Leanne Mumford

Members’ News April 2026

Welcome to the second issue of the Australian Haiku Society’s Members’ News for 2026. This edition focuses on two upcoming events, and includes notices for two journal submission opportunities, plus contest success news. Read on for details.

President’s Message

In this time of global uncertainty, with wars in other parts of the world that nonetheless impact our daily lives in Australia, as well as increasingly unpredictable extreme weather driven by climate change, haiku poetry can be a wonderful balm. It might be through composing haiku by paying attention to our immediate surroundings and circumstances or finding inspiration in small and otherwise mundane chores and observations. It might be through connecting with other poets on a ginko, in a workshop or simply by reading their poems, which inevitably bring different perspectives to our own lives. And in these difficult economic times, haiku can be a very inexpensive passion to pursue.

And speaking of connecting with others through haiku, ‘connection’ will be the theme of our International Haiku Poetry Day event this year.

The AHS Executive Committee met on 16th March. We confirmed that we will be running the fourth contest for the John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku, opening for submissions towards the end of this year and closing in early 2027. To celebrate International Haiku Poetry Day on 17th April, this year we will be running a haiku string on the theme of ‘connection’. The mentoring trial has concluded and we are currently evaluating it. We will have more news on future mentorships in due course. A haiku reading event with Queensland poets will take place on 22 April. Our new Secretary is in the process of learning the ropes, and will soon be responding to inquiries.

Leanne Mumford

International Haiku Poetry Day, 17 April 2026

International Haiku Poetry Day is celebrated every year on 17th April. This year the Australian Haiku Society will be conducting a Haiku String event. We welcome contributions from haiku poets worldwide. The string will open on Friday 17th April Australian time and will remain open until 24th April. The theme of this string is ‘connections’.

Connections is a broad theme. Connection can take many forms and be between or to different kinds of entities. Connections might be between people or other living things, to nature or spirit, to place, history or culture. We invite you to explore through haiku and senryu varied connections in your own life and the wider world we all share. Further details are coming soon.

While AHS will be running a haiku string, we also invite poets and groups around Australia to celebrate International Haiku Poetry Day in other ways, including out in your community. Poets from Melbourne’s Fringe Myrtles group will be reading at Woodend Chamber Poets on 18th April.

What will you be doing? Please use the Contact Secretary form to let us know so we can promote your event or include a report on your activity in the next Members’ News.

If you are stuck for ideas, here are a few. Some are easy to organise spontaneously and others take a little more planning.

Display haiku in your local library. This could be in the form of a ‘Haiku Wall’, or something more elaborate, such as a cherry tree made of cardboard. People could write haiku on pink blossom shapes to pin onto the tree.
Organise a ginko at the zoo. You could even ask to have a display or reading while you are there.
Leave a haiku or a chap-book of haiku anonymously somewhere public, such as on public transport or at a local café – anywhere you can think of where people might find them.
In a similar vein, write haiku on rocks, leaves, bark, etc and leave those items in public places, such as neighbourhood parks. Or write them on postcards and leave them in cafes, your local library, etc. Write haiku on kites and fly them in parks, on beaches, etc.
Post some of your haiku to your local community Facebook group.
Offer to read some haiku on your local community radio station.
Planning further ahead, many cities around Australia hold Japan Festivals that typically showcase aspects of Japanese culture. Why not approach the organisers about your group displaying or reading haiku in English as a demonstration of Japanese culture adapted to Australia?
Or is there a local writers’ festival in your area that might be willing to host a haiku reading event?

Queensland Poets Haiku Reading Event, 22 April

AHS is hosting an online reading by Queensland haiku poets on Wednesday 22nd April from 7.30pm AEST. While Queensland poets will be reading, the event is free and open to all interested poets to join. However, you must register by 9am AEST on 22nd April to receive the Zoom link. The programme will include a brief presentation from AHS, the planned readings and an ‘open mic’ session.
Link for the Registration form.

Submission Windows for Australian Haiku Journals

Echidna Tracks

Echidna Tracks will now become an international publication, and welcomes submissions from haiku poets worldwide. As Echidna Tracks nominates haiku for the Touchstone Awards and the annual Red Moon Press anthology, be sure to send your best previously unpublished haiku/senryu on any topic. Gavin Austin and Marilyn Humbert will be the haiku editors for the next issue.

