Kathy Kituai is an award-winning poet, editor and judge from Canberra who is well known for running workshops and retreats in both tanka and longer forms of poetry. Her collection, The Art of Catching Jam Before it Burns: New & Selected Poems, was published by Interactive Press in 2024. At 185 pages, The Art of… Read More Kathy Kituai: The Art of Catching Jam Before it Burns
Eucalypt is a highly regarded, long-running tanka journal edited by Julie Thorndyke. The journal is published in Australia with a new print issue produced in May and November each year. Issue 36 was released in May 2024. Founded by Beverley George in 2006, Eucalypt has maintained a consistent editorial focus over the years, with Beverley… Read More Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal
For several years, a group of haiku writers has been meeting at The Oaks Brasserie in Canberra. Set under stands of mature oak, cypress and other trees, the venue is perfect for the discussion of haiku and other Japanese forms of poetry. During 2021, our group decided it was time to publish an anthology of… Read More Haiku @ The Oaks Anthology
The Poetic City Festival ran through March and April 2021 at a multitude of venues in and around Canberra. Together with a band of willing helpers, local poet Jacqui Malins put together an extensive program of poetry readings, workshops, installations and other events. The Festival opened on 15 March with the launch of Issue 8… Read More Poetic City 2021: Canberra
A new Per Diem poem appears every day at the top right corner of The Haiku Foundation Home page. Each poem is part of a monthly, themed collection created by a guest editor. As I noted in an earlier post (which can be found here), The Haiku Foundation kindly asked me to be guest editor… Read More Per Diem Archive: June 2020
There was a full-house at Smith’s Alternative in Canberra last Monday night, 10 June 2019, to hear readings from local group, Limestone Tanka Poets. Those presenting were: Amelia Fielden, Barbara Curnow, Carmel Summers, Glenys Ferguson, Michael Thorley, Liz Lanigan, Michelle Brock, Kate King and group facilitator, Kathy Kituai. Tanka is a major genre of Japanese… Read More Limestone Tanka Poets
This year, 2018, marks the 25th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Canberra (Australia) and Nara (Japan). To celebrate the occasion, Saeko Ogi, Amelia Fielden and Noriko Tanaka have edited a collection of tanka and haiku by Australian and Japanese poets. The publication is titled Poetry Bridges: Canberra/Nara Commemorative Anthology. The Australian launch of Poetry… Read More Canberra/Nara Poetry Anthology
In late 2017, the Canberra-based Haiku @ The Oaks writing group was discussing various ways to present haiku in a live situation. Inspired by the ideas from this meeting, I applied a variation of these thoughts to writing a haiku style poem – a form I now like to call the haiku shuffle. Back in 2017,… Read More The Haiku Shuffle
Gregory Piko 