Category: Writing Competition (Page 3 of 6)

As summer winds down and autumn gradually brings refreshingly cooler weather to Kyoto, let us settle in to read another prizewinning submission from the Writers in Kyoto Seventh Annual Writing Competition. Ukrainian-born Tetiana Korchuk’s “The Promise” was selected as the winner of our Unohana Prize, awarded to the national of a country in which English …Read More

This year’s Japan Local Prize was awarded to Writers in Kyoto Member Malcolm Ledger for “Plum Tree by the Eaves”, depicting an ancient tree which embodies the sophistication and elegance of the Heian Period on the grounds of a once-opulent manor. To reside in Kyoto is to be surrounded by history, but unfortunately such significant …Read More

Robin Hattori was awarded the USA Prize in this year’s Kyoto Writing Competition for her moving piece, titled “Conversation with a Ghost”. The judges appreciated how it captures one family’s story in the wider historical picture, and how a search spanning thousands of miles ends in a sweet conversation with one’s beloved grandfather. Robin is …Read More

The world watches with anger and great sadness as Russia continues its months-long bombardment of the Ukrainian people and their infrastructure. While much of the violence appears to have shifted to the eastern regions, Kyiv residents were shocked when explosions once again rocked the country’s capital at the beginning of June. For those of us …Read More

As our final post in the series of Honorable Mentions from this year’s Kyoto Writing Competition, the judges present kintsugi, a poem by writer and artist Annette* Akkerman of Maarssen, Netherlands. A chemist by education, Annette* works in the coffee and tea industry. She likes travelling, hiking, spending time in nature, and painting, and has …Read More

Moving on with our series of honorable mentions in this year’s Kyoto Writing Competition, the judges were intrigued by Jeremiah Dutch’s piece, “Zen Failure in Kyoto” — excerpted and adapted from his novel-in-progress, Gaijin House. Jeremiah is a New England native raising two daughters with his wife in Yokohama. Having lived in Japan since 1998, he …Read More

Writers in Kyoto Member Stephen Benfey is a fiction writer, copywriter, and father. He lived in Kyoto during the 1970s, attending college, working for a Japanese gardener, producing videos, and listening to Osaka blues bands. There, he met his future wife and began writing. After raising children in Tokyo, the couple moved to a tiny …Read More

Over the coming weeks, submissions from the recent Writers in Kyoto Seventh Annual Writing Competition will be shared here on the website. We hope that our readers will also enjoy and be as moved by the content as the judges were in the very challenging process of selecting the winners. While there were a limited …Read More

Writers in Kyoto offer their heartfelt thanks to all who submitted their short shorts to the competition this year. Entries were received from a highly creative group comprised of twenty-five nationalities, based both in Japan and across the globe. A milestone has been reached with this year’s introduction of the Kyoto City Mayoral Prize (supported …Read More