Holly Thompson's Blog, page 34

Kamakura Blossom Stroll

It's toward the end of the peak cherry blossom season in Kamakura, with the petals beginning to swirl in the breeze, float on ponds and catch at roadsides. So that you can enjoy my morning stroll, too, from wherever you are, here are are few photos.

School Visits--Orchards, Bentos and Cupcakes in Massachusetts and Maine

I've just wrapped up two weeks of school visits in Massachusetts and Maine and am soon to return to Japan. This wonderful series of visits focusing on Orchards resulted after I received an invitation by a middle school librarian to be the featured speaker for a Reading Reality unit in which all grade 8 students selected from a list of books, including Orchards, that with various social issues. Thanks to this librarian, I was also invited to visit seven other Massachusetts schools, zapping around the state from eastern MA to western MA to Worcester, and I was able to squeeze in a visit to a school in Maine. During the two weekends between visits, two Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction launch events were held, the Tomo launch in Boston and the Tomo launch in New York City. 

By the end of the two-week tour, I'd grown to love the GPS in my rental car and had learned that I needed .5 liters of water, ideally not cold, for every hour of speaking. But everything went smoothly, Route 128 traffic notwithstanding, and not once did the technology fail.

Whether grade 6 or grade 12, inner city or posh suburb, student questions were at turns insightful, challenging, unique and fun, and all the student and teacher responses to Orchards inspired me and motivated me day after day. Teachers had created units around the book and elaborate lesson plans, and students had written verse and letters in advance of my visits.

One of my favorite sessions was for an International Cuisine class on the art of making bento--Japanese boxed lunches:
Preparations set, ready for the students Making Japanese tamagoyaki--egg roll up Composing a bento Results! More incredible results

And I particularly enjoyed an intensive interview discussion with a group of ESL students from Puerto Rico, the Ukraine, Haiti and Thailand.


Incredible interviewers!
And it was amazing to see the results of students developing their own scenes in verse
 

Other favorite moments include:
Hearing Orchards response poems movingly read to me one by one
After sessions, students bringing me poems they'd written privatelyMeeting students from all over--including Haiti, Lebanon, Syria, Japan Encountering librarians who love and understand and booktalk YA lit to English classes Ordering from a lunch menu for a shop near one school and selecting "The Orchards" sandwich--apple slices and brie cheeseA middle-schooler who was predicted to be trouble for me leaving a session saying, "I dunno. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll write a novel." Surprising hometown and Japan connections Brand new creative commons librariesCreative uses of traditional libraries Lunches with teachersLunches with students All the questions about JapanCupcakes!Thank you to all the schools on my tour. I hope to see you again!

 
  

School Visit--Meeting Asia's Future Writers in Bangkok

Yesterday I returned from Thailand where I spent five days at International School Bangkok. My week of middle school and high school sessions was impeccably planned by middle school librarian Ida Kelsey and high school librarian Mischele Jamgochian (of YA book blog fame: Ms. Jamgochian's Infinite Booklist), as well as enthusiastic teachers who'd revved and primed their students before my arrival. There was a Glogster poster prepared, Orchards book sets in classrooms, and Tomo books for sale throughout the week. View from the hotelISB is a good hour from central Bangkok, so I stayed in a hotel closer to the school, but right on the Chao Phraya river, where the sunsets were incredible, and I could eat dinner outside and watch the river traffic and water hyacinths flow by.
At ISB throughout the week I met with high school classes in grades 9, 10 and 12, spoke with a Japanese native language class and beginner Japanese class, presented to the entire middle school for a special morning assembly, and met with grades 6, 7 and 8. I did class presentations to large groups of 80 students and small classes of 10 students, and one of 160. I answered questions for a school radio broadcast and signed books in the library. And treat of treats, I met several times with grade six students who were so eager to write and share their writing and ask astute questions about craft, story and inspiration.
Treasured moments:Standing with students in absolute silence for the national anthem and photos of the king in assembly
Popping down to the cafeteria for mango smoothiesHearing high school students ask, when told to draft a scene, "In our writing journals or writing notebooks?" They have both!
Tuesday evening riverside dinner with librarians and Tomo translator-contributor Avery Fischer Udagawa Seeing students arrive in classes with whatever YA book they're reading
Afternoon thunderstorm--rain whipping into open-air corridors
Chatting with students in the libraryCroaking frogs in the courtyard
Meeting Japanese students throughout the week
Discussing my next book's Cambodian character with a Cambodian student
Golf cart ride to Thursday dinnerFoot (and legs and arms and back and shoulders and neck and head) massage after a full day of classes
Grade six scenes created from a prompt...read to cheersGrade six students sharing one-on-one their historical fiction plots
Friday chatting with middle school students after school And, on my way out of the school on my last day, a middle school boy saying "Can I, like, touch you? I mean, 'cause you're an author?" A class of Orchards readers Dessert--sticky coconut rice and mango With middle-schoolers ready for the Neon Social Tomo readers Another dinner sunsetThank you, ISB, for a truly memorable week!

