Tokyo Poetry Week: Autumn 2026

Tokyo Poetry Week: Autumn 2026 is a series of poetry events that create a rare intersection of the city’s diverse poetic communities: from visual poets and Japanese tanka poets to multilingual poets from the international diaspora, the festival brings together poets and artists to interact, collaborate and sometimes create. Previous editions included a poem written live on the bodies of Butoh dancers and a haiku collage workshop for creating visual haiku, to name a few. This year, Tokyo Poetry Week is back with its mix of performances, experiments, workshops, talks and book launches across several venues all over Tokyo, including The Den in Koenji, Haremame in Daikanyama and the A.I.R. building, in Nihonbashi. One of the first events in the program is a talk event on architecture and poetry on October 13 by professor Jordan A.Y. Smith from UCLA and editor at Tokyo Poetry Journal in conversation with Zoria Petkoska K, director of Tokyo Poetry Week. Visual Poetry Night on October 15 at The Den, in Koenji, is co-organized with Concrete Poetry Party Osaka and features experimental poets, poetry films, poetry games and merch, a pop-up library of rare visual poetry books and more. Another highlight is the launch of a new volume by the Tokyo Poetry Journal on October 17. The event will feature a Q&A with the editors and even tarot card readings as the new volume's themes are centered around storytelling, legend and myth. Tokyo Poetry Week will conclude with a reading that is structured like a slumber party — with poets reading in a bed and a poetry zines corner. This will be part of the bigger Levels event organized by More Than Music. Tokyo Poetry Week is not only about listening and spectating, but also about connecting, meeting fellow literature lovers and learning via workshops. There will be several workshops, available only with prior sign up. Also, the Drunk Poets See God open mic on October 16 is a partner event which is part of the schedule and is a free sign-up, first-come-first-served event where anyone can read their poems even if they are work in progress.