Ribbons is the official publication of the Tanka Society of America. The journal is published three times a year, and each issue offers more than 200 tanka selected for their craftsmanship and originality. Ribbons also publishes essays on tanka by leading poets and scholars, book reviews that are thoughtful and incisive, and translations of poems written by important contemporary Japanese tanka poets. Ribbons seeks the highest standards of aesthetic excellence and scholarship in its goal to advance the writing, study, and appreciation of English-language tanka.

Ribbons Features

• More than 200 new tanka in each issue. Submissions open to members and nonmembers alike. See submission guidelines.
• Interviews, tanka prose, essays, and articles on tanka aesthetics, style, and technique, as well as book reviews. See submission guidelines.
• The “Tanka Café” column featuring tanka written by TSA members only on a different theme each issue (members are most often included, up to about eighty poems per issue). See Tanka Café submission guidelines.
• “Member’s Choice Tanka” column featuring a short essay about a favorite poem from the Tanka Café column. The poet whose poem is selected receives a $25 award and makes the next selection.
• “Poet and Tanka” column featuring a poet selected by invitation to write about his or her tanka poetry.
• TSA news, announcements and contest results.

Ribbons Staff

• Editor: Susan Weaver
• Tanka Prose Editor: Liz Lanigan
• Book Review Editor: Please send books to Susan Weaver
• Tanka Café Editor: Michael McClintock

Note: To order extra copies of our journal, Ribbons (and TSA anthologies), see our Publications Sale page, or please first inquire with Kathabela Wilson at poetsonsite@gmail.com. You can also order Ribbons at Lulu.com (for issues published until spring/summer 2020) and at Amazon.com (for issues after spring/summer 2020). On either site’s main page, you can search for “Tanka Society of America” in the search box (Amazon lists numerous old issues for prices that are much higher than at Lulu). At Lulu, listings also include many of our members’ anthologies. Check us out!