Children & Teen Voices in the News since March 11

Today begins the weekend marking the one-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Saturday is the launch day for the Tomo anthology, the collection of 36 young adult stories that I edited to support teens in Tohoku, and a Tomo Launch event, an evening of readings and reflection, will be held in Tokyo. Sunday, March 11, 2012, 2:46 p.m.marks the time of the earthquake, and there are ceremonies and events planned throughout Japan to remember and honor those who lost their lives in the disasters that followed. 
Throughout the year, I've kept a list of some of the newspaper articles that featured children and teens in Tohoku. I thought I'd share a few of these this weekend:
"Teen girl separated from friend narrowly survives tsunami" Asahi Shimbun, April 11, 2011
"Fukushima high school golfer shoots for glory in tourney" Daily Yomiuri September 23, 2011
"Teenager's tsunami art on postcard lifting spirits" Daily Yomiuri, October 8, 2011
"Ishinomaki girl comforts friends' families" Daily Yomiuri, October 12, 2011
"Tohoku teens share views of survival" Japan Times, November 10, 2011
"Grandparents stifle grief to raise orphaned boy" Japan Times, February 23, 2012
"Tohoku teen feels guilt of being lone survivor" Japan Times, February 24, 2012
And if you haven't seen it already, take an hour this weekend to watch BBC's Children of the Tsunami.
This will be a tough weekend. Already I am fighting back tears every few minutes. But I am full of hope for the children and teens of Tohoku. I am encouraged and inspired by their strength. Step by step, let's keep moving forward. 

Morning Beach Walk=Wakame Lunch

Today is a perfect wakame day--sunny skies, light breeze, calm bay--so instead of a morning run, I went for a beach walk. January to March is wakame seaweed season up and down the Shonan coast, and today all the fishing families were out working the wakame.


Yesterday's wakame, crisp-black, was laid out for a final drying, and today's wakame, harvested from rafts out in the bay, was being hung from laundry clips.


I love seeing the freshly hung wakame, blowing in the breeze, up and down the beach.


Alhough the surf was quiet, meaning less seaweed drifting ashore for individual wakame gatherers, at least one person could be spotted with a pole. snagging fronds and dropping them into a bag.


I stopped to talk with one of the fishermen who cultivates wakame. He said that the recent high winds had torn wakame from the cultivation ropes in the bay and pulled some of the ropes from their moorings. Still, he said, the harvest is good this year, though of course, due to climate change and warmer waters, the wakame fronds continue to be shorter.

After chatting for a while, I bought a bagful of wakame from him...


which, at home, turned out to be a huge heaping plateful.


This will keep me content for a few days! For lunch I enjoyed a large fresh wakame salad with sesame seeds and yuzu (citron) ponzu dressing. Perfect! What's your favorite way to eat wakame?

Vietnam--Asia Pacific Poetry Festival Part 5

 Recently I was in Vietnam for the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival held in Quang Ninh Provice at Halong Bay and in Hanoi. Following is Part 3 of this experience; Part 1 is here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here.

The finale of the festival was a closing banquet held at the swank Daewoo Hotel.

The Cambodia delegation presents Japan with a plaque
Poets Dinah Roma Sianturi and Alice San-Cua, and Alex from the Philippines
A toast
More toasts
and hugs
Nguyen Vu Hung and Yuka Tsukagoshi
Pornpen Hantrakook and Goro Takano
Marjorie Evasco and Mamta SagarAnd there were some final speeches...
good laughs...

songs...
Japan contingent singing the sukiyaki song (Ue o muite)
and even a bit of dancing.

We'd all become fast friends during our week of poetry and it was a lovely celebration to cap the experience.

