ekphrastic haiku - Quilting Bee by Henry Mosler circa 1916-1917

Quilting Bee by Henry Mosler circa 1916-1917 

Henry Mosler
New York, New York 1841-1920 

Quilting bee–

an expert with the needle

she forgets her loss 

Alan Summers

Published: Asahi Shimbun, Japan (2012) 

Biography of Henry Mosler 

Gustave Mosler brought his family, including young Henry, to the United States in 1849. The Moslers, like many of their fellow German Jews, escaped the political unrest in their homeland that followed the revolutions of 1848 by settling in Midwestern communities, in this case Cincinnati, Ohio. There, the Moslers became leaders in their community and eventually developed a national reputation based on the family business—the manufacture of safes. 

Henry Mosler studied in Cincinnati with portrait and genre painter James Beard for two years and covered the Western theater of the Civil War as an artist-correspondent for Harper's Monthly. He studied for three years in Düsseldorf and Paris before returning home to begin his career. In 1874, Mosler again traveled to Paris, but remained for twenty years this time and developed a reputation for his paintings of Breton peasant life. Mosler's final homecoming to his adopted country came in 1894. In that year he set up a studio in New York City and turned his attention to historical genre with the same eye for detail that marked his earlier work. Paintings such as Pilgrims Grace (the painting that won the artist life membership to the National Arts Club of New York) and Quilting Bee draw upon Mosler's Breton experiences to create a realistic vision of the preindustrial past for modern America.

 

William H. Truettner and Roger B. Stein, editors, with contributions by Dona Brown, Thomas Andrew Denenberg, Judith K. Maxwell, Stephen Nissenbaum, Bruce Robertson, Roger B. Stein, and William H. Truettner Picturing Old New England: Image and Memory (Washington, D.C.; New Haven, Conn; and London: National Museum of American Art with Yale University Press, 1999)

Information by Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery
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The In-Between Season haiku pamphlet will be launched at An Evening of Haiku with Tom Lowenstein and Alan Summers at the Royal Crescent Hotel

 














The In-Between Season

haiku/poetry

With Words Pamphlet Series

This pamphlet is dedicated to my wife, haiku poet and so much more,. Thank you for all the love and support over the years.

The pamphlet is also dedicated to:

Bill Higginson (1938-2008) 

Always greatly missed, and an inspiration, Bill (William J. Higginson) was considered to be the foremost American authority on haiku, as well as famous as the co-author of The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku, and author of Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac and The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World.

The Haiku Handbook is one of the most widely-read English-language haiku books.

Janice Bostok (1942-2011)

The First Lady of Australian Haiku, and a hugely supportive friend and colleague in my early career.  She is still greatly missed by me.

Hidenori Hiruta

Founder, and Akita International Haiku Network Secretary General (Japan) who regularly translates my work into Japanese with a panache I will always treasure.

powdered snow–

a crow’s eyes above

the no parking sign

Alan Summers

Joint Winner, Haiku International Association 10th Anniversary Haiku Contest 1999 (Japan)

Publication credits: The Mie Times (Japan 1999); Haiku International magazine (Japan 1999)

Alan Summers is co-founder of Call of the Page that offers online courses in haiku; haibun; senryu; tanka; and shahai.

www.callofthepage.org

Details of our various types of courses:

https://www.callofthepage.org/courses/

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Through a Glass Darkly: haiku at the Quest Gallery

Through a Glass Darkly 

a stunning new exhibition at the Quest Gallery, Bath

• The work of five Slovakian Glass Masters
• Zoltan Bohus  ‘Dark Secret’
• Paintings and works on Paper by Barrington Tobin

Private View
Wednesday 27th June 6.00pm –- 7.30pm

Followed by a special event at the Royal Crescent Hotel:

An Evening of Haiku with Tom Lowenstein and Alan Summers
 
As part of the gallery's new workshop and events programme, a 5 week haiku course has been running at Quest Gallery.  For the last few weeks, over 15 participants have been creating their own haiku in response to the gallery's changing exhibition programme.

In celebration of this and to continue to bring together these very different but complementary art forms, Quest Gallery invite you to An Evening of Haiku on Wed 27 June to take place at The Royal Crescent Hotel after their private view.

There will be guest speakers, celebrated poet and author, Tom Lowenstein and award winning Japan Times writer, Alan Summers, as well as the opportunity to hear the participants perform their own poetry.

Tickets are £10 each

There will be Through a Glass Darkly art gallery catalogues with haiku available on the night, which make great souvenirs of what promises to be an amazing insight into haiku poetry.




