Festival of Contemporary Japanese Women Poets
Sponsored by Belladonna*, Poets House, Litmus Press, and Bowery Poetry Club
A special feature of Factorial/PennSound collection of Japanese Poetry

Four poets at the forefront of Japanese poetry - Takako Arai, Kiriu Minashita, Kyong-Mi Park & Ryoko Sekiguchi - join poets Cole Swensen, Sawako Nakayasu and Rosa Alcala for a thought-provoking array of readings and talks in New York.



Kiriu Minashita


Ryoko Sekiguchi


Kyong-Mi Park


Takako Arai


Sawako Nakayasu


photos:  © 2006 Paul Johnson/PennSound

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 @ Poets House
Cross Currents and Innovation in Japanese Poetry Today
a panel discussion with Takako Arai, Kiriu Minashita, Sawako Nakayasu, Kyong-Mi Park & Ryoko Sekiguchi
Recording and sound editing by Austin Publicover.

1. Introduction by Stephen Motika (2:09)
2. Introduction by Rachel Levitsky (2:17)
3. Introduction by the poets (3:05)
4. Sekiguchi leads off the discussion (16:21)
5. Minashita in discussion (16:41)
6. Sekiguchi continues (12:50)
7. Nakayasu continues (14:33)
8. Arai: When the Moon Rises (6:43)
9. Sekiguchi: Word of Silence (5:04)
10. Park: A Cat Comes Carrying Her Baby Cat In Her Mouth (8:28)
11. Minashita: Sonic Peace (4:50)
12. Q & A with audience and panelists (13:21)


Thursday, November 16, 2006 @ Bowery Poetry Club
Book release party for Four from Japan: Contemporary Poetry by Women
with readings by Takako Arai, Kiriu Minashita, Kyong-Mi Park & Ryoko Sekiguchi
Recording and sound editing by Austin Publicover.

1. Intro Part I by Nakayasu (1:58)
2. Intro Part II by Nakayasu (1:23)
3. Nakayasu introduces 'For Amenouzume-San' (1:21)
4. Arai: For Amenouzume-san (5:27)
5. Arai: Fox Appearing - Japanese (4:16)
6. Arai: Fox Appearing - English (2:00)
7. Nakayasu introduces 'Eh-Janaika' (0:50)
8. Arai: Raising the Billows (4:09)
9. Arai: Eh-Janaika, Eh-Janaika (in English) (3:56)
10. Nakayasu introduces Minashita (2:33)
11. Minashita: Sonic Peace (6:19)
12. Minashita: Border Z / Delete, and Rewrite (6:35)
13. Minashita: poem and song (4:05)
14. Nakayasu introduces Park (2:52)
15. Park: April (5:27)
16. Park: Weather Patterns; Instrument; The Hat Says (5:20)
17. Nakayasu introduces Sekiguchi (3:30)
18. Sekiguchi: from Heliotropes (6:27)
19. Sekiguchi: more from Heliotropes (7:21)
20. Closing Remarks by Rachel Levitsky (1:02)


Friday, November 17, 2006 @ Poets House
Blurring the Boundaries: A Conversation on the Art of Poetry and Translation
with Rosa Alcala, Ryoko Sekiguchi and Cole Swensen
Recording and sound editing by Austin Publicover.

1. Stephen Motika (5:21)
2. Rosa Alcala (6:34)
3. Ryoko Sekiguchi and Nicholas Veroli (10:06)
4. Cole Swensen (6:11)
5. Discussion Part 1 (4:33)
6. Discussion Part 2 (12:20)
7. Discussion Part 3 (41:33)

This event was a launch for:

Four From Japan: an Anthology of Contemporary Poetries

published by Belladonna* and Litmus.

drawings by
Mimi Gross



Kyong-Mi Park


Takako Arai

© 2006. These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the authors. Used with permission of the authors. Distributed by PennSound.