Contact the Australian Haiku Society Secretary to report or receive local information, or to contact other haiku poets in your region. Contact
REGIONAL GROUPS
NEW SOUTH WALES:
The Red Dragonflies
The Red Dragonflies is a small Sydney-based haiku group founded by Vanessa Proctor in 2008. It comprises six members and meetings are held quarterly in various locations around Sydney. Vanessa sets haiku exercises which members complete in time for each meeting. These exercises are then workshopped by the group in a friendly and encouraging manner. At the end of the meeting, each member places two of their own haiku into the haiku bowl with no identifying marks on them so they can be pulled out of the bowl at random and workshopped anonymously. Each Christmastime, the Red Dragonflies go on a ginko and they also occasionally write renku together.
Cloudcatchers
Cloudcatchers, a group of haiku enthusiasts on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, came into being on 5 December 2005. John Bird, an early exponents of the genre in Australia, gathered interested poets together for a ginko at Brunswick Heads. Janice Bostok (known as the haiku pioneer in Australia) attended.
‘Cloudcatcher’ is the translation of the indigenous word ‘Wollumbin’, a landmark named ‘Mount Warning’ by Captain Cook, which dominates the Northern Rivers landscape.
Ginko are held each season at various sites within this sub-tropical area of rainforest, farmland and long sandy beaches, and during the past ten years over fifty folk have enjoyed the experience. There is a mailing list of thirty, with plus-or-minus ten writers attending a gathering.
Each ginko is informal, with no structured membership, where poets are involved together with the common environment, followed by a sharing of first drafts, and then luncheon. Within the next week an email Round Robin gives participants the opportunity to give and receive comments among their fellow poets.
Everyone is welcome, and any interested haiku disciple may contact the co-ordinator Quendryth Young at quendrythyoung@bigpond.com
Ozku
Ozku is a private master class of haiku, haibun and haiga which contains Moonrise, a tanka group within it.
We began in January 2010 with six members and with this haiku at the top of the page…
sky blazing
as I go down the gravel path
husks of dead butterflies
enten ya/jarrimichi yukeba.cho no kara
1896 summer Masaoka Shiki
We are six published poets, Dawn Bruce, Margaret Conley, Margaret Grace, Joanne Watcyn-Jones, Catherine Smith, Beatrice Yell. We meet each month, the third Wednesday, for several hours, usually studying some aspect of the form of haiku, haibun or haiga and sometimes tanka then workshop poems written from set exercises or free choice. Occasionally we have a ginko and occasionally invite a guest as for example we invited Vanessa Proctor to lead the group in a renga.We also have had fun writing exercises via email between meetings.
In 2012 Ozku produced an anthology entitled ‘raking stones’ a collection of haiku,tanka and haibun by each member. The cover photo was by Dawn Bruce and the anthology as a whole was dedicated to Janice Bostok., 1942-2011.
White Pebbles Haiku Group
White Pebbles is a new NSW Central Coast-based haiku group founded by Beverley George in 2017. It comprises ten foundation members and meetings are planned to be held quarterly in the Gosford/Edogawa Japanese Gardens on the second Saturday of March, June, September, and December.
Visitors will be invited on occasion and very welcome. Beverley sets a few haiku exercises which members complete in time for each meeting, but the main emphasis is on a ginko through the gardens and recording the seasonal changes we observe. We share these in the tea-hut when weather permits but in inclement weather a gallery ramble and ekphrastic observations, followed by a meeting within an indoor location is a viable alternative.
Illawong Haiku Group
Carol Reynolds established the Illawong Haiku Group in June 2017 with the hope of advancing her own love of haiku and gathering a small, friendly group of haiku enthusiasts.
The group meets four times a year on the third Tuesday of the month that begins each season. Meetings are held at various places of interest and last between 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Members receive advance notice of details including one or two exercises to complete and bring to the meeting for discussion.
When weather permits an observation walk takes place when notes can be taken and used as stimulus for future haiku writing.
Meetings include a haiku bowl where members bring along two unmarked haiku to share. These are drawn at random from the bowl and discussed anonymously which is particularly helpful for novice writers.
Depending on the venue, members usually share morning tea and/or lunch.
Contact: carol.reno@outlook.com
ACT:
Haiku at the Oaks
We coffee together periodically in an outdoor setting under beautiful oak trees by the lake, or if the weather is wintery in a nearby warm and cosy marquee. Haiku at the Oaks is perhaps the least formal of the regional groups. We like it that way. There is so much to talk about, so much to ponder, to read, to share, to learn. We tend to bring some show-and-tell, and wonder who will bring what. We are fortunate to have not only haiku writers, but keen tanka writers, too, in our little group of half a dozen or so.
Haiku at the Oaks welcomes visitors and interested local poets. Already we’ve been delighted to greet a well-known haiku visitor from Washington State who has family in Canberra!
VICTORIA:
Red Kelpie Haiku Group
The Red Kelpie Haiku Group, initiated in 2014 by Lorin Ford, was terminated subsequent to the June 2019 meeting. Reports on the group’s meetings remain on the AHS website.