To book for the special event at the Royal Crescent Hotel please contact Sarah Jenkins:

sarah@questgallery.co.uk

or call Quest Gallery on: 01225 444142 

or why not drop in and enjoy the current exhibition:

http://www.questgallery.co.uk/

 
Royal Crescent Hotel/An Evening of Haiku Event details
Date: Wed 27 June
Time: 8pm
Venue: Sheridan Room, Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath

Join us and hear about how classic haiku came about, and what contemporary haiku has been up to in Japan.

Enjoy reading and hearing haiku created at Quest Gallery by the participants.

Ffi: http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/special-guest-speaker-announced-for.html

  

 
silhouettes of bamboo

at the edge of the garden

we swap stories

Alan Summers

 images©Quest Gallery 2012

An Evening of Haiku with Tom Lowenstein and Alan Summers at the Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath

 

The Haiku Event at The Royal Crescent Hotel

with Tom Lowenstein and Alan Summers

16 The Royal Crescent, Bath, England, U.K.

Wednesday 27 June starting 8pm

For information and to book
contact Sarah Jenkins, Projects Coordinator at Quest Gallery:

email:           sarah@questgallery.co.uk
Tel. No.        01225 444142

Tickets are £10 each and places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment. 

Quest Gallery event page:
http://www.questgallery.co.uk/index.php?id=489

Quest Gallery contact page:
http://www.questgallery.co.uk/index.php?id=6  

  Royal Crescent Hotel: http://www.royalcrescent.co.uk/

For further Information:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/special-guest-speaker-announced-for.html

Talks will be given on classic and contemporary haiku in Japan and the West, plus an overview of the haiku course at the Quest Gallery, and a reading from our incredible haiku course participants.

Quest Gallery catalogues that include a selection of the haiku created during the course will be available to purchase at the event alongside the With Words Haiku Journal notebook if you are inspired to write some haiku afterwards!

Looking forward to seeing you!

Alan, With Words

p.s.

Visit this great website with more photos of the hotel.   

Jane Austen Today: Staying in Bath's Most Luxurious Hotel in the Royal Crescent: http://janitesonthejames.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/staying-in-baths-most-luxurious-hotel.html 

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Alan Summers is a prize winner for the Japan Times Community Anniversary Haiku Competition 2012

I've just been told I'm a joint winner of the Japan Times Community Anniversary Haiku Competition.


the end of summer
tsukutsuku-bôshi heard
at suma temple



There is a legend that if the tsukutsukubôshi cicadas are heard to sing at Sumadera (Suma Temple) during late Summer that there is a small and special 'inbetween season' between Summer and Autumn.

I was fortunate to hear them sing at Sumadera in September 2002.


Here's an Image and sound recording: 
http://www.lizadalby.com/LD/39_cold_cicada.html

Sumadera:
http://www.justjapan.org/japan/kobe/photos/kobe09.asp


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Watch out for forthcoming news on Special Event connected to the haiku and art course I lead at Quest Gallery

Correction/update/newsflash re:

Tom Lowenstein will be the guest speaker at a new venue after the June 27th Private View.

Tom Lowenstein guest speaker for Alan's haiku and art course:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/special-guest-speaker-announced-for.html 

This has now become a separate event, organised by Quest Gallery, at a new and equally exciting venue.  

Catch the private view, and then follow the people onto the next stage in the adventure that's ...
haiku and art at the Quest Gallery.

Watch this space!

The Haiku Sessions, workshop, and special event plus The Independent's Exhibition of the week: Michael Kenny: Spirit And Matter, Quest Gallery, Bath

photo©Quest Gallery 2012

Exhibition of the week: Michael Kenny: Spirit And Matter, Quest Gallery, Bath
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/exhibition-of-the-week-michael-kenny-spirit-and-matter-quest-gallery-bath-7734217.html

The Haiku Sessions at Quest Gallery Course by Alan Summers
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/quest-contemporary-art-gallery-haiku.html

This course was completely sold out.

For more details about booking on any of these courses, please don't hesitate to email or contact Sarah at the Quest Gallery on: 

Tel. No. 01225 444142 
or email sarah@questgallery.co.uk


Tom Lowenstein will be the guest speaker at the Gallery during their June 27th Private View:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/special-guest-speaker-announced-for.html

For those of you outside England who unable to visit the Quest Gallery here is a pdf catalogue of this incredible exhibition: http://www.questgallery.co.uk/assets/pdfs/MKenny-Catalogue.pdf

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Alan's winning haiku and Update on the World Monuments Fund Haiku Competition

Update on the World Monuments Fund Haiku Competition

Dear poets,

The page is now live and linked via our home page (http://www.wmf.org, bottom right).

