self-portrait
Mariko Kitakubo (Japanese: 北久保まりこ, born October 4, 1959, Hiroo, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan), self-employed, business owner; tanka poet, and performer. She is a member of the Japan Writers’ Association, the Japan PEN Club, the Association of Contemporary Tanka Poets, the Japan Tanka Poets’ Society, Yukitsuna Sasaki’s Kokoro-no-hana tanka group, the Tanka Society of America, and the British Haiku Society. Kitakubo is a performer of dynamic tanka readings, often incorporating musical instruments. She has performed on more than 218 occasions in 55 cities on 5 continents. She has published six tanka collections, three of them in Japanese and English. In 2020 Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji developed the tan-ku, a presentation of alternating tanka and haiku. Kitakubo founded the Tan-Ku Association after Kolodji’s death in 2024, and named Kolodji as Honorary President. Two tan-ku collections by the two poets have been published: Distance (2023) and Eternal (2025). Kitakubo resides in Mitaka city, Tokyo.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.