The next Gadigal Ginko in Sydney will take place on Tuesday 19th August, 2025, at Pirrama Park, Pyrmont, from 1.30pm. Contemporary haiku poets of all levels of experience are invited to join the gathering. To register and receive details of the exact meeting point and arrangements, please visit the Gadigal Ginko web page.
Leanne Mumford
Convenor, Gadigal Ginko
Nine poets gathered on a cool autumn morning at Sydney Park in St Peters. Two were participating for the first time. After brief introductions, we dispersed to all corners of the park to each undertake our individual ginko.
Continue reading “Report on Gadigal Ginko, Autumn 2025”
Red Room Poetry designates August as Poetry Month. On 6th August join the President of the Australian Haiku Society and Gadigal Ginko Convenor, Leanne Mumford, for an introduction to haiku writing by undertaking a ginko – a walk for composing haiku. This workshop event in Sydney is designed for novice haiku poets. It will include some pre-work to help prepare for the ginko and ensuing discussion. In joining this event, you’ll discover that there’s more to contemporary English language haiku than counting syllables.
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.
Continue reading “Members’ News – May 2025”The next Gadigal Ginko in Sydney will take place on Saturday 31st May 2025, at Sydney Park, St Peters, from 10am. Contemporary haiku poets of all levels of experience are invited to join the gathering. To register and receive details of the exact meeting point and arrangements, please visit the Gadigal Ginko web page.
Leanne Mumford
Convenor, Gadigal Ginko
On International Haiku Poetry Day I’m pleased to announce the five winners of our 2025 Autumn Equinox Kukai with the theme of ‘Autumn Flowers’. Thanks to all the participants and congratulations to the winners!
Continue reading “AHS 2025 Autumn Equinox Kukai Results”It is my sad duty to inform the Australian and worldwide haiku community of the death of Cynthia Rowe on 6th April at the age of 86. Cynthia succeeded Beverley George to the position of President of the Australian Haiku Society in 2011, and served until Vanessa Proctor took over in 2016. Cynthia was also the editor of the Haiku Xpressions section of FreeXpresSion Magazine for many years. AHS will be publishing a full tribute in recognition of Cynthia’s many contributions to the haiku community. For the time being, with the family’s permission, we would like to let everyone know about the two memorial services that have been organised to honour and celebrate Cynthia’s life.
– In Sydney at St Mark’s Anglican Church, Darling Point on 23rd April 2025 at 12.00pm
– In Melbourne at St John’s Anglican Church, Toorak on 30th April 2025 at 11.00am
There will be a celebration of life held after each service.
Leanne Mumford
President, Australian Haiku Society
The deadline for participants to vote in the AHS 2025 Autumn Equinox Kukai is 11.59pm Australian Central Standard Time on Wednesday 9th April. So far votes have been received from more than 2/3 of the 78 eligible participants.
Voting information was sent to eligible participants on 2nd April ACDT. If you submitted an eligible poem and haven’t received an email about voting, please check your Spam/Junk folder. To be fair to all participants, if you submitted an eligible poem, you are expected to vote. If you fail to vote, your poem will be excluded from the final results.
The winning five poems, together with their authors’ names, will be published on the AHS website on 17th April 2025, International Haiku Poetry Day.
All participants who submit votes will be sent the set of ranked results, but point tallies will only be provided for the winning five poems.
Leanne Mumford
Kukai Convenor
Australian Haiku Society 