your skills and talents, enter your haiku in a peer judged 
contest, and take the opportunity to offer aid and support to our friends in 
Japan in a consensus of thought, well wishes and kinetic energies to occur 
simultaneously around the globe.


It's no surprise the kukai's topic will take its cue from Sendai, Japan's annual 
Aoba Matsuri Festival, an event held originally to honor the city's founder, 
Date Masamune. The date has now become an annual celebration with thousands of 
visitors, a parade, sparrow dance, taiko drums and tree lined streets as part of 
the festival each year to rejoice in the arrival of spring's new greenery and 
rebirth.


Choose any place in your vicinity to hold your ginko walk, as long as it holds 
the attributes to inspire many to compassionate action in the beauty of poetry, 
and the celebration of the renewing power of nature's seasons.

Click here 

to send and submit your poems. Submissions deadline will be Friday, 
May 20th, 2011.

Send up to three haiku - your submissions will remain anonymous until we post 
the winner's results. Participants will be be able to vote on their favorites on 
this site when posted.

We encourage all participants to contribute to charitable relief for the 
residents of the Tohoku region of Japan. We've listed some organizations below.

Please, enjoy yourselves, and we look forward to walking with you!


Charitable Donations


Architecture for Humanity
Japanese Red Cross Society
Ngo Jen Official Website
Salvation Army in Japan


Participating Blogs

Area 17
ashley capes
Charlotte D's Writer's Blog
Green Tea and Bird Song
Haiku Bandit Society
Hailstone Haiku Circle Icebox
Issa's Snail
Red Dragonfly
Shiteki Na Usagi
Word Pond

please join us!

The Haiku Walk: Nature As Inspiration - Alan booked for the first ever Worcester Literary Festival!

.The Haiku Walk:
Nature As Inspiration

Saturday,  June 18th

I'll be around for walks from 11am to the last one ending late afternoon in time to enjoy a last cup of tea with everyone wishing to chat about haiku.
 
Event details:
http://www.worcslitfest.com/the-haiku-walk-nature-as-inspiration/

Tickets: http://www.worcslitfest.com/shop-tickets/

Information:  
http://www.worcslitfest.com/contact-us/
.

Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers leads a relaxed friendly haiku-writing walk with Haiku Journal notebooks as complementary gifts!

“Nature half-writes the haiku before we’ve even put pen to paper. Become a co-poet with nature.”

There is more than one walk during the day, so please feel free to join in when you'd like a particular walk.  

 

You can also create your own walk and then meet me at the café for a chat about haiku and how your own walk and haiku writings came about.

Orchard Café: http://theorchardcafe.co.uk/home/

I'll always be based at the café when not on one of the walks:

 

 

Start:

Saturday, June 18, 2011 11:00 am

End:

Saturday, June 18, 2011 5:00 pm

Cost:

£5.00 (£4.00 for concessions)

Venue:

Orchard Cafe, Worcester Countryside Centre

Address:
Google Map

Wild Wood Drive, Worcester, United Kingdom, WR5 2LG 

. 

Cities of Green Leaves Ginko-no-Kukai, and International Haiku Competition

  

As a blogger-inspired initiative to honor the spirit and sacrifices of the people in Japan’s stricken Tohoku region, we are pleased to announce:

Cities of Green Leaves 
Ginko-no-Kukai

May 14 and 15, 2011

We encourage everyone to join in an international nature walk to be held May 14 - 15 followed by an international haiku contest.

image©With Words
artwork by Dave Alderslade

The address to submit your poems will be posted here this third weekend of May. 

Please return often until then for further updates and poetry.

We look forward to walking with you!

Just a bit more information below as well.

 

We invite you to walk with us on those days, collaborating with like-minded poets and bloggers in combining their skills and talents, enter your haiku in a peer judged contest, and take the opportunity to offer aid and support to our friends in Japan in a consensus of thought, well wishes and kinetic energies to occur simultaneously around the globe.

It’s no surprise the kukai’s topic will take its cue from Sendai, Japan’s annual Aoba Matsuri Festival, an event held originally to honor the city’s founder, Date Masamune. 

The date has now become an annual celebration with thousands of visitors, a parade, sparrow dance and tree lined streets as part of the festival each year to rejoice in the arrival of spring’s new greenery and rebirth.

You may choose any place to hold your ginko walk, as long as it holds the attributes to inspire many to compassionate action in the beauty of poetry, and the celebration of the renewing power of nature’s seasons.

Chin P'ing Mei
my sorrowing heart in need
of plum blossom 

Alan Summers

Charitable Donations

Architecture for Humanity
Ngo Jen Official Website

Salvation Army in Japan

Participating Blogs

Area 17

Green Tea and Bird Song

Haiku Bandit Society

Red Dragonfly

.