June 3, 2011   For Immediate Release

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Three (2010) Anthology, edited by M. Kei, et. al., Published by MET Press

The Take Five editorial team for Volume 3 (2010), consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (India), Alex von Vaupel (NL), Aurora Antonovic (CAN), Magdalena Dale (Romania), Amelia Fielden (AUS/JP), Andrew Riutta (USA), and James Tipton (MEX), read all contemporary tanka published in English during 2010, including more than 175 venues totaling eighteen thousand poems. Sources ranged from tanka journals to social media to musical performances to chapbooks and many other formats. The result is Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Three, featuring tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences by 187 poets and translators from around the world. With an introduction by editor-in-chief by M. Kei, and commentary by the editorial team, Take Five provides a valuable snapshot of tanka in the 21st century. Cover art by Aurora Antonovic.

Baltimore, Maryland – June 3, 2011 – The Take Five editorial team for Volume 3 (2010), consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (India), Alex von Vaupel (NL), Antonovic (CAN), Magdalena Dale (Romania), Amelia Fielden (AUS/JP), Andrew Riutta (USA), and James Tipton (MEX), read all contemporary tanka published in English during 2010, including more than 175 venues totaling eighteen thousand poems. Sources ranged from tanka journals to social media to musical performances to chapbooks and many other formats. The result is Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Three, featuring tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences by 187 poets and translators from around the world. With an introduction by editor-in-chief by M. Kei, and commentary by the editorial team, Take Five provides a valuable snapshot of tanka in the 21st century. Cover art by Aurora Antonovic.

Originating in Japan over 1400 years ago, tanka has spread around the world and is now being published in multilingual venues. Selections appear in Japanese, French, Romanian, Spanish, German, Latvian, Afrikaans, and Twi and reflect the increasing diversity of tanka poetry. Poets and translators from more than fifteen countries are represented. In addition to the linguistic diversity, the introduction also covers performed tanka, and notes developments in spoken word, multimedia, and Deaf tanka.

Tanka poetry, and its close relatives kyoka and gogyoshi, continue to demonstrate the strength and flexibility of the form through traditional and innovative approaches. Each poem is complete in itself, but open-ended, inviting the participation of the reader in creating meaning. This fertile synthesis of writer and reader is a unique aspect of tanka that enables it to leap the chasms between cultures and evoke a multitude of sensations in the receptive mind.

Poets appearing in the anthology: A. A. Marcoff, Adelaide B. Shaw, Alan Spring, Alan Summers, Alex von Vaupel, Alexis Rotella, Amelia Fielden, André Surridge, Angela Leuck, Angie LaPaglia, Anne Benjamin, an'ya, Astrid Andreescu, Aubrie Cox, Aurora Antonovic, Barbara Fisher, Barry Goodmann, Beverley George, Bill Wyatt, Bob Brill, Bob Lucky, Brian Zimmer, Bruce D. Reed, Byakuren Yanagihara, Ce Rosenow, Carlos Colón, Carol Purington, Carole MacRury, Catherine Bullock, Cathy Drinkwater Better, Chen-ou Liu, Chimako Tada, Claire Everett, Clare McCotter, Claudia Coutu Radmore, Dave Bacharach, David Caruso, David Rice, Dave Serjeant, David Terelinck, Dawn Bruce, Deborah P. Kolodji, Denis M. Garrison, Doreen King, Dorothy Walker, Eduard Tara, Elaine Riddell, Elizabeth Fanto, Elliot Nicely, Eve Luckring, Florentina-Loredana Danila, Fujiko Sato, Gavin Austin, Gary LeBel, Geoffrey Winch, George Swede, Gerry Jacobson, Giselle Maya, Grant D. Savage, H. Gene Murtha, Harue Aoki, Hortensia Anderson, Ingrid Kunschke, Irene Golas, j. m. rowland, J. Zimmerman, Jack Prewitt, Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah, James Tipton, Jan Foster, Jane Reichhold, Janet Lynn Davis, Janick Belleau, Jean LeBlanc, Jeanne Lupton, Jeffrey Angles, Jeffrey Woodward, Jo McInerney, Joanne Morcom, Johannes S. H. Bjerg, John Daleiden, John Martell, John Soules, John Stevenson, Jon Summers, Joyce S. Greene, Julianne King, Julie Thorndyke, June Foster, K-K Loke, Kala Ramesh, Karen Cesar, Kath Abela Wilson, Kathe L. Palka, Kathy Kituai, Kathy Lippard Cobb, Kathy Nguyen, Kazuhiro Nagata, Keitha Keyes, Kirsty Karkow, Kozue Uzawa, Kusakabe Enta, Larry Kimmel, Laurence Stacey, LeRoy Gorman, Lesley Walter, Liam Wilkinson, Liga Buševica, Linda Galloway, Linda Jeannette Ward, Linda Moore, Linda Papanicolaou, Lisa Alexander Baron, Lorelei Jolie Polden, Lorne Henry, Luminita Suse, M. Kei, M. L. Grace, Magdalena Dale, Manuela Miga, Marc Thompson, Margaret Chula, Margaret Van Every, Mari Konno, Maria Steyn, Mariko Kitakubo, Marilyn Hazelton, Mark Rutter, Martha Alcántar, Mary Kipps, Mary Lou Bittle-DeLapa, Matt Morden, Maxianne Berger, Mel Goldberg, Michael Ketchek, Michael L. Evans, Michael McClintock, Michael Thorley, Michele L. Harvey, Mike Montreuil, Mina Kirby, Nadine Waltman Harmon, Naomi Beth Wakan, Noriko Tanaka, Owen Bullock, Patricia Prime, Paul O. Williams, Paul Smith, Peggy Heinrich, Peter Bernhardt, Peter Newton, Polona Oblak, Quendryth Young, R. K. Singh, Randy Brooks, Raquel D. Bailey, Richard Stevenson, Roary Williams, Rob Mohr, Robert D. Wilson, Robert Kusch, Rodney Williams, Ruth Holzer, Sachi Amano, Saeko Ogi, Sanford Goldstein, Scott H. Stoller, Seren Fargo, Sonam Chhoki, Sonja Arntzen, Stephen Henry Gill, Susan Constable, Sylvia Florin, Sylvia Forges-Ryan, Terra Martin, Terry Ann Carter, Tessa Wooldridge, Tom Clausen, Tony Beyer, Tracy Royce, Vasile Moldovan, Victor P. Gendrano, Victors Kravecenko, William Hart, Yuko Kawano, and Zofia Barisas,

