2024 Events
Celebrating our 35th anniversary in 2023 and 2024
Haiku Northwest invites you to attend any of our free monthly and quarterly meetings, which usually focus on rounds of sharing and workshopping our haiku, with occasional presentations and writing exercises. Most meetings in 2024 will be on Zoom (join our mailing list to receive each Zoom link), but we are exploring when and how to have more in-person meetings. Listed here are all our meetings, a few special events, plus significant regional or national events. If you’re giving a haiku workshop or know of another haiku event in the area, please let us know so we can add it. Monthly meetings usually start at 6:30 p.m. with informal socializing, with a more formal start at 7:00 p.m., and occur on the second Thursday of each month, except as indicated. For 2024 we will also have quarterly meetings on selected Saturdays in place of that month’s Thursday meeting, for three hours usually starting at 1:00 p.m. All dates and details are subject to change, and will be confirmed via the Haiku Northwest Mailchimp mailing list (through which you may be provided additional details, such as Zoom links—if you have questions, please email haikunw1988@gmail.com). To suggest regional haiku-related events to add to the following schedule, please contact Michael Dylan Welch at WelchM@aol.com. We’ll update content as soon as we confirm the details. See you at our next event!
Haiku Northwest Monthly Newsletter
If you have a haiku event, reading, publication, award, or other haiku-related news to share in Haiku Northwest’s monthly newsletter, please submit your announcement by the 20th of each month to haikunw1988@gmail.com.
In addition to the following events, the Washington region of the Haiku Society of America plans to have an annual regional meeting on May 17, 2024, and may have additional events. For more information, please contact the HSA regional coordinator for 2024, Richard Tice. Haiku Northwest is independent of the HSA Washington state region.
2024 Meetings
All online via Zoom, unless specified otherwise, and all times Pacific Time. Events in green and indented are not Haiku Northwest events, but may be of interest to our members. For more details about events not run by Haiku Northwest, please click the links provided.
January 11
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Zoom
Presentation by Tanya McDonald on her haiku journal, Kingfisher.
January 13
Curtis Manley Book Launch, 2:00 p.m.
Launch for Climbing the Volcano: A Journey in Haiku by Curtis Manley
Brick & Mortar Books, 7430 164th Ave NE, Suite B105 in Redmond, Washington
February
National Haiku Writing Month
Visit the NaHaiWriMo website and Facebook page
Write at least one haiku per day for each day of February!
February 10 (Saturday)
Quarterly Meeting, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Zoom
1:00 pm Welcome and announcements by Michael Dylan Welch, host
1:05 pm “35th Anniversary Spot: The Swinging Grasshopper: How Bob Major Inspired a Haiku Northwest Tradition” by Connie Hutchison
1:15 pm “Teaching Haiku” by Anne Burgevin
2:00 pm Group photo, then a break
2:05 pm Breakout rooms
2:20 pm Read-around (share one haiku of your own)
2:35 pm “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: Another Exploration of Ukrainian Haiku” by Nicholas Klacsanzky
3:00 pm Break
3:05 pm Critique sharing (prepare one haiku to paste into the chat and/or read aloud) for everyone to comment on—what we like and what might be improved)
3:55 pm Closing words, reminders, announcements
4:00 pm Ending time, or stay longer for socializing
Anne Burgevin blends her professional work as a former elementary teacher and a creative writing teacher with her passion for haiku. Helping youth explore their role as stewards of our natural resources is important to Anne’s sense of purpose as an educator. She has found haiku to be an exciting vehicle for these goals. Anne’s second collection, Sunny Uplands, is forthcoming from Red Moon Press. She is an associate editor at The Heron’s Nest. Please read a recent Teachers & Writers Magazine interview with Anne.
Nicholas Klacsanzky has had poems and essays published widely in journals, books, and on websites. He has also collaborated in creating the books Zen and Son and How Many Become One. His solo haiku book, Transported, was published in 2022 by Red Moon Press. Nicholas is the haiku and senryu editor for Frogpond journal, and an editor for the “Haiku Commentary” blog. He is a teacher by profession.
March 1–31
Enter the fifth annual Mukai Garden Haiku Festival. Results announced in April, with winners on display around the garden throughout April. Visit the garden at 18017 107th Ave SW, Vashon Island, Washington.
March 14
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Zoom
Hosted by Connie Hutchison and Michelle Schaefer. “35th Anniversary Spot” by Michael Dylan Welch.
March 29–31
Washington State Convention Center
April 11
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Zoom
Our “35th Anniversary Spot” will feature a look at Haiku Northwest’s 1996 anthology, Sunlight Through Rain, edited by Robert Major and Francine Porad. We’ll discuss the purpose of haiku critique and will critique haiku submitted by members.
April 12–14
Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival
Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington
April 13–14
VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia
April 17 (Wednesday)
International Haiku Poetry Day
April 17
Haiku Society of America Washington Region Zoom Meeting
“Focus on Washington,” 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., free on Zoom
Twelve Washington artists/writers will present their works combining art and haiku: David Berger, John Burgess, Emily Kane, David Lasky, Dorothy Avery Matthews, Carole MacRury, Sally Penley, petro ck, Susan Roberts, Sheila Sondik, Ann Spiers, and Michael Dylan Welch, sharing and reading sumie, painting, photography, calligraphy, multimedia, and comics, combined with haiku and senryu, hosted by Richard Tice
For the Zoom link, contact Richard Tice at ret.hsa@outlook.com
April 30
Submission deadline for Haiku Northwest’s 35th anniversary anthology
(for Washington state residents only; submissions open March 18)
May 11 (Saturday, in person)
Quarterly Meeting, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Avenue, Seattle, Washington (free admission)
Hosted by Michael Dylan Welch. Our visit to the Frye Art Museum will include a private tour, ekphrastic writing and sharing, and lunch at the museum cafe. Attendees are invited to submit haiku written during or after this event for compilation in a trifold, which we will give to the museum and to contributors.
