event

Connecting with Urban Nature: Writing Tanka

In this workshop, we’ll experiment with tanka, a Japanese writing tradition that can support us in noticing the small details of nature that we might otherwise overlook in urban landscapes. Tanka–a short poetic form–can help us both describe places we’re encountering for the first time and find new surprises in familiar places. No prior experience with writing is required. The workshop will be held partly outside, so please dress appropriately

Jennifer (JP) Perrine is the author of five books of poetry: Beautiful Outlaw (forthcoming in 2025), Again, The Body Is No Machine, In the Human Zoo, and No Confession, No Mass. Their latest work appears in Best Small Fictions, Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry, and Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, and Poetry. A two-time winner of Arts and Culture Diversity and Inclusion Awards from the Asian American Journalists Association, Perrine lives in Portland, where they cohost the Incite: Queer Writers Read series and work as the equity and racial justice program manager with the regional parks and nature department

Find her website here!