This competition is now closed.
As a special treat for our writers, we are running not one, but two creative writing competitions at our Indie Writer’s Festival!
Our first competition is a poetry competition, using a Japanese form called ‘renga’, which is a string of shorter forms called ‘tanka’, run by Leeds Trinity’s own Paul Hardwick and Amina Alyal. A renga is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry made up of five-line ‘tanka’ verses, 5 syllables in the first line, then 7 syllables, then 5, then 7 and then 7. We only want you to write either a three-line section, or a two-line section, and don’t worry too much about the syllable count. More important us that you respond with strong images. Confused? Don’t be! In our video, Paul reads aloud a tanka, written by himself and Amina, and invites you to respond to it with sharp images of your own. All your tankas together will make up a ‘renga’, which is the name for a string of tanka poems. Watch Paul’s video here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPFp7jXVcE&w=560&h=315]
On the right is the tanka example Paul reads on his video, written by Paul Hardwick and Amina Alyal, and which features in their most recent book, ‘Close As Second Skins’.
You will have a few hours to write and submit your entries, before they are gathered and judged. The favoured entry will receive a prize and it is sure to be a lot of fun, so listen closely to Paul’s reading and let your creativity flow.
Successful entries will be published in our digital anthology and the winning entry will win a Writers Hamper!
One entry per person. Must be a resident of Leeds. Open to all ages.
And we need it by 2pm, today – Saturday 21st February.
This competition is now closed.
Our Judges are Amina Alyal and Paul Hardwick of Leeds Trinity University.