We have altered the layout slightly to move the bios to their own page in order to give the haiku itself a bit more breathing room. We have also made the top level of the 'accordian'  default to being open, so that there is more visual interest when one first lands on the page.

Again, many thanks for your engagement and support of preservation, architecture, and poetry!

Lissa Kiernan
Director, Digital Media
World Monuments Fund
www.wmf.org

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Alan's tanka poetry published in Take Five, Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4

I thought I'd share a tanka with you that's anthologised in Take Five, Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4, released this month.



sometimes
before falling in love
with my wife
again and again
the cries of swifts

Alan Summers


Previously published:
Blithe Spirit (Vol. 20 No. 3 2010, British Haiku Society Journal);
140 And Counting (Seven by Twenty magazine pub. Upper Rubber Boot Books)

Take Five
Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4

"Contemporary tanka in English is an exciting literature that continues to grow and develop in the hands of increasing diverse poets around the world. Originating in Japan over fourteen hundred years ago, it remains a strong and flexible form evoking profound responses in the reader."

This year's team consisting of Editor-in-chief M. Kei (USA), Patricia Prime (NZ), Magdalena Dale (RO), Amelia Fielden (AU/JP), Claire Everett (UK), Owen Bullock (NZ), David Terelinck (AU), Janick Belleau (CAN), David Rice (USA), read over 18,000 poems to select the best for inclusion in this, the final volume in the must-read series.

Take Five
Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4
Publication Date: May 2012
ISBN/EAN 13: 0615597807 / 9780615597805

weblink: https://www.createspace.com/3785119




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Alan Summers wins the New York based World Monuments Fund organisation's 2012 Haiku Contest

World Monuments Fund is the leading independent organization dedicated to saving the world’s most treasured places: 
http://www.wmf.org/content/about-us

I was delighted to hear that I had won this competition as place names hold such potency in poetry, and in particular, haiku.

The winning haiku by me was about Battersea Power Station: http://www.wmf.org/get-involved/haiku-contest-winners

the moon is broken

Battersea Power Station 

from a train window

Award credit: 1st Prize, World Monuments Fund 2012 Haiku Contest winner

Also published in:

  

Article: 

The Moon is Broken: Juxtaposition in haiku article Scope vol. 60 no. 3 (FAWQ  magazine April 2014)

Publication Credit: 

THF Per Diem collection “Light and Dark” December 2014

N.B. Also the haiku is in a pattern of 5-7-5 English-language syllables.

 Please read below about copyright information on this photograph.

Results of the names of the winners are now up, and the haiku will go up alongside images and biographies in early May:
http://www.wmf.org/get-involved/haiku-contest

Awards

First Prize, $100; Second Prize, $75; Third Prize, $50, and three semi-finalists. All six winning haiku to be published on the World Monuments Fund web site.

Winners

First Prize: Alan Summers
Second Prize: Mark Ynys-Mon
Third Prize: Elizabeth Brewster Thomas

Semifinalists:
Jennifer Burd
John Tiong ChungHoo
Janet Kirchheimer

Adjudication

Annie Finch has published numerous books of poetry, including Calendars (Tupelo Press, 2003, The Encyclopedia of Scotland (Salt Publishing, 2008), Among the Goddesses (Red Hen Press, 2010), Eve (Storyline Press, 1997), and Spells: Selected Poetry, forthcoming from Wesleyan University Press. Her poetic collaborations with music, visual art, opera, and theater have been produced at Poets House, Chicago Art Institute, Carnegie Hall, American Opera Projects, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Finch’s books about poetry include The Body of Poetry (University of Michigan Press, 2005), A Formal Feeling Comes (New Edition, Word Tech Editions, 2008), An Exaltation of Forms (University of Michigan Press, 2002), and, most recently, co-edited with Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Villanelles (Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets, 2012), as well as the poetry-writing textbook, A Poet’s Craft (University of Michigan Press, 2010). She is Director of the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

In an interview in FULCRUM Magazine, Finch notes: “Like architecture, poetry is an art that creates habitable structures within uninhabitable expanses through the use of repetition, proportion, and pattern. The poet, like the architect, is joyfully and painfully aware of both the provisional nature, and the complete necessity, of such habitable structures." Read her poem "On Poetry and Architecture".


