Haiku Happenings
This Month’s Article
Check out this month’s article:
Hototogisu Haunting
by Chris Arthur
New Contests
Check out the latest contests
Publications
Explore publications
News & Events
Haiku on show
The In Print exhibition includes 13 haiku by Sue Courtney that have inspired 13 new artworks by printmakers from the Hibiscus Coast group to create haiga.
When/Where: Until September 27 at the Lake House Arts Centre, Takapuna, Auckland. Read more here.
New Books
Owen Bullock has a new collection of haiku, the scuppered lily. Ordering details here.
Late Harvest is a new collection by Australian poet Mark Miller. Ordering details here.
Irish haiku poet Maeve O’Sullivan has a new collection, Wishing Tree Note. Ordering details here.
Haiku 2026 comprises 100 haiku from 2025 selected by the editors of the award-winning Haiku 21, Lee Gurga and Scott Metz. Ordering details here.
A Picnic Sky gathers selected haiku from Haiku Girl Summer 2023-2025 and appears in both paperback and e-reader editions. Ordering details here.
Red Moon Press keeps pumping out collections by individual authors, the latest being True North by Angela Terry. See the catalogue here.
Japan-theme events in NZ
Sept 13: Japanese Calligraphy with Akiko Crowther, 1.30-3pm, Nelson Public Library, free but booking essential. Read more here.
Oct 2: Perspective, 6-8.30pm, Estuary Arts Centre, Orewa, $45. Meet Japanese artist Kana Inami, see a kimono catwalk, hear taiko drums. Read more here.
Oct 30-Nov 8: Japanese Tea Ceremony, various times, Japanese Tea House, Dorset Ave, New Plymouth, $16. Read more here.
Congratulations
To Sandra Simpson who has been placed First and Second in the Lines & Lyrics Haiku Contest (Tauranga, NZ). Pip Sheehan was Highly Commended.
To Sandra Simpson who has been Highly Commended in the WHJ Summer Competition (Wales).
To the Kiwis who featured in the NZPS Haiku Contest results: Sue Courtney (HC, C x2), Nola Borrell (HC, C x2). The winner, Wanda Amos, is resident in Australia but was born in New Zealand, while fifth-placed Owen Bullock, also now of Australia, was a long-time resident in Aotearoa. And to all the Junior Haiku Contest winners! See the links to the winning poems below.
To Jenny Fraser who has received an Honourable Mention in the Confluence Poetry Prize (US).
To Claire Zhao who was placed twice in her age group and to Xinrui Xu who was placed in her age group in the Hexapod Haiku Challenge (US). Claire also won her age group in the special-theme section.
Contest & other news
Meanders of Haiku: Voices of Six Continents is a new initiative that will appear annually in the Summer issue of Verse Version: A Biannual Journal of Poetic Practice and Scholarship(Shenzhen University, China), and is the brainchild of Verse Version’s associate editor (and haiku poet) Goran Gatalica. The first issue features work by Dan C. Iulian (Europe), Indra Neil Mekala (Asia), Taofeek Ayeyemi (Africa), Vanessa Proctor (Australia), Rosa Clement (South America) and Julie Schwerin (North America). Read Meanders of Haiku (click on the pdf button).
The annual Fujisan Tanka Contest, which usually closes in September, is on hiatus this year. Organisers hope to restructure it and resume. More news anon.
Contest Results
Harold G Henderson Award (US)
HSA Senryu Award (US)
HSA Haibun Award (US)
Hexapod Haiku Challenge (US)
George Klacsanzky Memorial Haiku Contest (US)
WHJ Summer Competition (Wales)
confluence prize (US)
Peggy Willis Lyles Award (US)
Robert Spiess Haiku Contest (US)
Kaji Aso Haiku Contest (US)
Marlene Mountain Contest (US)
NZPS Junior Haiku Contest (NZ)
Magic of Maples Haiku Contest (UK)
NZPS Haiku Contest (NZ)
Fish Haiku Prize (Ireland)
Betty Drevniok Haiku Award (Canada)
Japan Fair Haiku Contest (US)
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.
End Notes
August 31, 2026: September is arriving on the back of some wild weather. Snow for the South Island and rain and strong winds for the North. I’ve yet to see any kowhai blooms around about, for me a sign that we’re on the cusp of winter and spring, perhaps a better indicator than the calendar fixing on September 1 as the first day of spring! Our featured essay this month follows on (loosely) from last month’s, inasmuch that it examines a haiku that references the cuckoo’s call, or the song of the hototogisu which, in turn, was Shiki’s pen name. The essay is a fine example of how these small poems can capture our imagination. The Contest listings have been updated into November and the Publications list is there for you to use and maybe stretch your wings. – Sandra
Events
2026
October 22-25: Seabeck Getaway, Haiku Northwest, Washington State, USA. Guest speaker: Susan Antolin. Read more here.
2027
Haiku North America: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.