Haiku North America

Haiku North America is a nonprofit corporation of which I’m one of four directors, along with Garry Gay (California), Paul Miller (Florida), and Deborah P Kolodji (California). When Garry was president of the Haiku Society of America in 1990, he thought it would be a good idea to have a conference to bring together members of various haiku organizations (not just HSA members), and so the event was born. I was one of the founders of the conference, first held in 1991, in California, and also proposed the event’s name. My idea with the name was to make sure HNA was not just a U.S. event, but also encompassed Canada (and Mexico, although the haiku community there seems to be small, insular, or not publicly organized). From the beginning, HNA has been a stimulating long weekend of readings, presentations, papers, and more, all focusing on haiku poetry—a gathering of the tribes. The variety of scholarly and nonacademic papers and presentations has had an extraordinary influence on English-language haiku for more than 25 years by appearing in the leading haiku journals. In addition, HNA is especially strong as a social event, where haiku poets from across the continent, and beyond, can gather regularly for in-person poetic and academic sharing and inspiration.

        At first, HNA was going to be a one-shot deal, but about a year after the 1991 conference, I insisted with Garry that we should do it again, and if I had not done so, HNA would not have become the regular event it is. Consequently, we held the next conference in 1993, also in California, thus establishing the every-two-years cadence. Thereafter, the conference has moved around the continent to a different city each time, first trekking to Canada in 1995, and held aboard a cruise ship (albeit docked) in 2013—and on Zoom for 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. The following is a list of the dates and locations for each HNA conference, their chief organizers, and the title and publication information for each conference anthology (all of which I edited or coedited, and also published with my press, Press Here). From this list, you can also click links to see each anthology’s book page, introduction, and sample poems, and in some cases contributor lists and links to Amazon for purchases. At the end are additional links to the HNA website, its FAQ page, the HNA blog, and a video that promoted the 2015 conference in Schenectady, New York. See you at the next Haiku North America conference!

• “Every two years, at some interesting location in the United States or Canada, the organizers of Haiku North America put together exciting and innovative programs involving leading poets, scholars, editors, and teachers, as well as practitioners of arts that have a kinship with haiku. The result is that HNA is the most eagerly awaited conference on the haiku calendar.” —George Swede

• “Of the small handful of regular occasions that nurture the English-language haiku community, Haiku North America is certainly preeminent: intellectually diverse, socially expansive, emotionally gratifying, it provides more than any other single experience the sense that haiku is a literary force to be reckoned with and capable of work that matters in the rest of the world.” —Jim Kacian

• “Haiku North America offers haiku poets worldwide the opportunity to renew their spirit of community. The Haiku North America conference is a remarkable setting for innovative workshops and spellbinding readings. This unique collaboration, known to its devotees as HNA, is the place to experience not only the art but also the heart of haiku.” —Roberta Beary

See the Haiku North America page on Haikupedia, with links to detailed descriptions of selected past conferences.

Conferences

August 23–25, 1991

Las Positas College, Livermore, California (near San Francisco)

• Directors: Garry Gay, Michael Dylan Welch, Jerry Ball, David Wright, Christopher Herold, and Paul O. Williams

• Harvest, Michael Dylan Welch, editor. Press Here, Foster City, California, 1991, 20 pages, 52 poets (one poem each), ISBN 1-878798-05-7; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

July 15–18, 1993

Las Positas College, Livermore, California

• Directors: Garry Gay, Michael Dylan Welch, Jerry Ball, David Wright, Ebba Story, and Marianne Monaco

• The Shortest Distance, Ebba Story and Michael Dylan Welch, editors. Cover photograph by Garry Gay. Press Here, Foster City, California, 1993, 20 pages, 51 poets (one poem each), ISBN 1-878798-11-1; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

July 13–15, 1995

Ryerson Polytechnic, Toronto, Ontario

• Directors: Keith Southard, Marshall Hryciuk, and George Swede

• Northern Lights, Michael Dylan Welch, editor, Press Here, Foster City, California, 1995, 24 pages, 50 poems by 29 poets, ISBN 1-878798-13-8; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

July 24–27, 1997

Portland State University, Portland, Oregon

• Directors: Ce Rosenow, Margaret Chula, and Cherie Hunter Day

• Theme: Innovation

• Shades of Green, Michael Dylan Welch, editor. Cherie Hunter Day, illustration. Press Here, Foster City, California, 1997, 24 pages, 63 poets (one poem each), ISBN 1-878798-18-9; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

July 8–11, 1999

Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (near Chicago)

• Directors: Charles Trumbull, Sara Brant, Joseph Kirschner, and Lidia Rozmus

• Theme: Looking East, Looking West

• Too Busy for Spring, Michael Dylan Welch and Lee Gurga, editors. Lidia Rozmus, cover illustration. Press Here, Foster City, California, 1999, 36 pages, 91 poets (one poem each), ISBN 1-878798-19-7; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