My last day in Vietnam there were no planned activities, so I joined poet Joel Arnstein for a Hanoi walk. We started at Ngoc Son Pagoda and from there explored Hanoi's Old Quarter.
Approaching Ngoc Son Pagoda

Ngoc Son Pagoda Ngoc Son Pagoda Hanoi hardware bamboo seller fish seller egg seller
baskets closed temple door with money offerings old city gate baguette seller Sidewalk tea break with poet Joel Arnstein, UK/Philippines
Hanoi Ngoc Son Pagoda
From City View Cafe
From City View CafeAfter lunch at City View Cafe, we visited the Ethnology Museum to make for a full day. And then it was time for me to depart Vietnam.

I'm so grateful to the organizers of the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival for inviting me to take part, for the chance to meet poets and translators from near and far, and for treating me to an incredible glimpse of Vietnam. Thank you!

Vietnam--Asia Pacific Poetry Festival Part 4

Recently I was in Vietnam for the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival held in Quang Ninh Provice at Halong Bay and in Hanoi. Following is Part 3 of this experience; Part 1 is here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here.

On the morning of our fifth full day, we traveled to the Xu Doai region to visit the Thay Pagoda.
Arriving at the pagoda area

Mariko Nagai lakeside Poet father and Nguyen Vu Hung Head monk addressing the poets and Nguyen Phan Que Mai Fruit dragon Poets on stage After greetings and speeches, we toured the pagodas.
Water puppet pavilion Incense burner
Inside one of the pagoda halls
Surprise!
pagoda hall Covered bridge
Poets from Sri Lanka After the tour we sat down under the tent for a huge vegetarian feast prepared by the locals.
In the afternoon we returned to Hanoi and groups of us went downtown for a bit of shopping. At last the sun was out.
Hanoi Hanoi park Hanoi sunsetAnd the finale of the festival was the splashy closing banquet held that evening at the swank Daewoo Hotel.

Continued in Part 5...

Vietnam--Asia Pacific Poetry Festival Part 3

Recently I was in Vietnam for the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival held in Quang Ninh Provice at Halong Bay and in Hanoi. Following is Part 3 of this experience; Part 1 is here, Part 2 here.

The Evening Gala of Poetry was held on our third day at Hanoi's Temple of Literature, a Confucian temple that dates back to 1076. Arriving at night was a magical experience.
Temple of Literature entrance Temple of Literature gate I was honored to read two pages from Orchards and I read an English translation for a Vietnamese poetThe following morning we returned to the Temple of Literature, on the occasion of Vietnam's National Poetry Day, for more readings and performances with stages set up in two of the temple's large courtyards. It was lovely to see the temple in daylight.
Temple of Literature With poets Yuka Tsukagoshi and Mariko Nagai A long parade of poets arriving one of many ancient steles huge drum entirely flowers crowds waiting for the events to beginPoetry was interspersed with musical and dance performances.
Poet Cyril Wong, Singapore reading, with Nguyen Phan Que Mai Poet Anna Retejum, Russia, and her translator musical performance Poet Marjorie Evasco, Philippines and translator folk dance performance poetry Poet Mamta Sagar, India, with Nguyen Phan Que Mai Poet Goro Takano, Japan, with translator Poet Azam Abidov, Uzbekistan, singing Reading my poem "Hills North of Ulaan Baatar"Performances ended in the early afternoon. Later in the afternoon of that day we boarded buses again for a reception at . . . the Presidential Palace.
Presidential Palace
Poets Goro Takano, me, Ngyuen Phan Que Mai, David McKirdy, Mamta Sagar and Sue WoottenOnce we were seated inside a reception hall, the president of Vietnam greeted us. There were speeches by representatives from Vietnam, Laos, China, Cambodia, Russia, India and Japan, then the president spoke about the success of the festival. Outside we gathered on the steps for photos.
Japan haiku poet Ban'ya Natsuishi with the president The President of Vietnam addresses the poets The poets gathered with the President of Vietnam Yuka Tsukagoshi with the president of Vietnam
Expressing my thanks to the president of Vietnam for this incredible opportunity Poets Mamta Sagar and Sukrita Paul Kumar of India escort Vietnam poetAnd to top off the very full day, the evening included a water puppet performance.

And following a wee bit of sleep, the next morning we traveled to the Xu Doai region to visit Tay Pagoda.

Continued in Part 4...

Vietnam--Asia Pacific Poetry Festival Part 2

Recently I was in Vietnam for the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival held in Quang Ninh Provice at Halong Bay and in Hanoi. Following is Part 2 of this experience; Part 1 is here.

