Shorter Bios

Haiku Emphasis

Michael Dylan Welch likes to be surprised by empathy and gratitude in haiku, has been active with haiku for more than 40 years, and joined the Haiku Society of America in 1987. He founded his press, Press Here, in 1989, edited Woodnotes from 1989 to 1997, and Tundra from 1998 to 2001, coedits First Frost, and serves as haiku editor for Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine. Michael cofounded the Haiku North America conference in 1991 and the American Haiku Archives in 1996, and founded the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in 2008 and National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com) in 2010. Michael has won first place in the Henderson, Brady, Drevniok, and Tokutomi haiku contests, among others, and his poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in hundreds of publications, translated into more than twenty languages. His website, devoted mostly to haiku, is www.graceguts.com.

Michael Dylan Welch has been investigating haiku and related poetry since 1976. This has included writing haiku very badly (with titles, even) for twelve years, discovering literary haiku in 1988, buying thousands of haiku books, joining haiku groups and organizations and often being an officer, starting to teach haiku and writing hundreds of essays and reviews about haiku, founding his haiku publishing endeavor, Press Here, in 1989, cofounding the Haiku North America conference in 1991 and the American Haiku Archives in 1996, and founding the Tanka Society of America in 2000, the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in 2008, and National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com) in 2010. Over the years Michael has won first prize in numerous contests for haiku and related poetry, edited and written dozens of poetry books, and spoken at many literary conferences and retreats. His haiku have been carved into stone in New Zealand, printed on balloons in Los Angeles, and read for the Empress of Japan and at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Michael has balanced his haiku investigations with the study of longer poetry by receiving an MA in English, serving two terms as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, curating two poetry reading series since 2006 and 2008, and teaching for an MFA program and at local schools and libraries. Michael was keynote speaker for the 2013 Haiku International Association annual convention in Japan (which he visits often with his Japanese wife), and had one of his translations printed on the back of 150,000,000 postage stamps in 2012. His writing has appeared in Bacopa Literary Review, City Arts, Clover: A Literary Rag, Frogpond, Hummingbird, Kyoto Journal, Matrix, Modern Haiku, Poetry Kanto, Poetry Nippon, Poet’s Market, Rattle, Raven Chronicles, Right Hand Pointing, Rivet, Sand Hill Review, Seattle Weekly, StringTown, The Writer’s Chronicle, Writer’s Digest, and in many other publications, blogs, and radio shows. He also coedits the haiku journal First Frost (www.firstfrostpoetry.com). In 2009, Michael started his website, www.graceguts.com, where he continues to collect and share his published writing. He was born in England, and was raised there and in Ghana, Australia, and Canada. Michael continues to investigate haiku where he now lives in Sammamish, Washington. He also practices giving back to the poetry community through conscientious literary citizenship.

Michael Dylan Welch has been investigating haiku and related poetry since 1976. He has 5,000 haiku books and has written hundreds of essays and reviews. He started his haiku publishing endeavor, Press Here, in 1989, cofounded the Haiku North America conference (1991) and the American Haiku Archives (1996), and founded the Tanka Society of America (2000), the Seabeck Haiku Getaway (2008), and National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com) (2010). Michael has won numerous haiku contests, published 76 books, and spoken at literary conferences and retreats. His haiku have been carved into stone in New Zealand, printed on balloons in Los Angeles, and read for the Empress of Japan and at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Michael has an MA in English, served two terms as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, has curated two monthly poetry readings since 2006 and 2008, and taught for an MFA program. Michael was keynote speaker for the 2013 Haiku International Association annual convention in Japan and had one of his translations printed on the back of 150,000,000 U.S. postage stamps (2012). His writing has appeared in 22 languages in Bacopa Literary Review, City Arts, Clover, Frogpond, Hummingbird, Kyoto Journal, Matrix, Modern Haiku, Poetry Kanto, Poetry Nippon, Poet’s Market, Rattle, Raven Chronicles, Right Hand Pointing, Rivet, Sand Hill Review, Seattle Weekly, StringTown, The Seattle Times, The Writer’s Chronicle, Writer’s Digest, and other publications, blogs, and radio shows. He coedits the haiku journal First Frost (www.firstfrostpoetry.com) after previously editing Woodnotes and Tundra. In 2009, Michael started www.graceguts.com, devoted to poetry. He began life in England, was raised there and in Ghana, Australia, and Canada, and now lives in Sammamish, Washington. He also enjoys skiing (former ski patroller), racquetball (national competitive ranking), travel (39 countries, and being a tourist in his own backyard), photography (especially blurred-light abstracts), reading (101 books in 2024, although many of them were short haiku books), and movies (logged on Letterboxd). His library includes 14,000 catalogued books. As a professional editor, he has edited hundreds of trade books for major publishers, including the first For Dummies book, and has worked on Minecraft and Xbox games. Michael is a former DJ and has done radio and voice-over work, with a collection of 1,200 vinyl records and 1,500 CDs. Don’t get him started on guitar solos! Michael also gives back to poetry through conscientious literary citizenship.

General Poetry Emphasis

Michael Dylan Welch has been investigating haiku and related poetry since 1976. He founded his press, Press Here, in 1989, and cofounded Haiku North America (HNA) in 1991 and the American Haiku Archives in 1996. He founded the Tanka Society of America in 2000, the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in 2008, and National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com) in 2010. Michael was keynote speaker for the 2013 Haiku International Association convention in Tokyo. He is president of the Redmond Association of Spokenword, and has also curated monthly SoulFood Poetry Night readings since 2006. He served as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington from 2013 to 2015. Michael has published his poetry, essays, and reviews in hundreds of journals and anthologies in more than twenty languages, and has also published numerous books, the most recent of which include Earthworks (the 2023 HNA conference anthology), Jumble Box (NaHaiWriMo anthology), Seven Suns / Seven Moons (with Tanya McDonald), Off the Beaten Track: A Year in Haiku (with eleven other poets), and Becoming a Haiku Poet, among other collections. Michael lives in Sammamish, Washington, and his website is www.graceguts.com.