image copyright information

Description	Battersea Power Station, which when completed will have a capacity of about 240,000 kilowatts. The first part was in operation in January 1934. Approximate date of photograph: 1934
Date	1938
Source	Scan from Foreword by E. Royston Pike (1938) Our Generation London: Waverley Book Company
Author	Andy Dingley (scanner)

Permission (Reusing this file)

This UK artistic work, of which the author is unknown and cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, is in the public domain because it is one of the following: A photograph, which has never previously been made available to the public (e.g. by publication or display at an exhibition) and which was taken before 1st January 1942; or A photograph, which was made available to the public (e.g. by publication or display at an exhibition) before 1 January 1942; or An artistic work other than a photograph (e.g. a painting), which was made available to the public (e.g. by publication or display at an exhibition) before 1 January 1942. This tag can be used only when the author cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry. If you wish to rely on it, please specify in the image description the research you have carried out to find who the author was. The above is all subject to any overriding Publication right which may exist. In practice, Publication right will often override the first of the bullet points listed. This tag does not apply to engravings or musical works. Unpublished anonymous paintings remain in copyright until 1 January 2040. More information.

 

fox dreams... and haiku by Alan Summers

virgin snow
a fox makes prints
for the morning
 



thunder snow
the wind-shifting scent
of fox

artwork by Dru Marland 



fox dreams  

edited by Aubrie Cox

fox dreams is a project from Yay Words! Poets were invited to submit short form poetry and artwork about foxes and/or dreams to celebrate the Inari Matsuri festival. Each poet who submitted was guaranteed at least one poem into the collection.

All poems and artwork copyright of their authors.

Dreams and foxes both charm and allude us. They appear in the corner of our eyes, only to vanish the moment we consciously register their presence. Foxes, while they run rampant in folklore and mythology, are difficult to keep on the page—they’d rather be devious! Dreams present the challenge of anchoring the abstract within the concrete. With each prompt I give on Yay Words! it’s my goal to challenge and inspire. I try to select two themes that are a little unusual, complementary, and would make, in my humble opinion, for good poems.

Every time, I always secretly worry that perhaps I’ve chosen something too difficult, or uninteresting. But, of course, so many of you rose to the challenge fearlessly with beautiful words and imagery. Thank you for continuing to wow and inspire me.

May you all keep dreaming fantastic things.

Aubrie Cox
22 April, 2012

You'll find my 3rd haiku in the pdf, it's rather dreamy.  

Copyright (c) http://www.123rf.com 123RF Stock Photos

FREE DOWNLOAD LINK: 

fox dreams 
                                          Download fox dreams PDF.

Special Guest Speaker announced for the ekphrastic haiku course event at Quest Gallery

The Haiku Event at The Royal Crescent Hotel with Tom Lowenstein and Alan Summers

Wednesday 27 June starting 8pm

For information and to book
contact Sarah Jenkins, Projects Coordinator at Quest Gallery
email:  sarah@questgallery.co.uk
Tel.        01225 444142


The Royal Crescent Hotel:
http://www.royalcrescent.co.uk

Condé Nast Traveller Gold List 2012:
http://www.cntraveller.com/awards/the-gold-list/gold-list-2012/the-royal-crescent-hotel-bath


But do come to the Quest Gallery's Private View just before too!
Quest Gallery Location and map: http://www.questgallery.co.uk/index.php?id=6

I'm pleased that Tom Lowenstein has been able to confirm the guest speaker appearance at the Haiku Reading event where the course participants have an opportunity to read haiku they've written during the course.  The event will have the obligatory wine and nibbles. 

FFI on the course, enquiries, or booking regarding the Ekphrastic Haiku Sessions at Quest Gallery:

http://www.questgallery.co.uk/index.php?id=489

• Tom Lowenstein will give a talk on the origins of haiku.
• Alan Summers will give a short introduction to Modern, and Contemporary Haiku both in Japan, and in the West. 

Tom Lowenstein is well known for his books including:

Classic Haiku: The Greatest Japanese Poetry from Basho, Buson, Issa, Shiki, and Their Followers  Ed. Tom Lowenstein Publisher: Duncan Baird (2007)

Haiku Inspirations: Poems and Meditations on Nature and Beauty

Ed. Tom Lowenstein and Victoria James Publisher: Duncan Baird (2006)

“Tom Lowenstein is an original among young British poets—quite exceptionally gifted...” 
Ted Hughes wrote in 1980.