M. Kei is an award-winning poet who lives on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, USA. He is a tall ship sailor who served his apprenticeship aboard a skipjack, a traditional wooden sailboat used to fish for oysters. He is the editor of Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka and the editor-in-chief of the anthology series Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka. His second collection is Slow Motion: Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack (2008), a log he kept in verse form while making extended cruises aboard a historic wooden sailing vessel. Over 1200 of his tanka have been published in ten countries and six languages. He also writes non-fiction articles about tanka and compiles the Bibliography of English-Language Tanka. He previously edited Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart (2006) and published a collection of short poetry, Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay. Most recently he has published a nautical novel, Pirates of the Narrow Seas, set during the Age of Sail and featuring a gay protagonist.

Patricia Prime is co-editor of Kokako, reviews editor of Takahe, and associate editor of Haibun Today. She is a member of GIEWEC, the Guild of Indian English Writers, Editors and Critics (India) and is a member of the Advisory Board of the New Fiction Journal (India). She is one of the judges of the MetVerse Muse (India) form poetry and one of the judges for the Seashell Game (Presence, UK). Her poems, reviews and interviews were published in the World Poetry Almanac (Mongolia) in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Patricia was on the panel of editors for the Take Five anthologies 2008-2011. She has interviewed several poets and editors for Takahe and for Simply Haiku, Haibun Today, Stylus, and others. Patricia's poetry, essays, haiku, tanka, haibun, reviews and interviews have been published worldwide. Patricia has published several books of collaborative poetry: Sweet Penguins, The Place Where, Every Drop Stone Pebble (a collaboration of haiku with two other poets) and Duet (haiku with an Indian poet). Patricia has published a collection of poetry, Accepting Summer, and has edited an anthology of new and established poets from New Zealand called Something Between Breaths. She has also written essays on the work of other poets, including Katherine Mansfield, Michael Ondaatje, and Arthur Rimbaud. Her most recent publications are three chapbooks, in collaboration with fellow poet, Catherine Mair: East Cape, based on a journey around the Eastern Bay of Plenty, a collection of tanka Stolen Time and a collection of haibun, Morning Glory. She has been published in a booklet of short haibun called Quartet, in collaboration with three other poets from Australia, the USA and the UK.

Kala Ramesh, an exponent of Hindustani Classical Music, was bitten by the haiku-bug in 2005. Since then, her work covering haiku, tanka, senryu, haibun and renku (collaborative poetry) has appeared in leading e-zines and anthologies all over the world. Her haiku has been chosen for the 21st Century Haiku Anthology, edited by Lee Gurga and Scott Metz. Featured Haiku Poet with 25 haiku showcased in Simply Haiku, winter 2009, selected by Richard Gilbert <http:// www.simplyhaiku.com>. An interview on Tanka Online <http:// www.tankaonline.com/ Interview> Kala is keen to see children and adults in India take to haiku and its genres. Conducts workshops in the art of haiku writing in schools. She’s ecstatic about her workshops at literary poetry meets like the Hyderabad Literary Festival and Poetry With Prakriti at Chennai, in 2010 December. Katha, New Delhi, a renowned publishing house, has just brought out Kala's haiku poems as a fully illustrated book for children.

