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the taste of nashi ...

was successfully launched at Haiku Aotearoa in Christchurch on April 19. New Zealand Poetry Society president (and national co-ordinator) Laurice Gilbert was on hand to make the speech, while editors Nola Borrell and Karen Peterson Butterworth of the Windrift haiku group were able to sit quietly for a moment. Thanks were given to the four selectors - Barbara Strang, Cyril Childs, Ernie Berry and Catherine Mair - for their hard work in sifting through the submissions. In the end over 200 haiku by 60 poets made the cut in this first collection of NZ haiku for 10 years. A highlight of the evening was the number of poets at the launch who, one by one, rose to read a haiku each - from the experienced (Cyril Childs, John O'Connor) to newer writers (Janine Sowerby, Kirsten Cliff). Order your copy by using this form. There are various prices - including for NZPS members and those buying from overseas. Happy shopping.

Crossover Success

This exciting news from John Barlow, owner of Snapshot Press (UK) and publisher of The Unworn Necklace.

Roberta Beary's collection of haiku and senryu, The Unworn Necklace, has been recognised in the Poetry Society of America Awards, being one of three finalists in the prestigious William Carlos Williams Award for a book by a single author and published by small/university press.

On the announcement of the news The Unworn Necklace rose into the top 28,000 rankings of all books on amazon.com, and into the top 50 American single-author poetry books. It was also notable that the Amazon rankings of other "serious" haiku books rose considerably in the aftermath. To read more about the book and why it became a finalist go to Silliman's Blog, written by Ron Silliman, the judge of the WCW Award. A response from the haiku community, courtesy of the f/k/a website.

Coincidentally, this news comes in the aftermath of Cyril Childs' thoughtful comments on the crossover (or otherwise) between haiku and "mainstream" poetry in New Zealand, UK and other countries at HA08, which will appear shortly as a monthly article.

Congratulations to John and the formidably talented Roberta Beary. Find a selection of her haiku here.

A Kiwi Haiku Presence

Vanessa Proctor in Sydney has been labouring (excuse the pun - her other edition/addition is due any day) on a New Zealand focus section for British journal, Haiku Presence. Kiwi subscribers to the journal were asked to submit work for selection. Those featuring are: Nola Borrell, Owen Bullock, Cyril Childs, Karen Peterson-Butterworth, Andre Surridge, and Patricia Prime (tanka). For more information about Haiku Presence, please go to Publications. The NZ focus edition, no 35, will be out in May. There is also to be an Australia focus edition. Haiku Presence runs a focus on a particular poet each issue but has decided to broaden it to spotlight various countries.

A Visitor from Britain

Paul Amphlett, poetry moderator of the World Haiku Club's Beginner/Newcomers Group, has just arrived in Auckland from Bath, UK, for an extended stay with his niece on the North Shore. His group also has a technical moderator to help those cope who have difficulty with their computers.

Anyone wishing to join one of the specialised study groups within the club should have a reasonably solid non-contraversial classical English language view of the main principles of haiku. This is all conducted within a 'one to one' personally organised pattern, which in each case is adapted to the needs and abilities of the student. 

Paul would love to meet Kiwi haiku enthusiasts while he is here - if you're interested respond to this e-mail address for further details.

Wings over Britain

The official website for the forthcoming Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku anthology is now live. Written and compiled by John Barlow and Matthew Paul, with contributions from over 30 other haiku poets, the book is illustrated by Sean Gray and features a foreword by the leading bird writer and BBC producer, Stephen Moss.

John Barlow also has a new online exhibition of his haiku and tanka at 3LIGHTS gallery, The Bittern's Neck, which features stunning photographs by the award-winning photographer Sean Gray (and an interview with John).

Festivals & Conferences

Haiku Canada Weekend: May 16 to 18, Carleton University, Ottawa. Northern Lights features workshops and lectures, including one on the cadence of jazz in haiku. Full details from the website. 

International Haiku Conference & Festival: July 29 to August 2, Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, New York state. This is the first time the event has been held in North America. For more information see the website.

