Format: Asynchronous. Participants work on written assignments in their own time.
Level: Beginners and improvers of senryu. Most people will come with at least some experience of writing haiku, although there is no reason not to start with senryu first! In fact in some ways senryū is less technically demanding.
Number of Assignments: 3
Group Size: up to 5
Course Description: How is a three-line senryu poem different to a three-line haiku poem, in content, style and language? Submitting two draft senryu three times over two months, we'll explore these questions, but also try to find our own "voice" with our senryu. Assignments with prompts are posted privately online, and participants read Alan's feedback on each other's poems as well as on their own senryu, in a shared learning process.
Cost: £150. Early Bird Cost: £140 if booking by end of Monday 26th August 2024.
Lead Tutor for haiku; tanka; haibun; senryu; and tanka stories.
Alan is a Japan Times award-winning writer, and multi-award winning poet for haiku, plus a Pushcart Prize, and Best Small Fictions nominated poet for haibun.
He’s been President of the United Haiku & Tanka Society (2017 to 2021), and General Secretary of the British Haiku Society (1998-2000).
Alan holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University (U.K. 2007-2008), and a Diploma for Creative Writing from the University of Bristol(U.K. 2000-2001).
In September 2015 NHK TV of Japan made a documentary about Alan's work: http://tinyurl.com/NHKHaikuJourney
Alan’s work regularly appears in haikai genre journals, and prominent anthologies, including Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years (W. W. Norton 2013).
He has extensive experience as a tutor and workshop facilitator in both live and online settings. Alongside this he’s also an experienced editor for anthologies and journals. Alan’s been an essayist, article writer, critic, book reviewer, international competition judge, co-founder, and founder of various haiku & haibun journals.
Alan is currently editor-in-chief for The Haiku Reader anthology series, and opened with the first presentation at the Haiku Society of America’s 2022 National Virtual Conference (Saturday, June 4, 2022) taking questions about the anthology.
Please click on the button for information on available spaces and to book.
Cost: £150
Early Bird Cost: £140 if booking by end of Monday 26th August 2024.