Haiku Happenings
This Month’s Article
Check out this month’s article:
Habits of Haiku Scutiny
by Michael Dylan Welch
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
Rachel Sutcliffe Haiku Arts Contest (US)
Maya Lyubenova Haiku Contest (Bulgaria)
Irmo Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Contest (US)
Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest (Romania)
Martin Lucas Haiku Award (UK)
BHS Awards (UK)
Touchstone Poem Awards (US)
Snapshot Press eChapbook Award (UK)
Touchstone Haibun Awards (US)
IHS Contest (Ireland)
Touchstone Book Awards (US)
News & Events
Vale Cynthia Rowe, 1938-2025
Cynthia, a past president of the Australian Haiku Society, died in Sydney on April 6. The haiku editor of free XpresSion, Cynthia attended the 2012 Haiku Festival Aotearoa in Tauranga. Read more on the AHS website.
NZ Haiku Featured on THF
Sue Courtney has made a selection of haiku about food for The Haiku Foundation feature, Haiku of the Day, during April. The Kiwi poets (in order of appearance and with USA timing) are: Andre Surridge (April 9), Adjei Agyei-Baah (April 10), Nola Borrell (April 16), Elsje Winnubst (April 20), Graham Bates (April 24) and Sandra Simpson (April 29). Sue’s post explaining her theme can be seen here.
Petals Waka Journal
The new Waka Society of America (membership details are on the website, link below, a small donation to join is welcomed) is to produce an annual e-book called Petals, edited by US poet an’ya. Only members may submit. Information about waka are also available on the website.
Submit: By April 30. Full details can be found here (scroll down)
Double Horizons anthology
Haiku poets who have published at least one collection of haiku in either English or French to contribute to a new English- and French-language anthology of contemporary haiku, Double Horizons, due to be published in December 2025. The project is the brainchild of the Association Francophone de Haïku and the journals l’estran and seashores.
Submit: By April 30. Full details here.
Congratulations
To Peter Free, who has been placed Third in the Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest (Romania). Read the winning poems and judge’s comments here.
To Amelia Yu (aged 9) who has received the Young Poet Commendation in the Maya Lyubenova Haiku Contest (Bulgaria). See all the winning poems here.
To Owen Bullock (Australia) who has received an Honourable Mention in the BHS Haiku Award. Read all the winning haiku, tanka and haibun here.
Free Online Haiku Workshop
With Michael Dylan Welch as part of the Virtual Japan Fair in Washington State.
When: May 27, 6-8pm (US Pacific time), registration essential. Full details from the website.
Year of the Snake Anthology
Poets are invited to submit haiku and/or tanka to the latest animal-theme collection edited by Corine Timmer. Send up to 5 poems, one of which may have been previously published
Submit: May 1-31. Full details from the website.
Sensory Journey anthology
A Sensory Journey is the anthology from last year’s Haiku Down Under online gathering with the poems either written during workshops or break times or inspired during the weekend. The balance of the print run is now on general sale, with 10 copies in New Zealand so saving on postage costs for Kiwis (the rest are in Australia). There are various options available so please contact Carole Harrison (Australia) or Sue Courtney (NZ) for more information. See a small sampler of poems here.
End Notes
Late April, 2025: Storms, public holidays galore and the beginning of autumn colour … April was full of action so it’s to be hoped some poetry flowed from the pen too. For various reasons, this is an early updating for May and I’ll try and stay on top of updates through May but no promises, okay?
The essay this month is aimed at encouraging you to review your practice before entering the NZPS contest (or one or more of the many other contests on offer), always a useful exercise, no matter how long you’ve been writing. And don’t forget the Archive of essays is also there for help editing, writing and general support. The link to that is further up on this page. – Sandra
HAIKU EVENTS 2025
May 16-18 Haiku Canada Weekend, Lennoxville, Québec, Canada. Read more here.
Aug 22 National Poetry Day, NZ. Read more here.
Sept 24-28 Haiku North America, San Francisco, USA. Read more here.
Oct 23-26 Seabeck Haiku Getaway, Washington State, USA. Read more here.