Harumi Kawaguchi 川口晴美 is a poet based in Tokyo. Her latest poetry collection, やがて魔女の森になる (To the Witches’ Forest, Shicho-sha, 2021) received the 30th Hagiwara Sakutarō Prize in 2022, and her 13th collection, Tiger is here. (Tiger is here., Shicho-sha, 2015) won the 46th Takami Jun Prize in 2016. Her poetry explores women’s experiences and memory, while also bridging literature and popular culture, particularly manga and anime. 

Her poems have been translated into English, German, Italian, and Korean, and included in the anthologies such as Poet to Poet: Contemporary Women Poets from Japan (Recent Work Press, 2017). She is increasingly interested in collaborative poetry translation, which she started while she was a guest for Poetry on the Move Festival in Canberra in 2017. Her collaborative translations from English to Japanese have been published in the anthologies, I am Ireland (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland, 2025) and pleasant troubles (Recent Work Press, 2018). She has edited several poetry anthologies and has been teaching creative writing over three decades. 

Her participation is made possible by a grant from The Japan Foundation.