Tokyo Poetry Festival: October 31 to November 2, Meiji University, Tokyo. For more information see the website or contact the organiser, Ban'ya Natsuishi (editor of Ginyu and organiser of the World Haiku Association), 3-16-11 Tsuruse-nishi, Fujimi, Saitama 354-0026 Japan, e-mail haikubanya@mac.com

Pacific Rim Haiku Conference: September 22-25, 2009. Wind Over Water is being held in Terrigal, Central Coast (about 1hr 30 north of Sydney), Australia. Convenor Beverley George (Eucalpyt editor and Haiku Oz president) would love to see a good Kiwi representation there. Martin Lucas, editor of Presence (UK) and Linda Galloway of Yukei Teiki Haiku Society (US) are already confirmed as speakers. For more information e-mail Beverley.

Congratulations

To André Surridge who has received a Highly Commended in the James W Hackett Haiku Award (UK) with (chosen by James Hackett):

her fingertip
follows the name of the brother
who didn't return

Ernie Berry was Commended (chosen by David Cobb) with

family bible
a wisp of my baby hair
in Revelation

Read all the winners here.

To Sandra Simpson who has received an Honourable Mention in the Robert Speiss Memorial Haiku Contest (US) with:

hot night
at the filling station
songs of love
 

To the winners and place-getters in the Kokako Haiku Competition (NZ): Sandra Simpson 1st and Commended, Catherine Bullock 3rd, Ernie Berry HC (2) and Commended, Bernie Gadd HC, Andre Surridge Commended (2) and Kerry Popplewell Commended. The judge's report was issued in November 2007, but the results are able to be published only now as Kokako 8 has been distributed.

pausing also
at the sacred matai ...
a wood pigeon

- Sandra Simpson

the ascending scale
as the nail
is hammered home

- Catherine Bullock (this poem also appears in the dust of summers, this year's annual Red Moon anthology)

To John O'Connor who has a tanka-like poem in the April 26 issue of The Listener (NZ):

On the Death of Ruth Dallas
March 2008

She turned her unborn children into poems
plain, well brought up: truthful
humble, practical.

Put simply: they knew their jobs
and did them.

To Ernie Berry who has taken second place in the ukiaHaiku Contest (US), contemporary section. Judge Jane Reichhold said it made her laugh out loud:

petrified forest
a child inspects
my legs

To Andre Surridge, Elaine Ridell and Patricia Prime who all have work in the spring exhibition at 3LightsGallery, Promenade, haiku beside the seaside.

Call for Submissions

Take Five : The Best Contemporary Tanka of 2008: Is headed up by editor-in-chief M. Kei and will review all tanka published in English during 2008. The anthology will be published early in 2009, the first of what is expected to become an annual publication. Patricia Prime is the NZ editor.
Submit to: take5tanka@modernenglishtankapress.com
For more details see the website.

New Books

Jim Kacian sends word of several new publications from Red Moon Press:

contemporary haibun #9 features 60 haibun in English and 20 haiga from around the world. For nearly a decade contemporary haibun has been the only serial book dedicated to these forms. ISBN 1-978-893959-69-9, 110 pages, $US16.95.

waking on the bridge by Martin Shea will introduce the author to an entirely new generation of haiku poets. Shea is a technical innovator, and his distinctive voice is discernable throughout. As Philip Rowland, Founding Editor of NOON: The Journal of the Short Poem, says, ". . . a beautiful collection, wistful, almost dream-like at times, and not without haiku humour." ISBN 1-978-893959-71-2, 64 pages, $US12.

Poems of Consciousness: Contemporary Japanese & English-language Haiku in Cross-cultural Perspective by Richard Gilbert is the backbone of the new haiku, the underpinning beneath all the language of "irruptive" haiku, the most important innovation in haiku in half a century. As William J Higginson, author of The Haiku Handbook, states: "Gilbert investigates Japanese haiku in the flesh. He not only reports on what he has gleaned from books about haiku, but includes interviews with and writings by living Japanese haiku masters."  ISBN 1-978-893959-72-9, 302 pages, $US27.95.

The Postscript Series is a series of chapbooks designed to honour recently deceased haiku poets. Each limited edition chapbook is culled from the entire oeuvre of the poet's lifetime, with an eye to what made the poet distinctive and ahead of their time. There are four titles available: pictographs (haiku of Tony Quagliano), change (haiku of Wim Lofvers), sparklers (haiku of Lorraine Ellis Harr, and faint notes (haiku of Marianne Bluger). In preparation are work by L A Davidson, Francine Porad, Jerry Kilbride and Kay F Anderson. Each
volume is 24 pages and costs $US5.

To order these books go to www.redmoonpress.com

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