Yarra Haiku Poets
Yarra Haiku Poets is a new regular event to be held every second month in Melbourne and surrounding areas. The intention is to encourage poets to meet, discuss and share haiku related topics in a social setting.
According to Wikipedia, the Yarra river was a meeting place for indigenous Australians and the name Yarra was a mistranslation of the Wurrundjeri term Yarro-yarro meaning “ever flowing”. This term aptly also represents the diversity, creativity and pleasure we enjoy with our involvement in haiku.
These events are open to any interested individual whether established poet or new to the genre.This is not a formal group so therefore there are no membership requirements nor fee to attend.
Enquiries: Jennifer Sutherland jenniferannsutherland at gmail dot com
Fringe Myrtles
The Fringe Myrtles Haiku Group is an assortment of Melbourne haiku poets, enthusiasts and general vagabonds who have found their tribe. We value collaboration, respect, friendship, inclusiveness, and above all else, haiku. Our ‘mission’ is to create a supportive poetry community where all members can grow as writers. We aim to meet once per quarter but more if possible. The group is currently led by Rob Scott. Guests (local and international) are welcome.
A ‘fringe myrtle’ is a spectacular looking shrub found throughout Victoria which none of our members have actually seen (at the time of writing). We just liked the name.
We have a Facebook Page for sharing haiku and related forms as well as having discussions and posting information about events, publications and competitions.
Email contact
Portarlington Haiku Society
The Portarlington Haiku Society formed in October 2021 and is facilitated by Jenny Macaulay. Members receive a regular newsletter ‘Wingspan’ which presents published works for discussion and inspiration. It includes our own monthly ‘kukai’ where anonymous voting within the group selects three haiku to be forwarded for publication in our town’s local newspaper. Members also enjoy an occasional on-line ‘renga’. Face to face meetings, haiku walks and workshops are on the agenda.
With the group being relatively new to haiku, information from the Australian Haiku Society and various world-wide organisations is currently the source of its creative development.
Contact by email: Jenny Macaulay banjo3223@bigpond.com
SOUTH AUSTRALIA:
Bindii Japanese Genre Poetry Group
Bindii Japanese Genre Poetry Group are a group of poets who write Japanese genre poetry in English.
Our activities include workshops in different genres such as haiku, haibun, haiga, senryu, and other Japanese genres. We give the opportunity for workshop of member’s work during meetings and run the occasional email workshop. We usually run a ginko each year.
The group has published two anthologies of their work: Haiku Bindii: Journeys (2011) and Haiku Bindii: Willow Light (2015).
We have also performed our work at the SA State Library, Burnside Library and Mary Martin’s bookshop. In February 2016 we performed our work at the Halifax Cafe in combination with musicians Munetaka Umehara and Alexander Ask on Japanese Flute and Didgeridoo.
More details on the website: HaikuBindii and Haiku Bindii Facebook Page
WEST AUSTRALIA:
Paperbark Haiku
The Mari Warabiny Haiku Group has changed its name to Paperbark Haiku. The administrators of Paperbark Haiku are: Maureen Sexton, Barry Sanbrook, Rose Van Son, Samar Ghose, Tash Adams and Meryl Manoy.
Email group: We still have an email group which you can join by sending an email to paperbarkhaiku@yahoo.com. Please note: Paperbark Haiku events are all held in Western Australia.
Main group on Facebook: This group on Facebook is for discussions, and sharing of information on events, competitions, publications, resources, successes, – about haiku and related forms. It is not for posting your own haiku, or any haiku, unless they are part of a book launch, journal, contest, essay or other haiku-related information. Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/123520151010708/about/
Chatline on Facebook: The Chatline group is for posting and commenting on Haiku, Haiga and other short form Poetry, for feedback. Other discussions may come up about various aspects of haiku and other related forms. Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/123520151010708/
TASMANIA:
Watersmeet
Watersmeet is a group of people in Hobart who write and share haiku. Beginning in May 2000, the group met monthly in various locations, mostly in The Royal Botanical Gardens. In 2005, they published the anthology Watersmeet: haiku. https://walleahpress.com.au/FR31Hawes.html
Over the years they have taken haiku into the community with activities such as “Haiku Graffiti” (2006), where they involved passers-by in writing haiku on the windows of Fullers Bookshop, and “Breathmarks”, a collaboration with Hunter Island Press of haiga exhibited during Living Writers Week 2008.
After a period of recession Watersmeet reconvened with a Ginko in the Gardens, https://fortyspot.com/2016/04/26/watersmeet-ginko/ led by Lyn Reeves and Ron Moss. Many new haiku enthusiasts attended and we decided to meet seasonally for a haiku walk in one of the many beautiful locations that Hobart offers.
Watersmeet is open to haiku writers, novice or experienced. Contact: lareevesatbigponddotcom or ronmoss8atgmaildotcom
Australian Haiku Society 