June 13
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Zoom
“Light and the Poet: Impressionism and Haiku” presentation by Bill Fay, with a focus on ekphrastic haiku writing, plus our usual time for haiku sharing and critique.
June 21–23
Haiku Oregon Weekend
“A Celebration of Oregon Haiku Poets”
Oregon City, Oregon near Portland
Sponsored by the Oregon region of the Haiku Society of America
For more details, email Tanya McDonald at tanyamc1375@gmail.com
Please register by June 10, 2024; registration is free, but donations of $10 to $15 will help offset venue rental costs
Friday, June 21
Dinner at a time and restaurant to be announced
Saturday, June 22
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Lakeside Hall at the John Inskeep Environmental Learning Center on Clackamas Community College’s Oregon City Campus (see campus map)
Presentations and readings by Clayton Beach, Maggie Chula, Lisa Gerlits, Ce Rosenow, Jacob Salzer, members of the Portland Haiku Group, and more
5:00 p.m.
Dinner at a restaurant to be announced
Sunday, June 23
Haiku walk at a time and natural location to be announced
June 29–30
Meydenbauer Center, 11100 NE 6th Street in Bellevue, Washington
(look for more information about their annual haiku contest also)
July 11
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Zoom
Featured reading by John Brandi.
“35th Anniversary Spot” by Terran Campbell
Haiku Northwest meeting at the Lake Forest Park Library, September 27, 2018. Left to right are Cara Izumi, Millie Renfrow, Ron Swanson, Curtis Manley, Arlene Springer, Philaah Jones, Terran Campbell, Tanya McDonald, Dianne Garcia, Gary Evans, and Angie Terry. Photo by Michael Dylan Welch. Please join us!
Haiku Northwest meeting at the Bellevue Regional Library, August 7, 2008. Left to right are Curtis Manley, Helen Russell, William Scott Galasso, Ida Freilinger, Bryson Nitta, Tanya McDonald, Connie Hutchison, Dejah Leger, Susan Miller, Terran Campbell, Joshua Beach, Angela Terry, Marilyn Sandall, and Herb McClees. Photo by Michael Dylan Welch. Please join us!
August 10 (Saturday, in person)
Quarterly Meeting, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lake Hills Greenbelt Garden Shelter, 15500 SE 16th Street, Bellevue, Washington (see map shown here). Please bring your own lunch and a notebook and writing tool for our haiku walk (during which we’ll write haiku to share later) and rengay-writing session. Bring books to give and take on a “free table.” Here's our agenda for the day:
10:00 a.m. Gather/socialize
10:30 a.m. "As Far as We Can Go: The Limits of Haiku Connections"
Nick Klacsanzky discusses varying degrees of closeness and farness in the relationship of the traditional two parts in haiku, and how readers may react to them, followed by an exercise to write three haiku representing the spectrum of closeness and farness.
11:00 a.m. Walk to Larsen Lake
12:00 noon Lunch/sharing haiku
12:50 p.m. Featured reading by Victor Ortiz
1:00 p.m. Rengay writing/sharing, led by Michael Dylan Welch
1:50 p.m. Cleanup
2:00 p.m. Depart
August 31
Porad Haiku Award Deadline
(received by this date)
See 2023 winners
Winners announced at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway on October 26, 2024
September 12
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Featured reading by Roy Kindelberger, reading from his new book Building Bridges.
September 12, 13
Moon Viewing Festival, with haiku contest each night, 7:00 p.m.
September 15
Today marks the 36th anniversary of Haiku Northwest’s first meeting in 1988 in Bellevue, Washington.
September 30–October 5
Sponsored by Bellevue College, Bellevue, Washington (public events on October 5)
October 10
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Our “35th Anniversary Spot” will feature memories of Seabeck, presented by David Berger, Ida Freilinger, Carole MacRury, and Kathleen Tice, plus Luke Brannon with “Lessons Learned from completeTheHaiga.” TheHaiga is an online collaborative project with weekly drawing prompts across multiple social platforms. Luke will detail lessons he’s learned regarding haiga and the collaborative creative process. See https://x.com/thehaiga and https://www.threads.net/@completethehaiga.
Raising a family in the Pacific Northwest, Luke Brannon keeps a hand in writing in his spare time. Influenced by language poetry, his micropoetry focuses on capturing the moment and its interplay with the reader’s own experiences. When not writing, Luke creates line-art inspired by the American Southwest. More recently, he has begun to bridge his writing and his art into one.
October 24–27
Seabeck Haiku Getaway (our seventeenth annual retreat)
Our weekend theme is “Maps,” with Crystal Simone Smith as our featured guest.
November 9 (Saturday)
Quarterly Meeting, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Broadview Branch of the Seattle Public Library
12755 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, Washington
We’ll begin with announcements and introductions (share a seasonal haiku, either yours or someone else’s), then have a “Found Haiku” activity led by Richard Tice (finding haiku in nonhaiku sources). You may come across a passage in fiction that jumps out at you as a haiku, or you may hear a song that has lines in the lyrics that resemble or make you think of haiku. You will learn more about found haiku and practice writing them. We’ll then have our usual haiku sharing and feedback session. Please share up to five of your own haiku for friendly feedback, printed out to share with others (15 to 20 copies). We’ll also have a book exchange table (add/take a book). Please also bring snacks to share (optional).
December 12
Monthly Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Please also check the schedule for the Seattle Japanese Garden (see this website also). Several of the garden’s events typically include a haiku component, such as the moonviewing festival, which usually includes a haiku contest.
Click also to see event listings for 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.