WiK is now officially launched after a successful opening event, when about 30 people gathered for a talk by Amy Chavez of Japan Times and Rocket News fame.  She told us about her experiences trying to make a living from writing in Japan, which involved a lot of determination, persistence and sheer luck.  One important lesson was the value of personal contact and appealing to publisher’s particular tastes.  Afterwards there was time for socialising, and it was pleasing to see a lot of networking amongst people who had never met before but were working in related fields.  Writing can be an isolated activity, and one of the main purposes of the group is to bring people together to share information and experience.  We already have more members

than expected, and thanks to suggestions made there are several events in the pipeline for the coming year.  These include an evening of Cool Cats, with readings from poetry and prose.  Also an evening with a bookbinder and book connoisseur, who is planning to start his own handmade book publishing business.  We hope too to plan something around Kevin Ramsden’s books for charity scheme, to co-host events with Kyoto Journal, and to offer a writers retreat in the Inland Sea.  It all looks most promising!!

(For more photos of the event, please see under the category Photos above.  For a personal account of the talk, see the Deep Kyoto review.)