"Your writing is unlike anything else—very new and alive, very strange and memorable." 

—Ted Hughes.

Tom Lowenstein is widely published in his own right in poetry magazines such as: Poetry Review; PN Review; The New Cambridge Review; London Review of Books; Fulcrum (New York); Shearsman magazine; and Poetry Salzburg Review

Shearsman Titles:
http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/authors/lowenstA.html  

• Ancestors and Species: New & Selected Ethnographic Poetry
• Conversation with Murasaki

FFI on the course, enquiries, or booking regarding the Ekphrastic Haiku Sessions at Quest Gallery:

http://www.questgallery.co.uk/index.php?id=489

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The 2012 Purely Haiku Writers retreat in glorious surroundings and fantastic food provided all day full board!

 

Over the years I've met an incredible group of individuals who make this course sing, although there's no singing and besides I have a terrible voice for that artform.

I hope some of you find something in the following course that entices you to help make another great residential course, in a relaxing place, perfect for writing, reading, and listening to haiku.

Alan


PURELY HAIKU
A unique residential writers' course
and Retreat led by Alan Summers
Monday May 21st - Friday 25th 2012

"I think that's a brilliant price. It's a bargain for what you are offering."

Annie Bachini (former President of the British Haiku Society)

"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
School of Applied Community and Health Studies
Centre for Personal and Professional Development


A course designed both for the beginner who would like to tackle something new; the intermediate who wants to go further into the subject; and the advanced writer who needs time away to solidfy a haiku collection.

This is a gentle and friendly immersive course where we study what makes a haiku tick, and how to read and write haiku poetry. We'll read Classic and Contemporary haiku examples from Japan and other countries.  We'll learn that our own experiences become haiku poetry, and act as an important social document and record of our lives.

" I'm here to work hard for you so you can relax and absorb at your own rate."  Alan

We all arrive Monday afternoon to a fabulous spread of tea, coffee, non-caffeine hot drinks, and soft drinks, plus home-made cakes get together.  Let Claridge House know of any allergies and dietary needs, and be assured the non-gluten and/or non-wheat choices are as delicious.

Enjoy a concluding now traditional Thursday evening renga party last event together, concluding with Friday morning's scrumptious final breakfast, and then being whisked away to the station by friendly staff if you need transport to the nearby train station.

Thursday evening is when we run the 12 linking verses renga session with a party atmosphere, that includes a souvenir Haiku Journal Notebook to keep the record of the renga as a great memory of the week.


The Purely Haiku Course Claridge House details:


Course details:
http://www.claridgehousequaker.org.uk/courses.php#May

Accomodation:
http://www.claridgehousequaker.org.uk/accommodation.php

Bursary help is available - enquire on-line or phone for details.

Finding Claridge House:
http://www.claridgehousequaker.org.uk/find.php

Claridge House, Surrey
Dormans Road
Lingfield
Surrey RH7 6QH
South East England
(just outside London)

Claridge House enquiries and booking information contact details:
Phone: 01342 832150
Phone: 0845 3457281


The course can be as introductory for you as you like, or as advanced as you'd like on a personal one-to-one basis.

There will be plenty of one-to-one chats and critique time, as well as great group activies and exercises.

FOOD AND OTHER REFRESHMENTS

The vegetarian and vegan food, covers all dietary needs, non-gluten, non-wheat, non-dairy etc... and is fantastic.

There's plenty of organised tea, coffee, non-caffeine hot drinks, cold drinks, homemade cakes, lots of biscuits including non-gluten and non-wheat provided for us, so we don't even need to lift a finger, it's all brought to us!

Upon request I can touch on, or go deeper into certain haiku subjects:
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, that can also help improve your other writing styles.

We can touch, or go deeper into:

• Amazement of the ordinary
• Hearing your voice in poetry
• Allusion in haiku
• How the Seasons can still move us
• Basho: not allowing a hair’s breadth separate yourself from the subject
• Basho: Meditative landscape and the mood of nature
• Putting the colour, details, light and shade into your haiku
• Haiku and how to participate in your landscape
• The Golden Ratio of Art through Haiku
• Hemingway's Shoes and Mono no Aware
• Wabi-Sabi and Haiku
• The Gentle Whispers of Haiku
• The Brightness of Balance in Haiku
• The mysterious MA of haiku and white space in haiku

" I'm here to work hard for you so you can relax and absorb at your own rate."  Alan



BIOGRAPHY

Alan Summers, born London, England, is a Japan Times award-winning writer for haiku. He is the Linked Forms Editor of online magazine Notes from the Gean; and a founding editor of online magazine Haijinx,  finding humour in haiku.

