Haiku Happenings
This Month’s Article
Check out this month’s article:
Haiku, First Steps
by Sandra Simpson
New Contests
Check out the latest contests
Publications
Explore publications
Online haiku workshop
As part of the Virtual Japan Fair Haiku Contest, Michael Dylan Welch is running a free online workshop for all ages and stages.
May 14, 6-8pm (US Pacific time) = May 15, 1-3pm NZ time (but please check my conversion!). Full details from the website.
New Books & Ventures
Ginko Walks on Youtube is a “passion project” of P H Fischer, with the first episodes featuring a walk with one poem from A New Resonance 14 (2025, Red Moon Press) “hopefully inspiring reflections and new poems along the way”. See more here.
Turtle Dreams is the latest Red Moon Press anthology of 2025 English-language haiku and related forms, the 30th in the annual series! This one features 165 poems, 23 linked forms and six essays. Read more here.
Griots: Keepers of the Story is a collection of haibun by five African-American writers. Read more here.
Japan-theme events in NZ
May 9: Koinobori & Tea Ceremony: 1-3pm, Newtown Hall, Wellington. Read more here.
May 15: Japanese novelist Mieko Kawakami in conversation, 7-8pm, Aotea Centre, Auckland, $25/$30. Read more here.
To May 29: Thirty-six Views of Mt Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai, open weekdays 9am-5pm, Japan Information & Cultural Centre, Level 18, Majestic Centre, Willis St, Wellington, free.
June 5-19: Modern Japanese Sashiko Embroidery, 7pm, Waiheke Island, $120. Read more here.
To July 11: Currents Calling Home: Ai Iwane & Mānawatia te Wai, Hastings Art Gallery. Read more here.
To July 26: Ceramics exhibition by Shigemitsu Ohashi, Tuesday-Sunday 10am-4pm, Toi Mahara, Waikanae. Read more here.
Vale Bruce Ross, 1945-2026
My apologies for I have only just discovered that poet and editor Bruce Ross died on January 12. Read an obituary for Bruce here. Tributes that outline more fully his contributions to haiku may be read on the Autumn Moon website, the haiku journal he founded and edited. Bruce was kind enough to give permission to allow Haiku NewZ to republish some of his essays: The Essence of Haiku, Sincerity and the Future of Haiku, and Narratives of the Heart: Haibun.
winter solstice
the houselight left on
for our return
Bruce Ross
A Vast Sky, an Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku
(eds Bruce Ross, Koko Kato, Dietmar Tauchner, Patricia Prime, 2015)
Journal News
Peter Newton has become co-editor at Contemporary Haibun Online (cho), joining Rich Youmans who has been editor since 2020.
Wales Haiku Journal has started a free Haiku Emporium on its website, a collection of words that is regularly added to and changed that is intended to act as inspiration for poets.
Congratulations
To Barbara Strang, Sandra Simpson and Sue Courtney who each have a haiku on a signboard in the Golden Triangle area of Washington DC.
To Anne Curran and Pip Sheehan who were each among the 10 winners chosen by judges Dhugal Lindsay and Naoko Fujita respectively, in the Basho-an Haiku Contest (Japan).
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
Haiku Association of Sri Lanka Contest
British Haiku Society Awards (UK)
HPNC Haiku, Senryu, Tanka & Haibun (US)
Matsuyama Inspires Photo Haiku Contest (Japan)
Touchstone Poem Awards
Touchstone Haibun Awards
Touchstone Book Awards
Irmo Cherry Blossom Haiku Contest (US)
Golden Triangle Haiku Contest (US)
Basho Memorial Haiku Contest (Japan)
Triveni Haiku Awards (India)
Sharpening the Green Pencil (Romania)
Basho-an Haiku Contest (Japan)
TSA Tanka Prose Contest (US)
Maya Lyubenova Haiku Contest (Bulgaria)
Morioka Haiku Contest (Japan)
WHJ Summer Contest (Wales)
News & Events
End Notes
April 30, 2026: The end of May is the deadline for entering the NZ Poetry Society haiku contests, don’t miss out! This month’s article, by yours truly, outlines some simple first steps to writing haiku and unpicks a few well-written haiku in an effort to demonstrate to anyone tempted to write haiku with capital letters, or to use adjectives (particularly words like “serene” and “tranquil”), or … why they shouldn’t. Haiku, despite their apparent simplicity, are a very particular form of poetry and “while a child could do that”, adults very often find it much more difficult. My particular stumbling block was the concept of “leaving room for the reader”, while now I find myself struggling most with the “leap” or “spark” between the two parts of the poem and judging the worth of each word. The Monthly Article archive (on a different website) is always a good place to visit for a refresher. The Contest listing has been updated to the end of July. Happy writing! – Sandra
Events
2026
May 15-17: Haiku Canada Weekend, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Read more here.
August 14-16: Cradle of American Haiku Festival, Mineral Point, Wisconsin, USA. Read more here.
October 22-25: Seabeck Getaway, Haiku Northwest, Washington State, USA. Guest speaker: Susan Antolin. Read more here.
2027
Haiku North America: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.