Submissions for Issue 17 will be open during April 2026. Please carefully read the guidelines on the Submissions page, as these have changed. Submissions will be received only via the submissions form.

Creatrix Haiku

The submission closing date for the next issue of Creatrix Haiku and Poetry Journal is midnight (Perth, Western Australia time) on 10th May for the June issue. Creatrix is a journal of WA Poets Inc.

Please visit the March 2026 issue #72 for a taste of the haiku Creatrix publishes. Scroll down the Submission Guidelines page for details of how to submit haiku and senryu via Submittable, as well as guidance on what the editors look for in haiku and senryu.

Contest Success

Congratulations to the three Australian Runners Up in the Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition 2026: Marietta McGregor, Vanessa Proctor and Rob Scott. Their haiku will appear in the 2027 calendar. Snapshot Press is a leading publisher of haiku and tanka books based in the UK.

Water Dragons Haiku Group First Meeting in Brisbane

Brisbane’s new haiku group, ‘Water Dragons’, had its first meeting on Saturday morning 28th March, at Brisbane Square Library, with four people attending, discussing haiku and tanka and contributing work for feedback. Our gathering included three members from the former ‘Paperwasp’ group, which folded at least eight years ago, so some reminiscing was bound to occur but despite that, we covered a lot of new ground and are ready for April 18th, when we hope to welcome a new member or two. Our members bring a variety of experience, and newcomers to haiku are welcome. We’ll start at 10.30am and finish around 1pm. Interested people can contact me, on duncrich@outlook.com.

Illawong Haiku Group at Hurstville Museum & Gallery, March 2026

Carol Reynolds, Margaret Mahony, Alison Miller and Ros Pitt, together with our welcome guest, Nicholas O’Connor, gathered on Tuesday 24th March at Hurstville Museum & Gallery to use the current exhibition to encourage ideas for our writing.

‘Snakes and Mirrors’ by Petrina Hicks is a collection of large-scale photographs inspired by the use of mythology, fables and art history. The experience certainly opened up plenty of discussion, the results of which will no doubt appear on a website or in a publication somewhere in the future.

I highly recommend other groups use such community facilities, which not only provide public awareness of haiku poetry but are useful as alternatives to outdoor ginko when the weather is not always kind.

Carol Reynolds

White Pebbles Autumn 2026 Meeting

On Saturday 14th March, members Beverley George (convenor), Maire Glacken, Pip Griffin, Marilyn Humbert, Colleen Keating, and Kent Robinson met at our usual venue, the Gosford Regional Gallery, for morning tea before beginning our ginko in the ever-beautiful Edogawa Japanese Garden. The garden commemorates the sister city relationship between Tokyo’s Edogawa city and the New South Wales Central Coast city of Gosford.

In autumn sunshine, it was a delight to wander in the gardens, to watch koi and ducks in the stream and groups of children, accompanied by parents, running about excitedly near the pavilion, enjoying the unusual wild life and beautiful surroundings. As usual, there was plenty to inspire our haiku: pink-flowering rhododendron bushes, sparkling raked white pebbles, glimpses of the blue, shining bay through the palisade fence, the little Japanese bridge and the gently falling waterfall. We sat at different spots, jotting down haiku ideas, before going back to our meeting room to talk about our published haiku and/or book launches we are preparing, to share a haiku from a poet that had impressed us, and read aloud the haiku we’d brought, triggered by Beverley’s prompt, ‘unpredictable summer weather’.

Marilyn shared highlights of her very recent trip to Malaysia and commented on our haiku, sharing her expertise. I shared a haiku recently published in Echidna Tracks. Colleen told us she has been invited to read from her just-launched poetry book Ring the Bells at Words on the Waves Writers’ Festival on the Central Coast. Beverley showed us a lovely handmade haiku book, Winged Ones –birds of four seasons, by Satoru Kanematsu. She and Kent are planning a book launch of their delightful new haiku collection, Interwoven. The book will be stocked by Books Plus in Bathurst.

