Haiku North America 2009
August 5–9 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Join our superb program of international speakers, panels, presentations, poetry readings, haiga exhibitions and archival displays at the National Library and Archives on historic Wellington Street—steps away from the Parliament buildings, the Supreme Court, the Rideau Canal system (named a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2007) and the Byward Market entertainment area.

Make Haiku North America Crosscurrents your conference of choice for 2009!

Conference Schedule

Please see the tentative schedule for HNA 2009 and the complete list of poets and presenters. We will be updating the schedule several times before the conference, so please check the schedule again closer to the conference.

Silent Auction

The sale of your donated items in the silent auction helps to raise money for the event, which has considerable expenses. Please consider contributing duplicate copies of books, or any other item that might be of interest to conference attendees.

items (books, small mementoes, anything that will fit into a carry case) for the silent auction will be accepted by Philomene Kocher, from noon – 5:00 pm Wed. Aug 5th . Philomene will set up your contribution with a “starting bid” sheet on a table in the hiaga gallery. Details about closing and pick up of items will be explained in your conference program.

Haiku North America 2009 Blog

Check out the Haiku North America 2009 blog, edited by Pearl Pirie.

Haiga Gallery

Be sure to visit the Haiga Gallery, works on display by various artists, curated by Peter Vernon Quenter (CDN).

Poets and Presenters

Here is a brief summary of our poets and presenters. See also the complete list of poets and presenters.

Nick Avis (CDN) Crosscurrents from Newfoundland and Labrador

John Barlow (ENG)  (1) Haiku From the Field: A Nature Haiku Workshop (2) panel of  readers

Roberta Beary (USA) with Lenard D. Moore (USA) Navigating Crosscurrents in the Craft of Haiku: Anonymous Haiku Writing Workshop

Micheline Beaudry with Mike Montreuil (CDN) L'américanité des Haïkistes Canadiens-Français: American identity of French-Canadian haiku poets (presentation in English and French)    

Michele Root-Bernstein (USA) The Haiku as Emblem of Creative Process 

Rick Black (USA) Reading Michael McClintock’s Sketches From the San Joaquin, Turtle Light Press Haiku Chapbook Competition winner 2008.

John Brandi (USA) keynote speaker

David Burleigh (Japan) In and Out of Japan: The Contours of Haiku

Margaret Chula (USA) Scents and Sensitivity: A Haibun Workshop

Jerome Cushman (USA) Haiku in Performance & Haiku Performance Workshop

Dr. Shasi Angelee Deodhar (India) Crosscurrents of Love in Traditional Japanese Poetry         

Patricia Donegan (USA) Pausing for Peace

Claire Dufresne (Canada) A Haiku Kamishibai

Judson Evans (USA) Haibun Writing Workshop

Margot Gallant (CDN) Beauty, Poetry and Despair: the Cross-Currents of Big Trout Lake

Marshall Hryciuk (CDN) In the Renku Parlour

Jim Kacian  (USA) (1) Haiku As Antistory  (2) Giving Back – The Creation of The Haiku Foundation

Joseph Kirschner (USA) Showing, or Displaying: the Bejewelled Finger Syndrome

Philomene Kocher with Marjorie Woodbridge (CDN) Their Capacity to Delight: Collaborative Haiku with Persons with Dementia

Deborah Kolodji (USA) Haiku Speculations and Crosscurrents

David Lanoue (USA) Reading the New Haiku: Examples and Discussion

Angela Leuck & the Montreal Poets (CDN) Le Terasse Haiku Cabaret

Ian Marshall  (USA) Walden by Haiku

Dennis Maloney (USA) The Poet/Hermit Tradition in Japanese Culture

David McMurray (Japan) The Haikuist

Emiko Miyashita (Japan) Feel the Word. Emiko Miyashita appears at the Haiku North America conference/2009, with the assistance of the Japan-Canada Fund, a gift to the Canada Council for the Arts from the Government of Japan. The Japan-Canada Fund was created in 1988 to provide assistance for collaborations, residencies, co-presentations, and co-productions that result in a public performance or exhibition in Canada.

Kathleen O’Toole (USA) Nick Virgilio  (panel)  Pushing Boundaries of Form & Inspiration

Claudia Coutu Radmore (CDN) Haiku and Art Crosscurrents

Gabriel Rosenstock (IRE) The Universal Spirit of Issa

Bruce Ross (USA) Basho, Sunthorn Pho, and Contemporary World Travel Haibun

Natalia Rudychev (USA) Haiku Crosscurrents: The Masterpiece is of Ourselves, As We Are of the Masterpiece.

Rick Schnell (USA) Train Haiku – Crosscurrents Along Iron Rails

John Sexton (IRE) Place and Inner Space: Imagination and Reality in the Haiku Mind

Charles Trumbull (USA) Crosscurrents East and West: Shiki and the Origins of Shasei

Michael Dylan Welch (USA)  Fuyoh Observations: Seven Lessons We Can Learn from Japan

Readings by George Swede (CDN), Lee Gurga (USA), LeRoy Gorman (CDN), John Stevenson (USA) Penny Harter (USA) Roberta Beary (USA) Grant Savage (CDN) Emiko Miyashita (Japan) reading from the JAL children’s anthology Impression of Wind.

Haiku North America crosscurrents is proud to display the ikebana of Yumiko Tsunakawa Toma: Ikebana Artist and Teacher.

Highlights

Wednesday, August 5	Late afternoon reception, wine and cheese sponsored by Modern Haiku with La Terrasse/ Montreal Haiku Cabaret. Evening Guest Speaker: Robert Sibley, award-winning senior journalist (The Way of Shikoku series in 2005) of the Ottawa Citizen. See Robert's poster.
Thursday Evening, August 6	Pause for Peace, by Patricia Donegan followed by international haiku readings.
Friday Evening, August 7	A celebration of haiku and music with Debbie Danbrook and Catriona Sturton. Debbie and Catriona will combine the music of the Shakuhachi and Shamisan in tradional pieces as well as contempory compositions. See their poster.
Saturday Evening, August 8	Haiku North America 2009 Conference banquet: keynote speaker: John Brandi. A private chartered Ottawa River Boat Cruise, Saturday evening, Aug. 8th  9:30 pm – 12:30 am, including poetry readings, cash bar, DJ, and the best view of the International Fireworks Competition held at Lac Leamy Casino, Hull, Quebec. Janick Belleau (CDN) wil be the emcee for the poetry reading (English and French) on the Ottawa River boat cruise. Tickets for the boat cruise may be purchased at the conference ($30.00 CDN). Please send a short email to Claudia Radmore (claudiarosemary@yahoo.com ) if you are interested in the cruise. Place HNA boat cruise in the subject line.
Sunday Morning, August 9	The William J. Higginson celebration, Sunday morning Aug. 9th. Please bring your favourite “Bill” Higginson poems, photos and anecdotes for an informal and personal tribute. Short papers and poems dedicated to Bill also will be featured.

Please Remember . . .

When you register, be sure to send in some haiku for the conference anthology. And don't forget to buy your HNA 2009 t-shirt.

By the summer of 2009, all travellers (land and air) will need passports to enter Canada. Begin the work now!

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