Haiku Happenings
This Month’s Article
Check out this month’s article:
Tanka: Taking flight
by Kala Ramesh
New Contests
Check out the latest contests
Publications
Explore publications
Thanks, as always, to the New Zealand Poetry Society for giving us space on its site – free of charge. If you’d consider joining the NZPS, it would be a small repayment for the hosting and support that we receive out of kindness. For those within New Zealand, your membership fees are tax deductible, as is any donation you make over the top of the annual sub. Read more about joining and membership benefits here, including how to join if you live outside New Zealand.
If you’d like to recommend an article, offer to write something for these pages, or generally have something to say about haiku and its related forms, please feel free to get in touch with me, Sandra Simpson. If you find any broken links within an article please let me know. Time passes and websites disappear but clicking on a broken link is always frustrating so I’d like to keep them up to date if I can.
Archives comprise Essays, Articles, NZ Haiku Showcase
and Haiku Commentary.
Contest Results
NZPS Haiku Contest (NZ)
Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Award (US)
Society of Classical Poets Haiku Competition (US)
NZPS Junior Haiku Contest (NZ)
HSA Rengay Award (US)
BHS Awards (UK)
Martin Lucas Haiku Award (UK)
HPNC Haibun Contest (US)
Sonic Boom Visual Poetry Contest (India)
Japan Fair Haiku Contest (US)
Star Haiku Contest (Japan)
News & Events
Japan-theme events in NZ
Sept 6-7 The Art of Ikebana Exhibition, 9am-4pm, Begonia House, Wellington Botanic Gardens, free. Read more here.
Sept 6-Oct 5: Blossom Valley, 9am-10pm, Aston Norwood Gardens, Upper Hutt, adults $15/$20. Read more here.
Sept 24: Japanese Film Show, 5.45-8.30pm, Christchurch Art Gallery, free. Read more here.
Sept 26-28: Japanese Film Festival, Roxy Cinema, Wellington. Read more here.
Oct 11-12: Japanese Film Festival, Whirinaki Whare Taonga, Upper Hutt. Read more here.
Oct 11-12: Asia Festival, 10am-6pm, Auckland Showgrounds, free. Read more here.
Oct 27: Holding Ground, a dance show with the work of Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda, 6pm, Municipal Theatre, Napier, various prices. Read more here.
Oct 27: Holding Ground, a dance show with the work of Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda, 5pm, Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga, various prices. Read more here.
Oct 31-November 9: Japanese Tea Ceremony, 11am-noon or 5-6pm, New Plymouth, $16. Read more here.
Nov 9: Japan Day, 11am-3pm, Dowse Square, Lower Hutt, free. Read more here.
Nov 13: Matcha Moments Workshop, from 10.30am, Totara Park Masonic Village, Warkworth, possibly $100. Read more here.
Dec 20-March: The Superlative Artistry of Japan, 10am-4pm, Whirinaki Whare Taonga, Upper Hutt. Read more here.
Congratulations
To Mike Johansson who has been placed Second equal in the Society of Classical Poets Haiku Competition (US).
To Sandra Simpson who has received the Grand Prize in the Vladimir Devide Haiku Award (Croatia).
To Katherine Raine who has been placed First in the NZPS Haiku Contest (NZ), and Patsy Turner, who has been placed Fifth. Kiwis Highly Commended are Sue Courtney, Katherine Raine and Sandra Simpson, while Commended are Charline Pocock and Peter Free.
To Kirsten Cliff Elliot (now resident in England) who received an Honourable Mention in the marlene mountain haiku contest (US).
New Free XpresSion haikai editor
Congratulations to Kiwi haiku poet Anne Curran who has stepped into the role of haikai editor for the monthly Australian journal Free XpresSion, left vacant after the sudden death of long-time editor Cynthia Rowe. Anne’s first selection will appear next month.
Submit: Up to 10 unpublished haiku, tanka and/or haibun that are not under consideration elsewhere, by email to Anne.
Subscribe: Readers outside Australia can receive a free online edition. Email editor Peter Free to join the mailing list.
New haiku editors for Presence
From issue 82 (the most recent), Presence haiku journal is being edited by a collective drawn from the Edinburgh Haiku Circle. The three main co-editors – James Roderick Burns, Ken Cockburn and Becky Dwyer – will invite others from the Circle issue by issue.
Submit: By September 30 for issue 83. Full details from the website.
End Notes
August 31, 2025: A winter ill finally caught up with me in August so it was synchronicity that I should have heard an interview with a Professor of Biochemistry about why illness spreads more in winter just when my throat was so sore I could barely speak. One of the reasons is apparently the lack of humidity in the air, so ‘aerosols’ (germs in old money) from coughing and sneezing linger at head height, whereas the higher humidity (air weight, if you like) of summer drives them to the ground faster. And, of course, we’re not all in such close quarters in summer and have doors and windows open. Catch the interview here.
On a happier note, our monthly article is a guide for writing tanka by the experienced teacher Kala Ramesh. If this isn’t a form you’ve explored before, her ‘how to’ might be a good place to start. The Contest listing has been updated and highlights opportunities through to the end of October. – Sandra
HAIKU EVENTS 2025
Sept 24-28 Haiku North America, San Francisco, USA. Read more here.
Oct 23-26 Seabeck Haiku Getaway, Washington State, USA. Read more here.