Photograph by Deb Robinson
Left to right: Colleen Keating, Pip Griffin, Maire Glacken, Beverley George, Kent Robinson,
Marilyn Humbert

After a very satisfying morning of reading and sharing ideas, our meeting finished at 12:30pm. Our next meeting will celebrate Winter on Saturday 13th June, followed by Saturday 12th September, celebrating Spring.

Pip Griffin

Haiku Society of America Rengay Award competition

The submission window for the Haiku Society of America Rengay Award competition will be from April 1, 2026, to May 31, 2026. The contest is open to the public. First Prize is $200; Second Prize, $150; Third Prize, $100. The winning rengay will be published in Frogpond and on the HSA website. All rights revert to authors on publication. Rengay is a shorter, more accessible version of renku and an easy and fun opportunity for two or three poets to collaborate. Find more information at
https://www.hsa-haiku.org/hsa-contests.htm#rengay

Submitted by Sarah Paris, HSA 2nd Vice President

Autumn Equinox 2026 Selections

The autumn equinox – when day and night are of equal length – has been an important marker of seasonal change throughout human cultures. With the observance of seasons a significant aspect of haiku practice, the Australian Haiku Society chooses to mark the solstices and equinoxes each year. This Southern hemisphere autumn, as leaves of exotic trees begin to change colour and many of our native plants come into flower, we invite you to enjoy a selection of favourite poems submitted to Haiku Strings in previous autumns. You can find PDF booklets of all the Haiku Strings we have held to date on our Resources page .

footy siren
picking the last
ripe tomato
Louise Hopewell, 2023

morning moonset
the black swan’s bill
blood red
Cathryn Daley, 2023

disagreement
morning walk together
alone
Carol Reynolds, 2020

dancing breeze
a hoop pine seed
glides in to land
Quendryth Young, 2023

outdoor café
more dogs in trendy coats
than people
Kathryn Woolfe, 2019

park bench
a two o’clock shadow
holds my hand
Barbara Tate, 2019

Opera House
an autumn breeze
fills the sails
Gavin Austin, 2019

flooded street
a man rescues
a teddybear
Kathleen Earsman, 2019

fire glow
the baby’s breath
on my cheek
Margaret Mahony, 2021

schoolchildren’s protest
their hearts displayed
on recycled cardboard
Marietta McGregor, 2019

chilly breeze
a spider’s thread shifts
the moonlight
Lyn Arden, 2023

rain clouds
blackening the sky
Carnaby’s cockatoos
Maureen Sexton, 2023

last song . . .
the busker turns
to his dog
Madhuri Pillai, 2020

slow steps
a curving path
walking to her grave
Maurice Neville, 2021

dogs long gone—
all their feeding bowls
overflow with rain
Ron C. Moss, 2020

Report on Gadigal Ginkō, Autumn 2026

With possible severe storms forecast, in the end only two poets gathered at Barangaroo on Wednesday morning 18th March. Remarkably, despite the heavy cloud, the rain held off for the whole time. The headland reserve was quiet, with few people about, so there was ample scope for contemplative walking.

Penny set off on the middle path through the naturalised scrub and woodland, while I followed the rocky foreshore. The Barangaroo headland may have been artificially created, but it is slowly re-wilding.

We found inspiration among the weathering sandstone blocks undergoing colonisation by shellfish, lichens and moss, in the grasses, trees, and shrubs, some of which were flowering, from a couple of darters and the ubiquitous noisy miners, and the general activity of the harbour.

At the end of the ginkō we sat in a café on one of the old finger wharves nearby exchanging draft poems and discussing the value of workshopping with diverse poets.

Leanne Mumford
Convenor, Gadigal Ginkō

Call for Submissions: 2026 confluence Poetry Prize

What does it mean to die? To accompany another being as their life ends? Or to face your own death? Poets across the ages have responded with grief, rage, wonder, acceptance, and beauty. We want to read what death and dying mean to you.

confluence invites you to submit one haiku, tanka, or other Japanese short-form poem on the theme of death and dying. The best poems will share in $500 in prize money and be published in confluence. Submissions are open now through May 1, 2026. There is no fee to submit.

Learn more and submit your poem at www.confluencehaiku.com/prize

Submitted by Rowan Beckett Minor, Associate Editor, confluence