2018 Appearances
20 January 2018: Book launch and reading for The Jade Pond haiku anthology, Hall of One Hundred Rivers, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, 578 Carrall Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., free. See event photos.
29 January 2018: Leading three haiku workshops for “Art Day” at the International Community School (grades 6 through 12) in Kirkland, Washington. Classes are 7:40 to 9:05 a.m., 9:10 to 10:35 a.m., and 12:30 to 2:05 p.m.
February 2018: Coordinating the eighth annual National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) and providing daily writing prompts on the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook, with more than 2,700 participants. Please join us in writing at least one haiku a day in the month of February—the shortest month for the shortest genre of poetry! +
4 February 2018: Featured poem on Troutswirl, the Haiku Foundation blog: “an old woolen sweater / taken yarn by yarn / from the snowbank.”
6 February 2018: “Haiku Targets” workshop for Scott Bessho’s English class at Bellevue College, 10:30 a.m.
21 March 2018: Featured poet for the Olympia Poetry Network, Traditions Fair Trade Café, 300 5th Avenue SW in Olympia, Washington, 6:30 p.m., free. +
14–15 April 2018: Leading haiku walks and workshops, giving readings, installing “Haiku on Sticks,” haiku chalk art, my Haikuseum, and more, at the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival’s “Sakura Days Japan Fair,” VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia (garden/event admission is $12.00 online, $14.00 at the gate). See YouTube video celebrating the 2018 festival (I make a short appearance at the 1:18 mark, teaching haiku).
25 April 2018: “Haiku Targets” workshop for Scott Bessho’s English class at Bellevue College, 10:30 a.m.
26 April 2018: Leading a public haiku workshop for beginning poets and coordinating the Haiku Northwest monthly meeting at the Redmond Library, 15990 NE 85th Street, Redmond, Washington. 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Free.
27 April 2018: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring poet and book artist Laura Allen, VALA Art Center, 7525 166th Ave NE, Suite D140, Redmond, Washington. 6:30 p.m. socializing, 7:00 p.m. reading, plus open-mic reading, free.
28 April 2018: “Test Your Haiku IQ” and instant haiku writing as a volunteer for Independent Bookstore Day at Brick and Mortar Books, 7430 164th Ave NE, Suite B105, Redmond, Washington. Free! 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
29 April 2018: Serving as judge for the international category of the ukiaHaiku Festival. Results announced at 2:00 p.m. today at the Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue in Ukiah, California, free. Read my commentary on the winning poems. + +
1 May 2018: “Twelve Weathergrams” art and haiku collaborations with Jacqueline Calladine featured on HaigaOnline.
12 May 2018: Guest blogger for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative for a month-long focus on Japanese literature in translation, curated by David Jacobson. My contribution is “Translation as Treason.”
18 May 2018: Newspaper article by Patty Hardin featuring me in The Daily Astorian (Oregon). See “Facts Poetic—Take Haiku Beyond Grade-School Myths.”
25 May 2018: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring translator and novelist Jay Rubin, VALA Art Center, 7525 166th Ave NE, Suite D140, Redmond, Washington. 6:30 p.m. socializing, 7:00 p.m. reading, plus open-mic reading, free.
8 June 2018: Featured participant in a haiku reading at The Den Coffee Shop, 10415 Beardslee Boulevard, Bothell, Washington.
8–10 June 2018: Special annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest region of the Haiku Society of America at Brightwater Center, 22505 State Route 9 SE, Woodinville, Washington. I’m reading haiku on Friday night, and giving a presentation on Saturday titled “Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: Giving Attention to Our Environment,” followed by a workshop.
12 June 2018: Presentation and workshop on haiku at Montlake Library, 2401 24th Avenue E, Seattle, Washington. 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Free.
20 June 2018: One of dozens of poets featured in the launch of Julie Emerson’s Haiku Gumball Machine at Albion Books, 523 Richards Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. See video.
7 July 2018: Directing the Poets in the Park festival, book fair, and poetry picnic at Anderson Park in Redmond, Washington, sponsored by the Redmond Association of Spokenword. Free, full-day poetry festival with readings, workshops, vendors, installations, and more (chalk poetry, Haiku on Sticks), featuring Claudia Castro Luna, Washington State poet laureate, new Redmond poet laureate Melanie Noel, and many others. See photos.
8 July 2018: Bilingual (Japanese and English) haiku reading as part of the Chin Music Press “Authors Showcase” on the main stage at the 2018 Japan Fair, Meydenbauer Center, 11100 NE 6th Street in Bellevue, Washington. I’ll be reading “First Snow,” with the Japanese being read by Yuko Enomoto. Also speaking are Jay Rubin, Doug Palmer, David Jacobson, and Shinichiro Takahashi. 11:00 to 11:45 a.m. Free. Taiko drums right after! See the main stage schedule.
