Words Flower: a responsive tanka collection

Australian poet, Amelia Fielden, has a Master of Arts degree in Japanese Literature, and is a professional translator who also writes original English verse in the traditional Japanese tanka form. Specializing currently in the work of contemporary Japanese women poets, Amelia has translated sixteen such collections to date. In 2007 she was awarded the Donald Keene Prize For Translation of Japanese Literature by Columbia University, USA, for Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Japanese Tanka (Cheng & Tsui, Boston). Amelia's own tanka have been widely published in journals and anthologies,and awarded internationally. Six collections of her original poetry have appeared between 2002 and 2010, the most recent of them being Baubles, Bangles & Beads (2007) and Light On Water (2010). Also published in 2010 was Weaver Birds, a bilingual collaborative tanka diary created by Amelia and Japanese born Canberra poet, Saeko Ogi.

Saeko Ogi is a tanka poet and tanka translator. A member of the Araragi-ha Tanka Society in Japan since 2003. Born in Tokyo, has lived in Canberra since 1972. She contributes tanka both written in Japanese and English to tanka periodicals and to anthologies in Japan, Australia and USA, is actively involved in tanka activities; translating, presenting talks in symposiums and facilitating a tanka group in Canberra CJC (Canberra Japan Club) Bluebells Tanka Group that she initiated. In 1998 her friendship with Amelia Fielden with Saeko translating her two poetry and tanka collections: Eucalypts and Iris Streams and Fountains Play, into Japanese. Since then they have kept working on bilingual poetic works. Also in association with Amelia, she translated three tanka collections by Kawano Yūko: Time Passes, The Maternal Line and The Time of This World – 100 Tanka from 13 collections as well as three tanka collections by Tanaka Noriko: Doorway to the Sky, Breast Clouds and From the Middle Country. Other translation works with Amelia are Tanka To Eat, and Poems to Wear – from Japan and Australia. Her tanka, translated from Japanese into English by Amelia Fielden appeared in Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volumes 3 and 4. She loves watercolour painting, as well as knitting, playing the piano, Mahjong both in Australian and Japanese rules and Sūdoku.