The new issue of Shamrock (No 23) is now available online at
http://shamrockhaiku.webs.com/currentissue.htm
It has a big selection of English-language and translated haiku (all from Turkish), as well as two haibun and two reviews of the haiku books by James Norton and William E. Cooper. Many thanks to the contributors. We hope our readers will enjoy it.
Anatoly Kudryavitsky
Editor
LeRoy Gorman Appointed as New Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives
The advisory board of the American Haiku Archives, which houses the Haiku Society of America archives, is pleased to announce the appointment of LeRoy Gorman as the 2012–2013 honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives at the California State Library in Sacramento. http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org
This honor is in recognition of his devotion to and enthusiasm for haiku development and exploration in Canada, with exemplary influence upon all English-language haiku across North America and abroad through his publications and editing, and his decades-long support of haiku through the Haiku Canada organization. His poetry consistently shows admirable creativity, courage, and range, embracing both traditional and visual/minimalist approaches to haiku and related genres of poetry. Gorman succeeds Jerry Ball, who was the honorary curator for the previous year. We are pleased to bestow this honor from the American Haiku Archives, which seeks to preserve and promote haiku and related poetry throughout the North American continent.
For more information about LeRoy Gorman as the archives’ 16th honorary curator, including sample poems, a biography, photo, and additional web links, please visit http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org/curators/LeRoyGorman.html.
—Michael Dylan Welch, American Haiku Archives Advisory Board Member, and Vice President of the Haiku Society of America ([email protected])
Below are details of Japan's only international haibun contest, the Genjuan Haibun Contest which has a closing date of January 31, 2013. Entry is free and there are genuine Japanese prizes. Do send in a work or two if you can.
Sincerely,
Nobuyuki Yuasa & Stephen Henry Gill
Genjuan is the name of the cottage near Lake Biwa where, in 1690, Basho lived for a while and wrote one of his most famous haibun. It was probably the happiest period of his life. This is the second year of the contest crowned by the name of Basho’s cottage, and its purpose remains to provide a common arena for haibun writers of the world.
Fortunately, we had a warm response in 2012, receiving about 100 entries from 14 different countries. The award for Grand Prix will remain the same – a good replica of a Hokusai ukiyo-e print – and smaller gifts will be sent to authors winning an An (‘Cottage’) Prize. The writers of the decorated works will each receive a certificate of merit. We sincerely look forward to your participation. Some sample haibun can be read at the following site: http://hailhaiku.wordpress.com/
Guidelines for 2013
1 Subject: Free, but discretion must be used to avoid slander and obscenity.
2 Style: No restrictions, but attention should be paid to honour the spirit of haikai.
3 Length: In total, between 20 and 40 lines (at 1 line = 80 spaces) on a single page.
4 Haiku/Title: At least one haiku should be included, and a title should be given.
5 Format: Print on a sheet of A4-size paper and write at the bottom your name (and your pen name, if you have one), together with your address, telephone number, and your email address. Your privacy will be strictly protected, and the judges will not see your names while selecting works for decoration.
6 Deadline: All entries should reach the following address by 31 January 2013. Entries received after this date will not be accepted. Please send your entries by airmail to:
Ms. Motoko Yoshioka,
Regalia 907, 7-32-44 Fujimi-cho,
Tachikawa-shi,
Tokyo 190-0013, Japan.
You are requested not to use express airmail or extra-large envelopes, which can cause problems at delivery.
7 Entry Fee: None.
8 Restrictions: Entrants may send up to three pieces, each on a separate sheet of paper. They should be unpublished. As we cannot return your entries after screening, please don’t forget to retain your own copies.
9 Questions: All questions should be sent to the address above.
10 Winners: The authors of the decorated works will subsequently be requested to send us their pieces by email. This is important, and we expect your cooperation.
We kicked off our Red Dragonflies’ meeting on Saturday 8th September with a visit to the Sphinx at Bobbin Head, a memorial carved out of natural sandstone by an ailing ex-soldier, William Shirley, as a tribute to his fallen AIF comrades. We then retired to Vanessa Proctor’s home in Pymble, where we spent a wonderfully creative afternoon composing a Junicho renku entitled “Unexpected Rain”.
A drop of champagne added to this very festive group activity, and we have just received the very good news that our renku is to be published in the December issue of A Hundred Gourds! An afternoon of creativity, composition, and congenial companionship was already more than reward enough, so news of an impending publication is truly icing on the cake!
Lesley Walter
Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s Haiku Competition. A very special thank you to Maureen Sexton for the judging. Congratulations to all winners !
1st Prize Cynthia Rowe (NSW)
2nd Prize Rose van Son (WA)
3rd Prize Duncan Richardson (QLD)
Special mention
Gary Colombo De Piazzi (WA)
Nathalie Buckland (NSW)
Vanessa Proctor (NSW)
The Bindii Group met at the Box Factory for a haibun workshop presented by Belinda Broughton. Belinda distributed notes, which included examples of haibun, and briefly discussed the origins of the form and the requirements for writing haibun, such as issues of style and tense, how many haiku should be included and what topics were suitable.
She pointed out that this is a developing form in English and that a wide variety of styles, lengths and topics are both written and published.
The group then practiced experimental writing of haiku to fit in with prose examples that Belinda provided. These examples she felt leant themselves to the haibun style of writing. Members of the group composed haiku for different paragraphs of the prose and the final results were written on the whiteboard so we could share and comment on our efforts. The comments focused on how the suggested haiku fitted with the prose and how they could extend the meaning of the prose.
For the last part of the exercise we looked at our own work. Members read prose pieces they had brought and thought about composing haiku to fit, or composed prose to fit with haiku.
This workshop has given a lot of stimulus to for us continue writing haibun.
The resulting haibun will be the subject of a workshop in November led by Maeve Archibald.
Lynette Arden
http://haiku-bindii.blogspot.com.au/
contact: [email protected]
The fourth issue of A Hundred Gourds, a quarterly journal of haiku, haibun, haiga, tanka and renku poetry is now online.
The deadline for all submissions to AHG 2:1(the December issue) is September 15th.
This issue marks the completion of our first full year of publishing a wide range of haiku and related poetry.
As well as haiku, haiga, haibun, renku, tanka and our Expositions section, AHG I:4 features a retrospective by Kathleen O’Toole on the haiku life of the celebrated American haiku poet, Nick Virgilio.
Haiga: Special News
A very special thanks to Melinda Hipple, an AHG co-founder, part of the webmaster team and haiga editor over the course of our inaugural year from Issue 1:1 through to the current issue 1:4. Our best wishes go with Mel for success in her university studies.
Ron Moss, AHG’s resident artist, is Haiga Guest Editor for AHG 2:1, the December 2012 issue and will continue to receive haiga submissions for the December AHG until September 15th.
We welcome Aubrie Cox as the new editor for haiga. Aubrie will receive haiga submissions from September 16th – December 15th for AHG 2:2, March 2013. Please do not send submissions to Aubrie until after submissions for AHG 2:1 have closed.
Lorin Ford, haiku editor,
for the Editorial Team
A Hundred Gourds