Taste of Japan Program at Altadena Library Features Kathabela Wilson

Celebrate the food and culture of Japan with a tea ceremony, an illustrated talk on the country’s food, Japanese snacks, music and dance, and a taste of tanka, a delightful Japanese originated short form of poetry which means “little song.”  Featured poets include Mariko Kitakubo who is visiting from Japan and local poetess Kathabela Wilson. This free program sponsored by the Friends of the Altadena Library will take place on Saturday, March 22, 2:00 p.m. in the Barbara J Pearson Community Room at the Main Altadena Library located at 600 E. Mariposa St, Altadena, 91001.

Kathabela Wilson's roots in Asian forms extend from her earliest years. She is the organizer and leader of several local poetry groups in Pasadena, California, and has introduced and created performances by tanka poets on the Caltech campus and in local galleries. In the spirit of fostering inspiration and creative expression, she also hosts salons in her home, with readings by local and national tanka poets. Her husband, Rick, often accompanies the readers on several of his flutes.  

Kathabela created Poets on Site in 2005, an international group of poets, musician dancers and artists, that has performed over 50 performances on site of the inspiration of 30 books of poetry for artists, gardens and museums. Poets on Site won a muse award from the American Association of Museums in 2010 for a recorded Poetry audio Tour of the museum's collection.  In 201 she created  Tanka Poets on Site, a local and online writing and performing group. Her tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences have been published in Atlas Poetica, Eucalypt, Gusts, Haiku News, Haibun Today, Kokako, Moonbathing, Notes from the Gean, Red Lights, and Ribbons, as well as in many anthologies.She is secretary of the Tanka Society of America.  "When I read or write tanka there is a magnetic feeling... I am drawn in as if entering a silence that has spilled over into words to create a distinct shape with its own logic and sense of direction. I have walked through a city and, finally, can hear the ocean."

Kathabela has accompanied her husband Rick on four mathematical lecture tours in Asia, over the last 10 years and has performed her poetry in Kyoto and Nagoya Japan at mathematical conferences. They are planning a trip there this June, 2014

 For more information please call 626-798-0833 or visit http://www.altadenalibrary.org