Alan was the lead poet and creator, of The 1000 Verse Renga Project in partnership with Bath Libraries (U.K.) and supported by the BBC Poetry Season website. 

He's been General Secretary of the British Haiku Society (1998-2000); served on the Board of Editors for the award-winning Red Moon Anthologies; and is a Life Member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, Queensland.

Alan also helped create possibly the World's first ever Sign Language Renga which can be seen on YouTube, and an article was published in the Journal of Renku and Renga (Darlington Richards 2010).

Currently Alan is running the Kigo Lab project exploring British regional seasonal words, phrases and references as a resource for poets of all disciplines including haiku and renga. Kigo Lab is an experiment to use the potential of Western literary and seasonal references for a saijiki (almanac).

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The (Wednesday) Menagerie with Alan Summers and The Love Lounge Learns Haiku

Music from Poppy and Friends; Jools Scott; haiku poetry readings from Alan Summers and haiku sessioners: BAFTA award-winning short animation showing of The Eagleman Stag:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagleman_Stag 

Evening events curated by Ben Please

more details:

http://www.thebellinnbath.co.uk/index.php/component/content/article/40

Love Lounge Learns... Haiku!

 

The back room @ The Bell Inn, 103 Walcot Street, Bath.

Wednesday April 25^th

Arrive 7.15pm for 7.30pm start till 8.30pm.

£2 on the door

A 60 minute relaxed, fun, and inclusive interactive workshop!

Alan Summers, Japan Times award-winning writer

I'll be running a 60 minute haiku poetry session at the Bell Inn's Love Lounge.

This is a great opportunity to learn about the complexities of haiku in a fully interactive atmosphere.

50 Pence Special Price for haiku session participants:

The Haiku Journal Notebooks first launched at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Thames Festival. 

Haiku at the Love Lounge: 

http://area17.blogspot.com/2012/04/love-lounge-learns-haiku.html

Renga Days with Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers, with haiku writer Jann Wirtz of Devon

Renga Days in glorious Devon at the Broomhill Arts Hotel:

Where to find Broomhill Arts Hotel:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/information/findingus.html

The Sculpture Gardens:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/sculpturegardens/index.html

What they say about Broomhill Arts Hotel:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/information/what-they-say.html

Contact and information details for the Broomhill Arts Hotel:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/information/contactus.html

This is a great fun inclusive ice-breaking activity, and a way to make friends, and crack a few jokes at the same time as learning one of the most famous of all poetry forms, yet one of the most mysterious.

What is Renga?
 

 

Renga is a traditional Japanese group poem that is ‘shared writing’: everyone is allowed the chance to write, or orally suggest a verse.

Renga is simply writing incredibly short lines (2 or 3 line verses) with almost teasingly invisible connections to each verse.

When completed everyone is a co-author of the renga poem.

For anyone new to renga, we'd love to receive your "micro-memories", whether childhood memories, or very recent memories.

Renga is very inclusive, creative, and encouraging, and the making of this communal poem is as important as the final result.

The cost is only £4.50 entry to the Sculpture Garden:

http://www.broomhillart.co.uk/sculpturegardens/index.html  

More about Renga

Of all the ‘poetic forms’ this is one that works for people who have never written before, and yet offers a great challenge for those who are already comfortable and established writers.

The renga verses are more than the sum of its parts as they capture our thoughts and feelings, which might otherwise be lost at end of the day; we can also share an experience wherein strangers and friends or colleagues connect for a moment.

Welcome to Barnstaple Tourist Information Centre for accomodation details etc... http://www.staynorthdevon.co.uk/

Make this an even longer stay and visit other places:

http://www.broomhillart.co.uk/information/around.html

Alan Summers has been writing haiku and renga for twenty years and as a Japan Times award-winning writer for renga and haiku poetry (haiku evolved from being a renga poem’s ‘starting verse’) he felt renga was ideal for a creative writing event that involved people who might feel they are not poets.

More about Alan Summers

Alan Summers has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University; founder and director of With Words; and a Japan Times award-winning writer for renga and haiku.

He has ran workshops at the Royal Festival Hall (London), with Japan-UK 150 and the Thames Festival. 

Alan is regularly published in Japanese magazines & anthologies; and newspapers such as Yomiuri Shimbun; and Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, Japan.

Alan with some renga busting verses.

More information:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/renga-days-with-alan-summers-and-jann.html

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