by Stephen Benfey Kazu sat in the freezing waterfall beside the white-bearded yamabushi. The mountain priest’s temple lay below. Kazu knew it from hikes in Kyoto’s hills with his high-school mountaineering club. He’d sought refuge here three months ago, in November. Heartbreak had sent him, and fear. It was her smile. Every time his co-worker …Read More
Category: WiK members (Page 2 of 25)
Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto
Malcolm Ledger lives in a remarkable house, a restored ryokan situated by a wooded mountain stream in Kyoto’s north-west. So special is the setting that the prestigious Aman franchise chose it for the location of their Kyoto hotel. Though billed as a maple-viewing party, the event was more of a socialising and networking occasion. The …Read More
A Flash of LightningOn Reading David Joiner’s The Heron CatchersReview by Rebecca Copeland Herons are lithe, elegant birds. Gliding over water, nesting in fields, or soaring through the air, the heron’s perceived ability to transcend the elements has led to fabulous fairytales, stately dances, and sublime paintings. Haiku poet Matsuo Bashō wrote verses about the …Read More
Robert Weis has a passion for Japan, and for Kyoto in particular. ‘It’s my spiritual home,’ he says. He draws inspiration from its famous and not so famous spots, and for WiK’s fifth anthology he wrote of the significance of mountains around Kyoto. His appreciation of trees, especially maples, is evident in his writing. ‘When …Read More
Report by Lisa Twaronite Sone of a workshop given by Felicity Tillack, Sept. 23, 2023 at Ryukoku University Omiya Campus Writers in Kyoto member Felicity Tillack, a writer, director and cinematographer, held a screenwriting workshop for WiK members late last month, in which she offered far more than writing tips. Tillack candidly shared insight based …Read More
A short story by Andrew Innes Andrew writes: “Anger is an emotion that you seldom see expressed in Japan. I did however once see an old man at a festival repeatedly try to start a fight in front of a large crowd with a rather reluctant participant who simply bowed in response each time. The …Read More
Malcolm LedgerThursday, 7th September 2023, Kyoto It makes you think. A time to reflect and take stock. Three-quarters of a century. An easily comprehensible number, in a way that fifty-million, say, is not. Twenty-seven thousand, three-hundred and three days, each lived second written, engraved, on your face, body, and heart. The joys and griefs, the …Read More
by Robert Weis The following text is an excerpt from the self-published volume A tiny nature – recollections of poems and trees (August 2023), available exclusively from Amazon. It features a collection of poems, short prose texts and photographs of bonsai trees from Japan and Europe. ********************I was gazing at the landscape from behind the …Read More
Zoom talk, August 20, 2023, reported by Kirsty Kawano Writers in Kyoto member and AI professional Mike Freiling shared his knowledge of ChatGPT in a Zoom presentation on August 20, 2023. The sheer speed at which ChatGPT’s capabilities are evolving is a concern for writers, and even people involved in the development of AI are …Read More
By Edward Levinson During the 1990’s when I visited Kyoto on photo trips, I often stayed with an American friend who lived just across the street from Shisendō, the famous poets’ retreat temple on the north side of Kyoto. As a photographer and poet, I have always seen Shisendō as a favorite place to visit …Read More
WiK Writing Competition
Ninth Annual Writing Competition Winners (2024) (Coming in Mid-May)
Previous years:
Eighth Annual Writing Competition Winners (2023)
Seventh Annual Writing Competition Winners (2022)
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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