- President’s Message
- Achievements
- Winter Solstice Haiga contest coming soon
- Editorial Opportunity
- Selections from the AHS Autumn Equinox 2020 Haiku String
President’s Message
Learning of the passing of a fellow haiku poet always brings sadness, but often there are also happy memories of favourite poems they’ve penned, encouragement they’ve offered or their generous service to the haiku community. So it is for many who knew Cynthia Rowe, as attested by the recently posted tributes.
In the last few weeks the society has been pleased to announce results of both the Third John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku and the 2025 Autumn Equinox Kukai. Thank you to all the poets who entered both contests. Many fine poems were submitted. Congratulations to the winners! It was pleasing to see a mix of Australians and poets from further afield.
I’d also like to express my gratitude to the two judges of the John Bird Award, Hazel Hall and Lyn Reeves, as well as to Rob Scott and Alison Rogers for their work in collating the hundreds of entries. Once again Ron Moss has provided beautiful artwork and certificates to the winners.
With International Haiku Poetry Day (17th April) falling on Easter Thursday this year, we decided to offer a Kukai in the lead-up. I’m aware of activities taking place in various locations, particularly in Victoria, where the Portarlington Haiku Society hung their ‘serviette haiku’ along a wire fence, and in Woodend, where Myron Lysenko, current Regional Representative for Victoria, organised a month long festival of events. Over in Western Australia, Coral Carter from Paperbark Haiku reported that thirteen haiku poets gathered on the day at Maylands Library for a reading of favourite poems and Barry Sanbrook gave a short talk on Matsuo Basho.
The AHS Executive Committee met on 21st April to discuss current and future activities, including the John Bird Award, the Autumn Equinox Kukai, and progress on the Haiku String Books.
Leanne Mumford
Achievements
Lorraine Haig is the recipient of a Touchstone Award for Individual Haibun 2024 for Trapped. Lorraine’s haibun is available to read online at The Haiku Foundation. Wonderful news!
Australian poets were among the recently announced winners of the two AHS contests. Congratulations to Louise Hopewell for her second place and Leonie Bingham for her honourable mention in our John Bird Award. Well done to Simon Hanson and Margaret Mahony for taking out third and fourth place respectively in our Autumn Equinox Kukai.
Four Australians – Gregory Piko, Maureen Sexton, Wanda Amos & Leanne Mumford – are among the more than 100 past and present poets from 13 countries with work in the recently released anthology tea all the time it takes, edited by Denise Fontaine-Pincince.
Please don’t forget to let us know your achievements. Use the Contact Secretary form to get in touch if you’ve won an award, published a book, etc.
Winter Solstice Haiga contest coming soon
We’ll be holding a Haiga contest next month, opening on the 21st June with a winter image provided by committee member Wanda Amos. A preliminary announcement will appear a week beforehand.
Editorial Opportunity
FreeXpresSion Magazine is seeking a new Host Editor for the Haiku Expressions section, which Cynthia Rowe oversaw from 2010 until her recent death. The appointed person would need to be knowledgeable in the finer points of haiku and its associated forms, keen to share and encouraging of writers’ interest in these poetic forms. This is a voluntary role. The amount of time required would depend to some extent on the depth of involvement the new editor would like to give to corresponding with haiku enthusiasts who submit poems from around the world. As it is a monthly publication, you would need to be available to spend at least 3-4 hours a month once you are familiar with the fundamental processes.
FreeXpresSion is a general purpose subscription-based thirty-two-page magazine aimed at creative writers over all genres. Please contact Peter Pike, the overall editor, for further details: peter@freexpression.com.au
Selections from the AHS Autumn Equinox 2020 Haiku String
Under Lynette Arden’s leadership, committee members continue to compile previous Haiku Strings into PDF books. Here a few of Leanne’s picks from the Autumn Equinox 2020 Haiku String Book, which had the theme ‘relationships’.
budding camellia
on my daughter’s wrist
mother’s bracelet
– Madhuri Pillai
alone on the trail
my attention
horse centred
– Myra King
her blank face
creases the pillow
grey headstone
– Zina Ioannou
park bench—
the old collie’s muzzle
on my feet
– Gavin Austin
Australian Haiku Society 