On Day 2 of the festival after a morning of poetry readings and lunch at the hotel, the international and Vietnamese poets all boarded boats and set out on Halong Bay. Clouds had lifted, and for most of the trip the drizzle held off. Ha long means dragon descending, and the islands lifting out of the bay indeed looked like the bodies of serpent-like Asian dragons. How apt to visit Halong Bay in this dragon year.
Halong Bay Halong Bay
Halong Bay
Halong Bay Halong Bay
Halong Bay

On board we were interviewed by news teams.
Sheo from Singapore being interviewed
Poet Cyril Wong ready for interview
Huu Thinh with interpreters and translators Translator Nguyen Vu HungAfter the Halong Bay excursion, some of the international poets met to discuss the poetry today, new directions and new possibilities and the role of festivals and readings. Then following dinner a full evening of readings lasted until nearly midnight. In addition to the readings, some poets sang and performed.
Poet Mariko Nagai, Japan, reads Poet from Yakutia, Russia Poet Ban'ya Natsuishi, Japan, reads haiku Poet Azam Abidov, Uzbekistan, singsEarly the next morning we packed up and our buses departed Halong Bay for Hanoi. Along the way we stopped at the Bat Trang Ceramic Village where we were treated to a lunch feast and had a peek at some of the pottery stalls.

Bat Trang pottery
Shards atop a wallWe arrived in Hanoi in mid-afternoon and settled into Ho Tay Villas, a communist party gated property. Five of us poets from Japan shared this huge "villa."
Ho Tay VillasAcross the way was a small lakeside temple.


Poets Joel Arnstein and Yuka Tsukagoshi

There we enjoyed a quiet stroll before the evening's events at Hanoi's Temple of Literature.

To be continued...

Vietnam--Asia Pacific Poetry Festival Part 1

Last week I traveled to Vietnam for the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival, held in Quang Ninh Province at Halong Bay and in Hanoi. What an unforgettable experience! The festival included about 80 international poets from some 25 countries as well as 40 Vietnamese poets. What a feat to collect all of these poets coming in on different flights and transport them in batches from the airport several hours east to Halong Bay. Five poets attended from Japan: myself and Mariko Nagai, Yuka Tsukagoshi, Goro Takano, and Ban'ya Natsuishi, president of the World Haiku Association. 

A ceremony was held on the morning of the first day of the festival, with a marching band and stage fireworks, and opening comments from Poet Huu Thinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association.
Opening ceremonyThen we immediately traveled by bus for an incense ceremony. We were taken to a town center from where we walked through narrow lanes out to the bay to an apparently sacred site. The area was covered with heaps of rubble, though, clearly under deconstruction/construction. We made our way over the rubble to the tent for speeches, performances and the incense ceremony--when all of the poets were invited to come forward to light incense.

Poets making their way through town
Walking to the tent Starting the incense ceremony Drum performanceAfter the incense ceremony and dance and drumming performances, at water's edge we released balloons with banners on which early Vietnamese poems had been written. The balloons quickly disappeared into the mist.
Vietnamese poem on a banner Balloons with poemsLunch was followed by the opening sessions of the conference with speeches by the Chairman of the Vietnam Writers' Association, various Vietnamese poets, and several international poets, including me--my speech was titled "Insiders, Outsiders and Those In Between."
Opening sessions Seating by countryAfter dinner the poetry readings began, and readings went on until late, each poem read in its original language, then again by a translator. International poets were often called upon to read the translations.
Poet Rida Liamsi, Indonesia Poet Pornpen Hantrakool, Thailand me waiting to read a translation for Vietnam poet Mai Van Phan Poet Goro Takano, JapanThe second full day, we were scheduled for an excursion on Halong Bay, but the bay was socked in with fog, so the schedule was quickly rearranged. Poet readings were held throughout the morning, and we came to know the poets from Laos, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, China, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Russia, India, Indonesia and of course, Vietnam. Now and then we were  pulled aside to be interviewed.
With a young journalist who interviewed me
Poets from Japan, seated L to R, Goro Takano, Ban'ya Natsuishi, Mariko Nagai and me standing with Yuka Tsukagoshi
International poets Poets signing the bannerIn the afternoon, the mists had lifted and the limestone islands of Halong Bay were finally visible as we set out on tour boats. 

To be continued...