October 2 saw the book launch of Alex Kerr’s new book, Another Kyoto. A packed audience hung on his every word as he ran through his thoughts on Kyoto and Japan, drawing on his vast experience in terms of involvement with the country’s arts and architecture. The evening was split into two parts, with a …Read More
Category: Featured Writers (Page 21 of 26)
Writers in focus
Letters to Uko (A chapter from Take Back the Sun – Basho Tells Her Story Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko) [Bold face is used for Basho’s own words] Of the women in Basho’s circle the most fascinating is Uko who lived in Kyoto with her husband Boncho. We have so …Read More
WRITERS IN KYOTO PRESENTS THE SECOND ANNUAL KYOTO WRITING COMPETITION Theme: Kyoto (English language only) Deadline: March 1, 2017 (midnight JST) Genre: Short Shorts (unpublished material only) Form: Short poems, character studies, essays, travel tips, whimsy, haiku sequence, haibun, wordplays, dialogue, experimental verse, etc. In short, anything that helps show the spirit of place in …Read More
Allen S. Weiss is known to many in Kyoto through his books on aesthetics, and in recent years he has given well-received talks on the subject (see here). His latest book has now appeared, and he has generously agreed for us to reprint the Preface below as well as providing samples of the always exceptional …Read More
The WiK Competition Organiser, Karen Lee Tawarayama, has set up a blog called Kyoto Faces with the ambitious aim of giving a picture of the ordinary lives of Kyoto residents. For a city famed for its tourist sights and imperial history, it’s a valuable project for while the opinions of foreign observers are often bandied …Read More
ISLAND OF SEROW By Amy Chavez Japan is known for its cat islands where the resident strays can outnumber the humans living there. There is also a rabbit island populated by cute cavorting rabbits. I’ve even been to an uninhabited island in the Seto Inland Sea where wild deer and pheasants run amok. But nothing …Read More
David Joiner, whose talk about promoting his first novel was well received last year, has kindly allowed us a sneak look at his current work in progress. This follows his time in Vietnam, since when he has moved to Kanazawa and married. David writes: “Attached is the beginning of an untitled novel set in Kanazawa, …Read More
Here are four poems of Kyoto poetaster and gadfly shakuhachi Master, Preston Louis Houser, selected by a former writer in Kyoto, Fil Lewitt: LAMENT air and earth the academy fire and water the gurus ether and gravity the lessons authentic education for saintly and stupid alike mountain or pretense come off it amounts to …Read More
News of a forthcoming book by WiK member, Allen Weiss, who was recently in Nice at the time of the terrorist atrocity there. Luckily he was nowhere near the events, though he witnessed some of the great commotion going on. Meanwhile, Allen’s latest book is making its way through the final stages of the publishing …Read More
WiK is delighted to announce a breakthrough for one of our members, Marianne Kimura, whose piece from her first novel was featured in the first WiK Anthology. Here she tells how she managed to land her contract, thanks to the Japan Writers Conference. ******************** The Hamlet Paradigm My big news is that my second novel, …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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