Appearances

Selected readings, workshops, and other appearances are listed here. In addition, I curate and MC the live-streamed SoulFood Poetry Night (see YouTube) in Redmond, Washington (third Thursday of each month at SoulFood CoffeeHouse), and the Redmond Association of Spokenword readings (last Friday night of each month at Centro Cultural Mexicano in Redmond). I also participate in monthly meetings of the Haiku Northwest group (second Thursday of most months, plus quarterly weekend meetings in 2023). These events were mostly on Zoom after about March of 2020, but many have returned to being in person. Also see selected event photos from the past below the following calendar, or visit the Workshops page to learn more about the various workshops and presentations I can provide. To schedule a poetry reading, workshop, lecture, or presentation, please contact me.

—Michael Dylan Welch

Now — 2023

Upcoming events: I have numerous workshops, presentations, and readings slated for 2023, and I’ll post information about them as soon as they’re confirmed. As with the previous three years of pandemic upheaval, many of these events are online, usually on Zoom. Keeping up appearances!

Selected Event Photos

“Haiku Targets” presentation at the Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver British Columbia, 20 March 2006, as part of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (for which I’ve served as a judge and consultant for numerous years).

Delivering my keynote speech at the November 2013 Haiku International Association annual convention in Tokyo.

Audience view of my keynote speech at the November 2013 Haiku International Association annual convention in Tokyo.

Showing off my “I Heart Haiku” T-shirt after giving my keynote speech at the November 2013 Haiku International Association annual convention in Tokyo.

Teaching haiku to fourth graders at Cherry Crest Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington on 7 May 2009.

Teaching collaborative writing at the Poetry Yurt on Gabriola Island, British Columbia on 23 July 2013.

Teaching haiku at the Sakura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia on 6 April 2013.

Facilitating the Ekphrastic Assimilations writing workshop at VALA Art Center in Redmond, Washington, on 16 September 2016.

“Becoming a Haiku Poet” workshop at Seattle Chōeizan Enkyōji Nichiren Buddhist Temple in Seattle on 19 May 2012.

Chatting with children’s book author Deb Lund at the Whidbey Island Writers Conference on 28 February 2008. I’ve given workshops and readings at this conference on haiku and longer poetry as well as all-day seminars on haiku and on “Microsoft Word for Poets and Novelists.”

Participating in a panel discussion on haiku poet Nicholas Virgilio (with Raffael de Gruttola and Kathleen O’Toole) at the 2009 Haiku North America conference at the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, 6 August 2009.

Haiku reading at the Japanese Garden, Seattle, Washington, 29 June 2008, for the “Haiku Day” at the garden, sponsored by the Haiku Society of America and Seattle Parks and Recreation.   +

Serving as MC for the national Haiku Society of America meeting at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, 26 June 2010.

Haiku reading at the “Found in Translation” exhibition at the TORA Gallery, in Mount Vernon, Washington, with koto accompaniment by Elizabeth Falconer, 20 November 2005.

Haiku performance with members of the Haiku Northwest group (left to right: Michael Dylan Welch, Marilyn Sandall, William Scott Galasso, and Connie Hutchison, with guitar accompaniment by Dejah Léger, not shown) at the Northwest Folklife Festival, 26 May 2008.

You can listen to a recording of the Haiku Northwest Folklife performance of May 2005.

Welcoming speech for the 2004 Poets in the Park conference, at Clise Mansion in Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington. I founded and directed this conference, which I directed again in 2005 and revived in 2014 (ongoing since then).

Teaching haiku for Camp Fire USA on Bainbridge Island, 15 March 2008.

Featured reading at Hibulb Cultural Center in Tulalip, Washington, 2 May 2019. The reading took place in the longhouse.

“Calling All Poets” reading (me with Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken), Sammamish Library, 2 April 2013.

Staffing the haiku table at the 2014 moon viewing festival at the Seattle Japanese Garden. I have judged an annual haiku contest at this annual festival for many years.

As Redmond poet laureate, I began a presentation series called “Poets Wanted: Dead or Alive,” featuring the poetry of famous poets. This presentation on Rumi took place at the library in Redmond, Washington, on 10 February 2014.

Directing the annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway at the Seabeck Conference Center in Seabeck, Washington, October 2017.

Television interview on 15 April 2018 about the Sakura Days Japan Festival at VanDusen Gardens in Vancouver, British Columbia, at which I’ve given numerous readings and workshops, led haiku walks, and judged haiku contests since the inception of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in 2006.

Leading a haiku workshop for the Sakura Days Japan Festival at VanDusen Gardens in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Writing instant haiku at Brick and Mortar Books in Redmond, Washington for Independent Bookstore Day on 28 April 2018.

Staffing the haiku table on 13 September 2019 with Michelle Schaefer at the annual Moon Viewing event at the Seattle Japanese Garden. [photo by SlickPix Photography]

Linda Poole, executive director of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, introduces me to lead a haiku workshop at the Vancouver Public Library, 28 April 2019.

Staffing my haiku book table in the Haiku Hut at the Sakura Days Japan Festival, VanDusen Botanical Garden, 15 April 2018.

Chalk haiku at VanDusen Botanical Garden, April 2016.

Directing the Seabeck Haiku Getaway, via Zoom, October 2020.