Andrew to judge tanka competition

Fremantle Press has invited Andrew to co-judge its tanka competition. The other judge is Wendy Jenkins. Read the competition details on the Fremantle Press blogsite here: http://www.fremantlepress.blogspot.com/

To assist entrants, Fremantle Press asked Andrew to write an overview of the tanka, its history and formal requirements. Andrew’s short essay has been posted on the Fremantle Press blogsite and is reproduced here:

Talking about Tanka

by Andrew Lansdown

The tanka is a poetic form with a long and rich history. It originated in Japan in the sixth or seventh century and quickly became that nation’s dominant poetic from. The first national poetry anthology, Man’yoshu, compiled in the eighth century, contains 4,500 poems, of which 4,200 are tanka. The 21 imperial anthologies compiled between 905 and 1439 contain over 33,600 tanka.

The Japanese word “tanka” means “short poem” or “short song”. True to its name, a tanka is a short poem consisting of five lines and 31 syllables. The lines are measured by syllables and form a pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables respectively.

Arrangement of lines by syllables is a key feature of the tanka and this feature can be reproduced as effectively in the English language as in the Japanese. The 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structure guides the phrasing of the poem and lends balance to not only the individual lines but also the poem itself. … [READ MORE – http://andrewlansdown.com/poetry/poetry-collections/consolations/]

Andrew interviewed in the West Australian

Collections of verse in a human keyThe Books Editor of the West Australian newspaper, William Yeoman, interviewed Andrew and three other poets whose books will be released by Fremantle Press this week.

Excerpts of the interviews appeared in an article titled “Collections of verse sung in a human key” in the West Australian on Tuesday, 5 July (“Today” section, page 7).

Read the full article here: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/arts/9786754/collections-of-verse-in-a-human-key/

Photograph (by Simon Santi for the West Australian) from left to right: Andrew Lansdown, Kevin Gillam & Michael Heald

Invite to the lauch of Two Poets

Fremantle Press will launch Two Poets on Thursday 7 July.
As the title indicates, the book features the work of two poets – Andrew Lansdown and Kevin Gillam.
Each poet has contributed a 100-page collection: Andrew’s is called The Colour of Life, while Kevin’s is called Songs Sul G.
Learn more about Two Poets from the Fremantle Press website.
Two Poets will be launched at the Fremantle Arts Centre, 1 Finnerty St, Fremantle, at 6.30 pm on Thursday 7 July. Come along if you can!

Poetry reading at Moon Cafe

Andrew has been invited to read at the Perth Poetry Club on Saturday, 9 July. Come and hear him read poems from his latest collection, The Colour of Life in Two Poets (Fremantle Press, 2011).

The Perth Poetry Club meets at the Moon Cafe in William Street, Northbridge, on Saturdays between 2.00 – 4.00 pm.

Poems on bushwalking website

Dave Osborne recently requested permission to use some of Andrew’s poems on his WalkGPS website, which is dedicated to bushwalking in the Perth (WA) region. He has now posted two of Andrew’s poems – “Desertion” and “Tanka”. To read them, follow the links in the 7 June 2011 “What’s New” entry at http://www.walkgps.com/what’s{622e8f302d1fb91812edd8a3c16e0696cd1f0e82e697b7a9609cca725af619bb}20new.htm  While there, take a cyberwalk through the site: it is quite impressive.

Five poems in Quadrant

Quadrant magazine has published five of Andrew’s poems in its May 2011 issue. One of the five is a gunsaku, “Seven Birds”, consisting of seven tanka. The first of the seven bird tanka is written in slant (half) rhyme and reads:

 

Bird and Bull

 

The dotterel,

stalking, sniping—so little

by the muzzle

and muddy hoof of the bull

drinking at the dam’s puddle.

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

 

Read the remaining six tanka in “Seven Birds” on the Quadrant website: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/5/seven-birds

 

Andrew’s other poems can also be read on the Quadrant website: 

“In Dependence” –

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/5/in-dependence

“Wheatbelt Willy-Willy” and “The Gravity of the Slight” –

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/5/two-poems

“Spores” –

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/5/seven-birds

Getting the Word Out Poetry Evening

The City of Armadale is hosting a Getting the Word Out Poetry Evening on Tuesday 24th May, 6.30 – 8.30 pm. Andrew is one of several poets invited to read for the event. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Andrew to tutor Advanced Poetry Workshop

Peter Cowan Writers’ Centre (PCWC) is running a series of 10 Advanced Poetry Workshops throughout 2011.

Andrew is one of nine professional poets invited to be a facilitator for one of the workshops. Other facilitators include Shane McCauley, Lucy Dougan, Andrew Burke and Dennis Haskell.

The Advanced Poetry Workshops are a new initiative by PCWC aimed at assisting already accomplished poets to move to a new level of achievement.

Last year, applicants had to submit five recent poems to PCWC, to be assessed by Professor Andrew Taylor (who initiated the Workshops and is also one of the facilitators). Twelve poets were chosen from over 30 applicants to attend 10 sessions on the second Saturday of each month from February to November.

Andrew’s workshop will take place on Saturday 14th May and will cover “Alternative Poetic Forms”. The synopsis of his workshop reads:

TS Eliot claimed that one poet is superior to another primarily on the basis of his or her critical faculties. Writing in traditional poetic forms supports and strengthens our critical faculties by providing objective guidance and goals. It also enhances our creativity by prompting us to think in ways that are new to us. This workshop will focus primarily on the traditional Japanese poetic forms of haiku, gunsaku, tanka and choka, all of which are conducive to contemporary descriptive, reflective and imagist poetry.