A new haiga collaboration involving Beverley George, Mariko Kitakubo and Ron C. Moss can be viewed at:

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue15-1/contents.html

The previously published or awarded haiku of Australian Central Coast poet and former president of the Australian Haiku Society, Beverley George, are translated into the delicate calligraphy of Tokyo tanka poet and performer, Mariko Kitakubo, and further enhanced by the skilled and sensitive sumi-e of Tasmanian poet and artist, Ron C. Moss.

Posted by Greg Piko at 05:55 PM | Permalink

The award returns in 2014 to celebrate the work of Australian haiku poet, the late Janice M Bostok with a First Prize of $250, a Second Prize of $75 and Third Prize of $25.

The closing date is 1 September 2014 and results will be announced in December when an award anthology will be published by the sponsor, paper wasp, of which Janice Bostok was a member for 20 years. All entries must be in the haiku form, in English and be the original, unpublished, work of the author.

The judging panel will be led by multi-award winning haiku poet and Haiku Foundation founder Jim Kacian and Australian Haiku Society president Cynthia Rowe. Judging is double blind. The judges' decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into and entries will not be returned.

An entry fee of Aust$10.00 (from within Australia and New Zealand, if paid in notes or cheques drawn on an Australian bank) or US$12.00 (international entries) applies to each sheet of three haiku submitted for judging.

Each entry of three haiku must be clearly marked on the back with the entrant's full name, address, including country and postal/zip code and email address, if available, and any preferred pen name.

Please send entries to Paper Wasp, 14 Fig Tree Pocket Road, Chapel Hill, Queensland 4069, Australia.

Australian residents can submit email entries after paying the entry fee by bank transfer to paper wasp. Email entries must be submitted as two separate file attachments – one with the entrant’s haiku entry/entries and full details including name, street address and email address and the second attachment with the haiku entry/entries only. Email entries will be accepted from Australian residents only after providing details of the bank transfer of entry fees. Bank transfer details are available from:

[email protected]

Email entries can also be submitted to:

[email protected]

Posted by Cynthia Rowe at 02:46 PM | Permalink

It is with great sadness that we advise the passing of English haiku poet, Martin Lucas, who has been found dead on a beach at St Annes Lancashire after a search lasting many weeks.

http://blogpreston.co.uk/2014/04/body-of-missing-preston-man-martin-lucas-found-on-beach/

Among other achievements, Martin held a PhD in the study of haiku and was editor of the haiku journal, Presence.

In 2009 Martin attended the 4th Haiku Pacific Rim Conference held in Terrigal, New South Wales, where many Australian haiku writers had the opportunity to meet him, hear his thoughts on writing haiku and enjoy his company. Australian writers were also in regular contact with Martin through their contributions to Presence.

Martin's friendly manner and thoughtful approach to the writing of haiku will be missed by poets around the world. A New Zealand tribute to Martin can be found at:

http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/haikunews/haikuhappenings

Posted by Greg Piko at 01:21 PM | Permalink

Ginko No.33 (autumn) held at Meldrum Park, Ballina, 10 April 2014

The sun was out, the tide was out and the blue soldier crabs were out in abundance. The Cloudcatchers’ autumn ginko was held on Thursday 10 April at Meldrum Park, in Ballina, on the banks of North Creek, which empties into the Richmond River just before its mouth.

Crows, ibis, butcherbirds and a flock of swallows also featured in the haiku, along with the grand Norfolk Island Pines, and their ‘tu-tu’ skirts of grasses, and young mangroves at the high-tide mark. The sound of a power tool grounded us in our urban setting. The winter ginko will be held on Thursday 31 July, at Torakina Park, Brunswick Heads.

Posted by Cynthia Rowe at 02:18 PM | Permalink

The Red Dragonflies gathered on Saturday 12th April on a rainy afternoon at Barbara Fisher’s home for our autumn meeting. All members were present. Over cups of tea and coffee and some spectacular cake made by Barbara, we workshopped poems on topics ranging from family pets, to the night sky, to the subject of happiness. Interestingly, the poems on happiness were all written in a particularly clear and accessible way and resonated strongly with our own personal experience of happiness. We left the meeting fulfilled after an afternoon of good company, good food and excellent poetry.

Vanessa Proctor

Posted by Cynthia Rowe at 04:48 PM | Permalink

Five members came to the Ginko at Himeji Gardens on a very pleasant, sunshiny autumn afternoon. Margaret Fensom led the Ginko and was joined by Lyn Arden, Dawn Colsey, Maeve Archibald and Alicia Holbrook.

