Haiku Group Leaders

Vanessa Proctor began writing haiku while living in Japan in the early ’90s. She was a founding member of HaikuOz, she founded the Red Dragonflies haiku group and co-founded the Zazen international haiku group. Her latest publication is the eChapbook Jacaranda Baby (Snapshot Press, 2012).

Dawn Bruce is a Sydney poet who was coordinator of the awarding winning group Somerset Poets and leader of Harbourside Poets. Dawn is now the leader of Ozku (haiku, haiga and haibun) and Moonrise (tanka), both private master classes. Her poetry collections, ‘Stinging the Silence’, ‘Tangible Shadows’ and ‘Sketching Light’ were published by Ginninderra Press.

Quendryth fell in love with haiku in 2004, and when John Bird founded Cloudcatchers in 2005 she became its convener. She received second place for her haiku collection ‘The Whole Body Singing’ in the Merit Book Awards (HSA) 2008, a Touchstone Award (THF) 2010, and was included in ‘A New Resonance  – Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku’ (Red Moon Press, USA) 2011. She was founding editor of ‘Haiku Xpressions’, a position she held 2007–2009.

Beverley George has enjoyed haiku since 1987. She is the past editor of Yellow Moon and Young Yellow Moon and current editor of Windfall: Australian Haiku. She was President of the Australian Haiku Society from 2006-2010; presented a paper on Haiku in Australia at the 3rd Haiku Pacific Rim Conference 2007 in Matsuyama, Japan and convened the 4th Haiku Pacific Rim Conference 2009 at Terrigal, NSW. Her first book of haiku, Spinifex, was published by Pardalote Press in 2006. She has eight times served as literary adviser to Mitsui Travel for small group travel to Japan.

Carol’s interest in haiku began in 2011 inspired by reading haiku published in the FreeXpresSions magazine ‘Haiku Xpressions’ pages edited by Cynthia Rowe. Guided through her journey by corresponding with Cynthia, attending several of her workshops and submitting work to publications gave her the confidence to establish a local haiku group,  The Illawong Haiku Group.  The aboriginal meaning of the name is ‘between two waters’ being the Georges and Woronora Rivers. The group held their first meeting in June 2017.

Jan Dobb has lived in Canberra for over forty years and has always enjoyed dabbling in words and writing.  In 2010 she encountered haiku and since then has become hooked.  Rambles in the Bush Capital, among the kangaroos and gumtrees with views of the Brindabella range, are an ever-inspiring part of her life and writing.  Meeting up with some local haiku/tanka enthusiasts has been the icing-on-the-cake of belonging to an exciting worldwide community.

Rob Scott has been writing haiku for over 20 years. His two collections, Out of Nowhere (2016) and Down to the Wire (2016), are available through Red Moon Press. His poems were included in A New Resonance – Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku 10 (Red Moon Press) 2016. In 2014, Rob completed his Master’s thesis entitled The History of Australian Haiku and the Emergence of a Local Accent

Jenny used haiku in her primary teaching to encourage children to write creatively within a restricted seventeen syllable format. Since retiring she has pursued her own writing and discovered a world of modern haiku she’d been totally unaware of.  She volunteers at her local neighbourhood house where she runs adult classes in drawing and a ‘school for seniors’ program as well as facilitating painting and creative writing groups. She enjoys Sumi e and has recently begun combining her artwork with her haiku.

Giddy Nielsen-Sweep first discovered an interest in haiku in 2010. Recently she founded Bombora Haiku Group with six members on the north side of Brisbane. ‘Breathe … Haiku,’ her first ebook, will be published by Smashwords in the near future. Giddy has developed a love of many forms of Japanese poetry, but haiku is her passion.

Lyn Reeves was involved in the beginnings of HaikuOz and has served as Secretary, Vice-President and committee member. She was haiku editor for Famous Reporter (1994- 2012), occasional editor for paper wasp, and founder and convener of Watersmeet haiku group.  Her first haiku collection, Walking the Tideline, appeared in 2001

Ron C. Moss is a visual artist and poet from Tasmania. His haiku and related genres have won many international prizes and he has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. His award winning first haiku collection is: The Bone Carver, Snapshot Press. Ron is well known for his haiga paintings, illustration and design.
Email: ronmoss8@gmail.com   Website: www.ronmoss.com

Julia Wakefield has been writing haiku since she joined the Bindii group seven years ago. She is a published poet in other genres as well as haiku, and is also a visual artist, specialising in printmaking and illustration.  Some of her haiku can be found on the Bindii blogspot:  https://haiku-bindii.blogspot.com/p/julia-wakefield.html She enjoys attempting other Japanese forms, but she finds the haiku a sufficient challenge in itself. She runs workshops for newcomers to the form. Website: http://www.juliawakefield.com.au/

Rose van Son writes in all genres.  Her first love is poetry, particularly haiku.  She loves nature, its pleasures and senses, its meditation capabilities. Her collection of mostly bird photographs and poetry appears in  Nature’s Warehouse: Birds in Focus. Her collaboration with two South West artists in WA resulted in an exhibition at the Zig Zag Gallery printmaking and lino-cuts with haiku attached. A collection of the artworks and appeared soon after. Rose turns to haiku and senryu for solace, for enjoying with a cup of tea. Her collection of poems Cloak of Letters was published by Sunline Press 2020.  Rose is a selector for Creatrix Haiku online.