1) Please tell us something about your background and how you come to be in Japan? I was born in Poland (Kędzierzyn-Koźle) in 1982 and grew up during the harsh reality of political transition, social transformation, and dysfunctional economy characteristic for that time. My childhood memories and accounts of my parents during communist rule and …Read More
Category: Featured Writers (Page 15 of 26)
Writers in focus
Ways with Words (at Dartington Hall, Totnes, UK) by John Dougill For the past week I’ve been attending a literary gathering deep in the Devon countryside. Medieval buildings, beautiful grounds, gorgeous countryside and Britain’s finest residential festival, with ten days of simultaneous talks by the country’s top selling authors. This year coincided with a spell …Read More
Please tell us a little about your upbringing and your relationship with Japan. I was born in Colorado and grew up in a family that loved nature, storytelling, and the fine arts. Between 1948 and 1960, my parents were educational missionaries. We were first in China and then in Japan. We arrived in Japan early …Read More
The summer that Japan hosted the World Cup was one of the highlights of my many years there. By day I was hitchhiking the 33 temples of the Kansai Kannon pilgrimage, while at night I’d return to a city somewhere to watch a match. I’d choose bars or pubs that had a connection to one …Read More
Gnome Poetry and Improv Evening (24/6/2018) There once was a monk from Madrid Who declared that his good deeds were hid. Not thinking a thought Nor seeking the sought, His doing was nothing he did. Capitalist cat chasing leaves As if they were mice American short hair Sometimes you get it back But …Read More
It’s not easy to draw crowds to poetry events, but WiK managed twenty plus customers last night packed into the Gnome for an evening of great variety. Each performer had five minutes to display their talents, and each took a very different approach to their five minutes of fame Thanks are due to all those …Read More
Kirsty Kawano: Interview 1) Could you tell us about your background and connection with Japan? I first came to Japan on a one-year student exchange directly after high school. I had always been interested in living in a country with a different language, so when Japan was proposed as a destination I went with it. …Read More
1) Could you tell us a little bit about your background and your connection with Japan? My first connection to Japan was through the Suzuki method. I was two and a half, and they had this crazy idea of teaching young children to play musical instruments, but you know something? It worked. When I was …Read More
Leading Shinto scholar Mark Teeuwen, has written several influential books on matters related to Japan’s indigenous faith. He’s known in particular for disputing the idea that there was such a thing as ‘Shinto’ in Japan’s ancient past, but that it was a later construct. His new publication, A Social History of the Ise Shrines, co-written …Read More
Mayumi Kawaharada writes… Do you know the American sweets cafe called CC’s coffee shop in Kyoto, which was established in 1974 by the American poet and editor Cid Corman? When he and his Japanese wife (Shizumi Konishi) left for America in 1980, his wife’s sister and her husband inherited the cafe. He returned to Kyoto again …Read More
Kyoto Writing Competition
WiK Anthologies
The Nature of Kyoto (2023)
Eds. Lisa Twaronite Sone & Robert Weis
Foreword by Pico Iyer
Structures of Kyoto (2021)
Eds: Rebecca Otowa & Karen Lee Tawarayama
Foreword by Judith Clancy
Encounters with Kyoto (2019)
Eds: Jann Williams & Ian Josh Yates
Foreword by Juliet Winters Carpenter
Echoes (2017)
Eds: John Dougill, Amy Chavez, & Mark Richardson
Preface by Alex Kerr
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