Alex von Vaupel lives in Utrecht, Netherlands, with his many dictionaries and a balcony veg garden. His tanka appear in Atlas Poetica, Concise Delight, and Prune Juice. Two of his tanka won a Tanka Splendor Award (2009). He is the Technical Director for Atlas Poetica. Visit his website <http://alexvonvaupel.com>.

Aurora Antonovic is a writer, editor, and visual artist. She has been the managing editor of A Little Archive of Poetry, an artist-in-residence for moonset, haiga editor for Simply Haiku, Canadian liaison for Muse Apprentice Guild, and is the founder and editor-in-chief of Magnapoets, a publication that seeks to promote the love of verse in all forms.

Magdalena Dale was born in, and lives in, Bucharest, Romania. She is a member of the Romanian Haiku Society and World Haiku Association. Her work can be found in more Romanian and international magazines or anthologies. She wrote a tanka book: Perle de rouã / Dew pearls, a haiku book: Ecourile tãcerii / The echoes of silence, and together with the poet Vasile Moldovan she wrote a renga book: Mireasmã de tei / Fragrance of Lime. She has won several awards.

Amelia Fielden is an Australian, an award-winning professional translator and poet. Seventeen books of her translations of Japanese tanka have been published, and six books of her original English tanka, the latest of which is Light 0n Water, (2010). Amelia has also collaborated with fellow Australian poet, Kathy Kituai, to produce two collections of responsive tanka in English, In Two Minds (2008) and Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (2011), and with Japanese- Australian poet, Saeko Ogi to create the bilingual tanka diary Weaver Birds (2010).

Andrew Riutta was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a region known for its harsh winters and profound isolation, but also its abundance of natural splendor. He is the father of a bright and beautiful nine-year-old daughter, Issabella. In the spring of 2011, his essay, "The Myths of Manhood," will be included in National Public Radio’s anthology series, This I Believe.

James Tipton lives in the tropical mountains of central Mexico, in the town of Chapala, with his wife Martha and his daughter Gabriela. He first began to study haiku and tanka in the mid-sixties while eating sack lunches in City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. For more than forty years he has been publishing haiku and tanka and its related forms, including senyru and kyoka. Magazine credits include American Tanka, Atlas Poetica, frogpond, Haiku, Hummingbird, Lynx, Modern English Tanka, Modern Haiku, Prune Juice, still, The Tanka Journal, Tundra, and Woodnotes. Anthology credits include The Haiku Anthology, ed. Cor van den Heuvel (Doubleday Anchor, 1974); The Haiku Handbook, by William J. Higginson (McGraw-Hill, 1985); Aphrodite, by Isabel Allende (Harper Collins, 1998); Haiku: A Poet’s Guide, by Lee Gurga (Modern Haiku Press, 2003); Erotic Haiku, ed. Hiroaki Sato (IBC, 2004); and The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, edited by Jim Kacian and others (Red Moon Press, 1996, 2007, and 2008). His books of haiku include Bittersweet (Cold Mountain Press, 1975); Proposing to the Woman in the Rear View Mirror (Modern English Tanka Press, 2008); and Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village/Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo, a bilingual collection of 100 "three-line poems" about Mexico and Latin America, published in Mexico (Ediciones del Lago, 2009). A collection of his poetry, Letters from a Stranger (Conundrum Press, 1999), with a Foreword by Isabel Allende, won the Colorado Book Award. His work has been translated into a dozen languages including Japanese and Chinese.mailto:spiritofmexico@yahoo.com

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the editor-in-chief, contact M. Kei by e-mail

at mailto:leblanc01@yahoo.comtake5tanka@gmail.com. Publisher information at: www.themetpress.com.

The print book and ebook both are available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka. Information is available online at www.themetpress.com Price: $16.95 USD. ISBN 978-1-935398-27-1. Trade paperback. 220 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink. A PDF ebook is also available for $8.95, ISBN 978-1-935398-28-8.

MET Press (Modern English Tanka Press) is a small independent publishing house in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing work of lasting literary value, especially fine verse. We use modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. Our special mission is to promote the tanka form of poetry and to educate newcomers about this most ancient poetic form.

Contact: Denis M. Garrison, owner, MET Press / Modern English Tanka Press

Telephone: 443-559-2776 Email to dmg@themetpress.com Website: www.themetpress.com

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