Apologies were received from: Lee Bentley, Simon Hanson, Julia Wakefield, Josie Saccone, Athena Zaknic, Martin Christmas, Jill Gower and Karin Anderson.
The plan Margaret had devised was to gather at the Box Factory at 1 pm and then walk through the side streets to North Terrace and the Himeji Gardens. Once there we dispersed for an hour’s walk through the gardens, during which we composed haiku and tanka or took notes for composition of the poems. After this we gathered in the sheltered area in the stone garden to share our work. The afternoon was profitable, judging by the amount of work members were able to share.

The meeting finished at 3 pm.
Lyn Arden

http://haiku-bindii.blogspot.com.au/

Posted by Lynette Arden at 11:59 AM | Permalink

The results of the 2014 Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition are now available. The winning haiku will appear in The Haiku Calendar 2015, to be produced by Snapshot Press.

www.snapshotpress.co.uk

Congratulations to Lyn Reeves who was one of the 12 monthly winners. In addition, Lyn received a runners-up award meaning that two of her haiku will appear in the 2015 calendar.

Congratulations also to Marisa Fazio and Cynthia Rowe who received runners-up awards and will each have one of their haiku appear in the calendar.

Posted by Greg Piko at 11:16 AM | Permalink

Chen-ou Liu from Toronto, Canada, has established NeverEnding Story - the first English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku and Tanka blog.

http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com.au/

Apart from providing a daily blog on haiku and tanka, the site presents an anthology of haiku submitted in 2013 (Butterfly Dream), and another anthology of tanka (One Man's Maple Moon), both of which include poems by Australian writers.

The NeverEnding Story web site provides details of how to submit haiku and tanka for inclusion in the 2014 anthologies.

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:42 PM | Permalink

This haiku contest has been well supported by Australian writers in recent years. Entries for the 2014 Yamadera Basho Museum English Haiku Contest are welcome until 7 June. Submission guidelines for the competition are provided below.

1. Conditions for submission:
Only unpublished English haiku poems are eligible for submission. Each applicant may submit up to two poems. A Japanese translation should be included with each poem when possible, but non-Japanese applicants are not required to attach a translation.

2. Judging:
An initial screening will select haiku to be displayed in the Haiku Submission Collection. A second screening will determine prize winners from among these selected works. The judging panel will consist of Takeshi Iijima (President of the International Association of Japanese Studies, Professor Emeritus of Yamagata University), Noboru Oba (English Haiku Contest Executive Committee President, former President of the Yamagata Prefecture English Education Research Association), Joe Maricoji (poet and critic), and Lisa Somers (translator, Yamagata University part-time instructor).

3. Divisions:
(1) Division One: college students, general public
(2) Division Two : junior high school students
(3) Division Three: high school students
(4) Division Four: non-Japanese

4. Application procedure:
Haiku submissions may be submitted by post, email, or fax. Applicants are requested to give their division, name, age and sex (optional), and contact information (address, phone number, email address [if any]). Age, sex, and contact information will not be made public. Junior and senior high school students should include their school name and grade, and Japanese applicants are asked to give the phonetic reading of their name.

5. Participation fee:
None.

6. Deadline:
Applications should be postmarked no later than Saturday, June 7, 2014.

7. Submissions:
Haiku submissions and inquiries may be sent by post, fax, or email to:

Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum
4223 Nanin Yamadera, Yamagata-shi, Yamagata-ken, 999-3301 JAPAN

Ph (0)23-695-2221 Fax: (0)23-695-2552

email address: [email protected]

8. Prizes:
In each division, one grand prize and two distinguished work prizes will be awarded. Recipients will receive a certificate printed in both English and Japanese as well as an additional prize.

9. Announcement of judging results:
Prize winners will be notified by post or email and will be invited to attend the awards ceremony, which will be held on July 20, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. Prize-winning haiku poems and the haiku submission collection will be displayed on the Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum website.

*Haiku submissions and applicant names may be printed in the Haiku Submission Collection, displayed on the museum website, and otherwise made public. To ensure easy understandability, any unintentional spelling mistakes found in haiku submissions will be corrected by museum staff.

Posted by Greg Piko at 09:15 AM | Permalink

The following items were posted on the HaikuOz website during March and can be accessed at www.haikuoz.org

A Hundred Gourds 3:2 released

Report on Bowerbird Tanka Workshop #11 - 23 February 2014

100 Tanka by 100 Poets from Australia and New Zealand: One Poem Each

The 5th Kokako Tanka Competition

MELTDOWN haiku anthology

2014 Kaji Aso Studio Haiku Contest

FreeXpresSion Haiku Competition results

Posted by Greg Piko at 03:49 PM | Permalink