June 28–July 1, 2001

Boston Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts

• Directors: Raffael de Gruttola, Judson Evans, and Karen Klein

• Theme: Haiku and Beyond

• Paperclips, Michael Dylan Welch, Carol Purington, and Larry Kimmel, editors. Karen Klein, ink brush drawings. Press Here, Foster City, California, 2001, 40 pages, 97 poets (one poem each) plus five poems from a children’s haiku contest, ISBN 1-878798-24-3; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

June 26–29, 2003

Dalton School, New York, New York

• Directors: Pamela Miller Ness, Stanford M. Forrester, Brenda Gannam, Tom Painting, and John Stevenson

• Brocade of Leaves, Michael Dylan Welch and Yu Chang, editors. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2003, 32 pages, 85 poets (one poem each), ISBN 1-878798-27-8; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

September 21–25, 2005

Fort Worden Conference Center, Port Townsend, Washington

• Directors: Michael Dylan Welch, Christopher Herold, Carol O’Dell, and Doris Thurston

• Tracing the Fern, Michael Dylan Welch and Billie Wilson, editors. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2005, 40 pages, 67 poets (two poems each), ISBN 1-878798-28-6; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

August 15–19, 2007

Hawthorne Inn and Conference Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

• Directors: Dave Russo, Lenard D. Moore, and Bob Moyer

• Theme: 100 Bridges

• Dandelion Wind, Michael Dylan Welch and Lenard D. Moore, editors. Kate MacQueen, illustrations. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2008, 36 pages, 71 poets (one poem each), ISBN 978-1-878798-29-9; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

August 5–9, 2009

National Library of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario—see photos 1, photos 2, photos 3

• Directors: Terry Ann Carter, Guy Simser, and Claudia Radmore

• Theme: Crosscurrents

• Into Our Words, Michael Dylan Welch and Grant D. Savage, editors. Peter Vernon Quenter, artwork. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2009, 40 pages, 90 poets (one poem each), ISBN 978-1-878798-30-5; see book page, introduction, and sample poems

October 14–18, 2015

Union College, Schenectady, New York—see photos 1, photos 2, photos 3, photos 4, photos 5 (see also Tanka Sunday photos)

• Directors: Hilary Tann, John Stevenson, Yu Chang, Tom Clausen, and David Giacalone

• Theme: Autumn Term

• Higginson Lecture: Randy Brooks

• Fire in the Treetops: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Haiku North America, Michael Dylan Welch and Scott Mason, editors. Christopher Patchel, artwork. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2015, 416 pages, 1,053 poems by more than 500 poets, ISBN 978-1-878798-37-4; see book page, introduction, and sample poems; order from Amazon

• See 2015 promotional video

September 13–17, 2017

Hotel Santa Fe, Hacienda & Spa, Santa Fe, New Mexico—see photos 1, photos 2, photos 3, photos 4, photos 5, photos 6, photos 7

• Directors: Charles Trumbull, Sondra J. Byrnes, Cynthia Henderson, Scott Wiggerman, and Miriam Sagan

• Theme: Earthtones

• Higginson Lecture: Teruko Kumei

• Earthsigns, Michael Dylan Welch and Scott Wiggerman, editors. Lidia Rozmus, illustrations. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2017, 84 pages, 183 poets (one poem each), ISBN 978-1-878798-38-1; see book page, introduction, sample poems, and contributor list; order from Amazon

August 7–11, 2019

Hawthorne Inn and Conference Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina—photos to come

• Directors: Bob Moyer, Dave Russo, Lenard D. Moore, Crystal Simone Smith

• Theme: Haiku in the World: Dissolving Walls, Building Community

• Higginson Lecture: Jay Friedenberg

• Sitting in the Sun, Michael Dylan Welch and Crystal Simone Smith, editors. Kate MacQueen, artwork. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2019, 64 pages, 94 poets (one poem each), ISBN 978-1-878798-40-4; see book page, introduction, sample poems, and contributor list; order from Amazon

October 14–17, 2021

On Zoom, hosted by Victoria, British Columbia—photos to come

• Directors: Terry Ann Carter and Lynne Jambor

• Theme: Ma / Space / L’espace

• Higginson Lecture: Janine Beichman

• Salmon Drum, Michael Dylan Welch, editor

June 28–July 2, 2023

Netherland Plaza Hotel and Mercantile Library, Cincinnati, Ohio—see photos 1, photos 2, photos 3, photos 4, photos 5, photos 6, photos 7, photos 8 (Tanka Sunday), photos 9

• Program Committee: Jennifer Hambrick, Nicky Gutierrez, and Elliot Nicely

• Local Arrangements Committee: Patti Niehoff and Buck Niehoff

• Theme: City and Soil

• Higginson Lecture: Tim Green

• Earthworks, Michael Dylan Welch and Julie Schwerin, editors. John E. Hancock, photographs. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2023, 64 pages, 129 poets (one poem each), ISBN 978-1-878798-43-5; see book page, introduction, sample poems, and contributor list; order from Amazon

Additional Links

• Haiku North America

• Frequently Asked Questions

• HNA Blog

• Video promoting the 2015 HNA conference

• Video promoting the 2025 HNA conference

Hope you can join us for the next Haiku North America celebration!