Presenters:
ALAN BOTSFORD SAITOH
JANE JORITZ-NAKAGAWA
JOHN GRIBBLE

Date: May 25, 2008 (Sun.)
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Attendance fee: 2,000 yen
For more information, contact SWET Events
Place: Tomigaya Chokai Kaikan
Shibuya Tomigaya Koreisha Center
2-27-12 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku

Accessible on foot from Chiyoda or Odakyu line Yoyogi Hachiman/Yoyogi Koen stations or by bus from Shibuya (#67-68 Keio buses: Sasazuka-yuki); minimum taxi fare from Shibuya station.

Detailed instructions from Yoyogi Koen station:
Turn left immediately after exiting station and walk under the large bridge supporting Yamate-dori; take first left. You will still be under the bridge. Walk straight down the shopping street, passing a 7-Eleven convenience store on the corner. A block down is a large avenue, Inokashira-dori. Cross the street at the crosswalk, and in front of the Levain natural foods bakery, and take the diagonal side street and continue walking; at the fork in the road go left and continue walking up the hill. Near the top, on your left, is Tokai University’s Tomigaya Campus. Take the first left after the campus, then the second right. The Shibuya Tomigaya Koreisha Center will be a block down on your left.

This event is for anyone with an interest in, or curiosity about, reading and writing poems, with a focus on the Japan context.  Alan, Jane and John will talk about trends in poetry, their reasons for writing, and related issues. They will present samples of their own work and the work of other poets who interest and have influenced them. The presenters will also answer questions from the audience about writing, reading or publishing poems. Everyone is welcome to join in the discussion.

ALAN BOTSFORD SAITOH, co-editor of Poetry Kanto—Japan’s leading annual bilingual, bicultural poetry magazine publishing “outstanding poetry that navigates the divide of ocean and language”—is working to contribute toward a more active, energetic role for Japan as a poetry capital East, West and beyond. Author of two books of poetry, he has a book of essays, Walt Whitman of Cosmic Folklore, forthcoming from Hokuseido Press in 2008. He is Associate Professor of American Literature at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama.

JANE JORITZ-NAKAGAWA’s books of poetry are Skin Museum (2006; see review in Metropolis), AQUILINE (2007; see review in Her Circle Ezine at Myspace) and EXHIBIT C (forthcoming in 2008).  Jane is a long-time resident of Japan who teaches poetry, educational psychology, gender studies, and other subjects as Associate Professor at Aichi University of Education.  She has published over one hundred poems in literary journals and anthologies.  Her degrees are in both literature (poetry writing specialization) and linguistics. She was the coordinator of the First Annual Japan Writers Conference.

JOHN GRIBBLE’s poems have appeared in Runes, Margie, The Mid-America Poetry Review, Pearl, and other publications in the US, UK, and Japan. He is from Southern California, where he made his living in music for twenty-five years as a guitar teacher, performer, and in music therapy.  A Tokyo resident since 1993, he teaches English and writing at two universities and for a government agency. He has helped organize the Tokyo Writers Group for a number of years.  His MFA is from Warren Wilson College and he is a Pushcart Prize nominee.  His collection of poems, Another Wrong Fedora, is available from Printed Matter Press and other booksellers.