The second Haiku Down Under conference was held via Zoom from 16-18 August 2024. Congratulations to the organising team for putting on such a successful event. The theme for this year’s conference was A Sensory Journey. Two presentations on exactly this theme were Going in Blind by Sandra Simpson from New Zealand and Five Senses… Read More Haiku Down Under 2024: A Sensory Journey
Kokako is a highly regarded journal of haiku, tanka, haibun and related genres based in Aotearoa New Zealand. After having been produced in print form for many years, Kokako is transitioning to an online format. The final print edition of Kokako, Issue 40, was released in April 2024. Here are some poems from that Issue:… Read More Kokako goes online
In 2000, John Bird and Janice Bostok (1942-2011) co-founded the Australian Haiku Society. Sadly, John passed away in May 2022 after many years spent promoting haiku, supporting haiku writers and encouraging the use of Australian subjects and seasonal references in haiku. Every two years, the Australian Haiku Society conducts the John Bird Dreaming Award to… Read More 2022 John Bird Dreaming Award
Several poets from New Zealand and Australia are organising a virtual haiku conference to be called: Haiku Down Under. The conference will be held from 7-9 October 2022. Details for the event can be found here. After the poets met online at Haiku North America in 2021, they decided to organise a similar event for… Read More Haiku Down Under: 2022
breaking my journey, has been reviewed by two respected poets from New Zealand: Sandra Simpson has posted a review on her website while a review by Patricia Prime has been included in the widely-read New Zealand journal, Kokako. You can read the full review by Sandra Simpson here. This is some of what Sandra had… Read More breaking my journey: reviews from New Zealand
Echidna Tracks is an independent online collection of Australian haiku. The editors publish two issues per year with each issue addressing a nominated theme. Echidna Tracks welcomes haiku on aspects of Australian landscape, flora and fauna while acknowledging our diversity of lifestyles, values, character, customs, cultures and historical experience. Anyone can submit to Echidna Tracks,… Read More Echidna Tracks: Issue 6 – Shelter
Martin Lucas established and edited the haiku journal, Presence, from 1996 until his death in 2014. He held a PhD for his study of haiku in Britain and is well known for his essay, Haiku as poetic spell, which is available on the Presence website. Since 2015, the Presence journal has conducted the Martin Lucas… Read More 2019 Martin Lucas Haiku Award
Sandra Simpson and Margaret Beverland have edited Number Eight Wire: The Fourth New Zealand Haiku Anthology which was released earlier this year by Piwakawaka Press. Number Eight Wire presents poems by 70 New Zealand poets from the period 2008 to 2018. The third New Zealand anthology, The Taste of Nashi (2008), was a much-loved collection showcasing… Read More Number Eight Wire: New Zealand Haiku
Gregory Piko 