Friendly Street Poets Inc are running a Japanese Poetry Contest. The haiku section is restricted to residents of South Australia, but the haibun and haiku sequence sections are open to all. Closing date is May 6th 2008. For further details and an entry form visit http://friendlystreetpoets.org.au
Friendly Street Poets Inc. is starting the 2008 seminar program with a Japanese Poetry Seminar on Saturday 16th February. Published poet and SA representative of HaikuOz, Martina Taeker, will be focussing on haiku, haiku sequence, and haibun.
Many people will already be familiar with Martina's practical yet highly informative style of teaching and her ability to ensure that everyone enjoys themselves. Hopefully a yummy afternoon tea will also help the creative process along. The seminar will be held on Saturday 16th February, from 2 - 4.30 pm at the SA Writers Centre.
Following the seminar, Friendly Street Poets Inc will be running a competition in all three categories. Although the haiku section will be restricted to residents of SA, the haiku sequence and haibun sections will be open to poets from other states. More details about the competition will be released after the seminar.
For further seminar details and the booking form please visit http://friendlystreetpoets.org.au/?cat=4
Dawn Colsey, a South Australian writer, has won the Kaji Aso Studio "Remembrance" Poetry Contest 2007 Haibun Award, Boston USA. Dawn is a regular reader at Friendly Street Poets, a member of the Kensington & Norwood Writers Group, and belongs to Women Writing at Sophia, a feminist ecumenical women's centre. She was first introduced to haibun at a workshop run at the South Australian Writers Centre in September 2006 by SA Regional Representative Martina Taeker. Congratulations Dawn
by Martina Taeker
Regional Rep Martina Taeker has a review of Spinifex published in the latest issue of Famous Reporter. You can read it online at: http://www.walleahpress.com.au/b25/index.php?s=Taeker
Australian haiku poet, Lynette Arden, has recently had one of her haiku selected to appear on a haiku umbrella as part of the Rain Haiku competition. Lynette's haiku is one of only eight selected from the one thousand haiku received.
Her selected haiku:
city lunch in rain
neon lights flick colours
across the menu
HaikuOz congratulates Lynette on this fine achievement.
In September Regional Representative, Martina Taeker, gave a haiku workshop which was well-received by all who attended.
In November, when I was visiting Adelaide, I was privileged to be a dinner guest of the lively Kensington and Norwood Writers who have since celebrated a 20th anniversary event, attended by sixty people. To find out more about this group visit http://www.norwoodwriters.com/
The members write in a variety of genres but were eager, along with several attendees from other groups, to explore tanka in a workshop I gave at the SA Writers Centre. The workshop considered the way in which tanka were written in the Heian Court Period in Japan over 1,000 years ago before looking at some modern examples and how to begin to write them.
I would like to thank Lynette Arden for her enthusiasm and kindness and send warm greetings to everyone who attended either or both events.
Beverley George
Editor: Eucalypt: Australia's first literary journal dedicated to tanka www.eucalypt.info
South Australia Writers Centre– tanka workshop
On Thursday November 2nd, 6:30-9:30 pm, Beverley George will present a tanka workshop and is hoping to meet some HaikuOz poets there. Please contact the SA Writers Centre for further details or to make a booking.
This is the thirteenth workshop Beverley has presented this year but the first in another state. She is hoping the latter situation will change next year.
For information about tanka in Australia visit www.eucalypt.info
Martina Taeker, Regional Representative for HaikuOz in South Australia, will present a workshop titled 'The Essence of Haiku' on 23 September 2006 from 1:30-4:30 pm at the SA Writers Centre in Adelaide.
On 2 November 2006, from 6:30-9:30 pm, Beverley George, President of HaikuOz, will present a workshop at the SA Writers Centre titled 'Tanka: where East meets West'. Tanka is a 1300 year-old genre which is becoming increasingly popular with poets writing in English. The workshop will be limited to 15 people, to allow everyone the opportunity to participate. If interested in attending, you may wish to read in advance the foundation article, Tanka: the myriad leaves of words' on www.eucalypt.info > Articles
Martina Taeker, RR for SA, recently conducted a ginko in the Art Gallery of SA and based on her experiences offers some thoughts on how a winter ginko might be conducted indoors. To read the full article go to the Haiku Musings page.