Kala Ramesh
Chennai, India
Biography
Poet, editor, anthologist, and festival director, Kala Ramesh has been a prominent advocate and practitioner of haiku and related Japanese poetry forms in India, including tanka, haibun, haiga, and renku. Kala’s initiatives culminated in founding ‘INhaiku' in 2013, which later evolved into Triveni Haikai India in September 2021.
Kala’s first haiku book, ‘Haiku!’ published by Katha in 2010 and reprinted in 2017, was awarded the best children’s book by the Haiku Society of America. Her second book of haiku and haibun, ‘Beyond the Horizon Beyond’, was shortlisted for the Tagore Literary Prize in 2019. Her third book, ‘The Forest I Know’, published by HarperCollins, was released to critical acclaim in 2021 and launched at the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival in March 2022.
Kala is the Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning ‘Naad Anunaad: an Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku’ (India 2016) and co-editor of ‘Wishbone Moon’ (2018 USA). She co-authored an e-book with Marlene Mountain, ‘one-line twos’ (BONES, Denmark 2018), and a tanka e-chapbook, ‘Unseen Arc’ (2017 UK).
Art has always fascinated Kala. The link and shift, an aesthetic tool widely used in renku (Japanese linked-form of collaborative verses), is something she employs when working with haiga (artwork with haiku), shahai (photo with haiku), and tanka-art (artwork with tanka). All the flowers shown in these pieces are from her garden, photographed with her mobile phone! Things are so much easier now.
Highlights:
Kala will represent India at the Poets of the Planet’s Conference in Paris in September 2025. The aim of this conference is to amplify the voice of poets advocating for peace against xenophobia and hatred, and in defense of life on Earth.
Kala was honoured with the prestigious Panorama International Literature Award 2025, established by The Writers Capital International Foundation.S he also received the WE Trailblazer Poet Award from Women Empowered India (2020).
Poet, editor, anthologist, and festival director, Kala Ramesh has been a prominent advocate and practitioner of haiku and related Japanese poetry forms in India, including tanka, haibun, haiga, and renku. Kala’s initiatives culminated in founding ‘INhaiku' in 2013, which later evolved into Triveni Haikai India in September 2021.
Kala’s first haiku book, ‘Haiku!’ published by Katha in 2010 and reprinted in 2017, was awarded the best children’s book by the Haiku Society of America. Her second book of haiku and haibun, ‘Beyond the Horizon Beyond’, was shortlisted for the Tagore Literary Prize in 2019. Her third book, ‘The Forest I Know’, published by HarperCollins, was released to critical acclaim in 2021 and launched at the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival in March 2022.
Kala is the Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning ‘Naad Anunaad: an Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku’ (India 2016) and co-editor of ‘Wishbone Moon’ (2018 USA). She co-authored an e-book with Marlene Mountain, ‘one-line twos’ (BONES, Denmark 2018), and a tanka e-chapbook, ‘Unseen Arc’ (2017 UK).
Art has always fascinated Kala. The link and shift, an aesthetic tool widely used in renku (Japanese linked-form of collaborative verses), is something she employs when working with haiga (artwork with haiku), shahai (photo with haiku), and tanka-art (artwork with tanka). All the flowers shown in these pieces are from her garden, photographed with her mobile phone! Things are so much easier now.
Highlights:
Kala will represent India at the Poets of the Planet’s Conference in Paris in September 2025. The aim of this conference is to amplify the voice of poets advocating for peace against xenophobia and hatred, and in defense of life on Earth.
Kala was honoured with the prestigious Panorama International Literature Award 2025, established by The Writers Capital International Foundation.S he also received the WE Trailblazer Poet Award from Women Empowered India (2020).