27 July 2018: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring Jack Straw Writers: Daemond Arrindell, Bryan Edenfield, and Natasha Kochicheril Moni. At Brick and Mortar Books, 7430 164th Avenue NE, Suite B105, Redmond, Washington. 6:30 p.m. socializing, 7:00 p.m. reading, plus open-mic reading, free.
August 2018: One of my haiku made into a limited-edition letterpress broadside by Befuddled Press in celebration of the Haiku Society of America's 50th anniversary in 2018. For more information about the series of twelve poems, please visit the HSA website.
14 August 2018: Garden tour and haiku reading at Kubota Garden (9817 - 55th Avenue South, at Renton Avenue South in Seattle), featuring Carmen Sterba and Michael Dylan Welch, with a guided tour led by Ellen Phillips-Angeles and Jason Wirth. 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Free.
25 August 2018: Judging a free haiku contest, and reading the winners, at the Seattle Japanese Garden Moon Viewing Festival, 6:00 p.m. ($20 admission). See the garden website. + +
30 August 2018: Representing the Redmond Association of Spokenword and Haiku Northwest with an Instant Haiku table at So Bazaar, Redmond, Washington’s night market, 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Free event. Come by, test your Haiku IQ, and get an instant haiku composed on the nature-focused noun of your choice!
16 September 2018: Featured reader for the Oak Harbor Poetry Project, at the Oak Harbor Public Library, 1000 SE Regatta Drive in Oak Harbor, Washington, on Whidbey Island. 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Free. See Facebook event invitation.
28 September 2018: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring Rose Ramm Gamble. At the Redmond Heights Senior Living Center (new location for RASP), 7950 Willows Road NE, Redmond, Washington. 6:30 p.m. socializing, 7:00 p.m. reading, plus open-mic reading, free.
2 October 2018: Release date for Forza Horizon 4, an Xbox open-world car racing computer game from Turn 10 Studios, set in England, with four seasons, for which I edited all user-interface text, cinematic and character scripts (equivalent to a long novel in length, and I did them all at least three times), and subtitle text, plus voice-over quality control. See the game announcement video trailer and this commercial.
6 October 2018: Staffing a haiku table for Japan Week at Bellevue College, Bellevue, Washington. 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., offering instant haiku in response to Test Your Haiku IQ quizzes. Free admission and free parking.
13 October 2018: Staffing a haiku table for “Maple Viewing” at the Seattle Japanese Garden, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Regular garden admission fee. See the garden website.
18–23 October 2018: Traffic Culture Exhibition 2018 at Ueno Station in Tokyo, Japan, featuring my translations with Emiko Miyashita of train-related haiku contest winners, plus all exhibit text for a photography exhibition, including commentary by the photographers and judges. Learn more about the online exhibition at the Japan Traffic Culture Association website, and see exhibit photographs.
25–28 October 2018: Directing Haiku Northwest’s eleventh annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway at the Seabeck Conference Center in Seabeck, Washington, with Abigail Friedman as our special guest (our theme for the weekend is the sense of sight). See the action-packed schedule. My contributions include a panel discussion on the Haiku Society of America’s 50th anniversary, PowerPoint presentations about the American Haiku Archives and “Touching the Moon: Twenty-Four Shikishi” (including an exhibit of shikishi poem cards by Japanese haiku masters), a panel discussion on taking haiku from sight to insight, and other activities and readings.
31 October 2018: Featured poet for Wednesday Night Poetry, Kollective Coffee +Tea, 110 Central Avenue, Hot Springs, Arkansas. 6:30 p.m. Free. See the news story in The Sentinel-Record.
November 2018: Appointed poet in residence for VALA Arts in Kirkland.
2–3 November 2018: Featured presenter for the 22nd annual Hot Springs Haiku Conference (and South Region regional Haiku Society of America meeting), at the Arlington Hotel, 239 Central Avenue, Hot Springs, Arkansas. Also presenting are David Lanoue, John Zheng, Margaret Dornaus, and others, hosted by Howard Lee Kilby and the Arkansas Haiku Society. See event photos.
10 November 2018: Featured reader, with Michelle Schaefer, at Tsuga Fine Art and Framing, 10101 Main Street in Bothell, Washington. Plus an open-mic reading. 7:00 p.m., free.
29 November 2018: Poetry reading at VALA Arts, 11915 124th Ave NE, in Kirkland, Washington (new location), as part of the evening’s “Gatesville, Washington: Art Talk and Wine Night.” 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Free. See Facebook event.
30 November 2018: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring storyteller Kate Walton, Redmond Heights Senior Living Center, 7950 Willows Road NE, Redmond, Washington. 6:30 p.m. socializing, 7:00 p.m. reading, plus open-mic reading, free.
8 December 2018: Ekphrastic poetry writing workshop at VALA Arts, 11915 124th Ave NE, in Kirkland, Washington (new location). 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Free.
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