SF Magazine Runs Its First Poetry Feature With SF Tanka by 11 Poets
SF Magazine, which has published Japan's leading SF writers since 1959, is devoting its first poetry feature to SF tanka, a form Hayakawa describes as compressing a sense of wonder into 31 syllables.
Reporting from 1 source: KAI-YOU.
The October 2026 issue of SF Magazine, out August 25, includes the magazine's first poetry feature since its 1959 founding: an SF tanka section supervised by Yuriko Matsumura, with 11 poets including Machi Tawara, Hiroshi Homura, and Baku Yumemakura. The issue also announces winners of an SF tanka contest that drew 1,055 entries.
Hayakawa Publishing's SF Magazine will publish its first poetry feature in the October 2026 issue, out August 25. The SF tanka section, supervised by poet Yuriko Matsumura, brings together 11 contributors who wrote tanka on SF themes.
Participants include Machi Tawara, Hiroshi Homura, Baku Yumemakura, and other poets and writers with ties to fantasy and SF. The issue also presents results of an SF tanka contest held from May to June 2026, which drew 1,055 submissions, along with a selection roundtable discussion.
Matsumura's book SF Tanka: 31 Characters That Cross Time and Space, based on her column in the magazine, is due from Hayakawa on September 16.
- Mei Kawanome
- Kimihito Sasa
- Yumio Sato
- Natsuko Seto
- Machi Tawara
- Naoko Azuma
- Ryuichiro Fujiwara
- Hiroshi Homura
- Yuriko Matsumura
- Hiroko Minagawa
- Baku Yumemakura
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.