 Kala Ramesh has long had a fascination for Indian classical music and has worked extensively on Pandit Kumar Gandharava’s compositions and nirguni bhajans, under the guidance of Mrs. Shubhada Chirmulay, Pune. Kala has performed in major cities in India.
Kala discovered haiku in 2005 and feels she's addicted to this art form since day one! She also writes in related genres like, tanka, haibun, senryu, and renku.
On the editorial board—Take Five: The Best Contemporary Tanka 2008/2009/2010
Editor of Haiku and short verses — Muse India
Deputy Editor-in-chief — World Haiku Review
Festival Director: The 9th World Haiku Festival, (WHC) Bangalore, February 2008
On the Advisory Board of Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts, from September 2013
Instrumental in bringing together - FIRST Katha ebook of haiku, haibun, senryu and tanka, published by Katha on 21st September, 2013,
Her book titled Haiku brought out by Katha in December 2010 was awarded the Honourable Mention for Best Book for Children: The Haiku Society of America’s Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards.
Her book titled Haiku & Haibun with Irish language translations by Gabriel Rosenstock, published by Original Writing Ltd, Dublin, was launched at Mumbai Oxford Bookstore on 21st Sep 2013.
Won the International Haibun Contest 2012 (Japan)- An (Cottage) Prize for the haibun: The Blue Jacaranda.
The Snapshot Press eChapbook Award 2012 (UK) for her tanka collection: the unseen arc
Won the first prize at The Akita International Haiku Award, September 2013
Anthologised in two prestigious publications - Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language haiku, Modern Haiku Press, 2012 & Haiku in English - the First Hundred Years, W.W. Norton 2013
Recently, kala presented a feature titled Haiku in India for A Hundred Gourds, published in June, 2013. The link: http://www.ahundredgourds.com/ahg23/feature01.html
Kala is one of the founding members of the ‘IN haiku’ group. IN haiku was formed on 23rd February at the Haiku Utsav 2013 — mainly to get Indian haiku poets under one umbrella for promoting, enjoying and sinking deeper into the beauty and intricacies of this art form. |
