Tanka Society of America


Welcome to the Tanka Society of America website. Here you can learn more about the society, its activities, and membership benefits. You can also learn more about our journal, Ribbons, our annual tanka contest, and our membership anthologies. If you’re not already a member, please read the Top-Five Benefits of TSA Membership and JOIN OR RENEW TODAY.
 

Tanka poetry has a history of more than 1,300 years in Japan and 100 years in English. Originally written in the Japanese Imperial court, when it was known as waka, tanka has grown to be a worldwide genre of poetry written in English on a variety of topics, usually in five lines. Join fellow members of the Tanka Society of America, founded in 2000, in discovering, sharing, studying, preserving, and appreciating this vibrant genre of English-language poetry.

 

Please also visit our Facebook page.

TSA News

  • 2018 TSA Anthology Announced Just posted to the TSA Anthologies page is a link to submission guidelines for our 2018 Tanka Society of America membership anthology, to be edited by Shrikaanth Krishnamuthy. The submission ...
    Posted Aug 12, 2018, 10:50 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • 2018 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest Results Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest, judged by Jessica Malone Latham and Neal Whitman. Results and commentary are now live, with the top three ...
    Posted Aug 12, 2018, 12:23 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • 2018 Tanka Contest The in-hand deadline for the 2018 Sanford Goldstein tanka contest is May 31, 2018. For more information, visit the “How to Enter the Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest” page ...
    Posted Apr 7, 2018, 9:53 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • TSA Members’ Anthology Submissions Due August 31 Our deadline is fast approaching for the 2017 TSA members’ anthology, to be edited by Margaret Dornaus and David Terelinck. Submissions from members are due by August 31, 2017. Read ...
    Posted Aug 27, 2017, 6:47 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • 2017 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest Results Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest, judged by James Chessing and Janet Lynn Davis. Results and commentary are now live, with the top three ...
    Posted Aug 1, 2017, 12:34 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • Free Registration for Tanka Sunday 2017 The Tanka Society of America is pleased to announce its Tanka Sunday conference, set for September 17, 2017, at the Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda & Spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico ...
    Posted Jun 26, 2017, 6:25 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • TSA Contest Update Good news! We received more entries for this year’s Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest than we have for any prior contest! For 2017, we had 108 poets in eight ...
    Posted Jun 25, 2017, 10:08 PM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • TSA Drawing Winners It’s OUR birthday, but five of YOU are getting the birthday presents! To celebrate the 17th anniversary of the Tanka Society of America, which was founded on April 14 ...
    Posted Apr 14, 2017, 8:19 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • Free Drawing for Ribbons Back Issues—Celebrating TSA’s 17th Anniversary To celebrate the 17th anniversary of the Tanka Society of America, which was founded on April 14, 2000, we’re giving away FIVE free back issues of our tanka journal ...
    Posted Mar 20, 2017, 10:42 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
  • TSA Publications Sale! Want to learn more about tanka? Missing a back issue of Ribbons or a TSA anthology? Want to make your tanka collection more complete? The Tanka Society of America is ...
    Posted Mar 3, 2017, 11:14 AM by Michael Dylan Welch
Showing posts 1 - 10 of 60. View more »

 

2018 Contest Winners

          Judged by Neal Whitman
          and Jessica Malone Latham

 

 

          First Place
 
           the ocean
           was in a rage last night
           but today,
           these peace offerings
           of blue mussels and kelp

                Debbie Strange
 
 
          Second Place

 

           a gift
           within a gift
           poppies
           holding the silence
           in the shape of petals

                Kathy Kituai
 

 

          Third Place

 

           no resolutions
           this New Year’s Day
           I will make
           changes to my life
           in the early days of spring

                Alison Williams


          Honorable Mentions

 

                Louis Osofsky
                Christine L. Villa
                Sheila Sondik
                Michael Lester
                Debbie Strange (x2)


          Read more TSA Contest winners.