Haikufest To Inspire Poets To Publish

    Beginning and advanced poets will learn to appreciate, write, and enhance their haiku skills, from 1 to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, May 7 at the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., Evanston. The event with lecture, discussion, and exhibition of poetry and art, is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by the Midwest Region of the Haiku Society of America and the Evanston Public Library. Pre-registration is required.

    Haiku is short, meditative poetry that originated in Japan in the 1600s, and is currently gaining popularity worldwide in many languages. It is often three lines, has seventeen syllables or less, and captures the moment, with usually a reference to nature or the seasons.

   The first presentation, “Haiku: A Path Leading to Conservation Thought,” will integrate a lecture on haiku style, form, and history with a discussion of the underlying thought of reverence for nature.  Charlotte Digregorio, HSA Midwest Regional Coordinator, will speak. She is an award-winning author, poet, and educator, recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry. Her poetry has been translated into several languages, and is often exhibited in public venues.

     “A Writing Life in Seventeen Syllables or Less,” will follow by award-winning Iowa Poet Francine Banwarth. She will discuss what inspires her to write haiku, and her methods of writing with multi-layers of meaning.

    Banwarth, who is regularly published worldwide in haiku journals and anthologies, and who has served as a haiku leader, educator, and poetry competition judge for organizations including HSA, says: “Haiku for me is not so much a way of thinking a moment, as it is a way of feeling a moment. I think that is where intuition enters in, as if there is a hermit inside me, or as if I am in a quiet place, breathing under water.”

    Subsequently, Randy Brooks, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Millikin University and Professor of English, will speak on “The Role of Kukai in The Haiku Tradition.” Kukai is a haiku contest in which participating poets are judges. Preceding Haikufest, attendees may submit from three to five haiku by April 23 to Brooks at brooksbooks@sbcglobal.net. These haiku will be exhibited at Haikufest and judged.

    Brooks and his wife, Shirley, are co-editors and poetry publishers of Brooks Books. They also edit “Mayfly,” a haiku magazine. An award-winning poet who teaches haiku at Millikin, Brooks is the author of “School’s Out,” his haiku collection, and is co-editor of anthologies including the “Global Haiku Anthology.” He is co-chair of the American Haiku Archives at California State Library in Sacramento.

   The last presentation will be “Haiga: History and Technique.” Poet and artist Lidia Rozmus  will  reveal the art of haiku accompanied by an ink painting. She will exhibit her work the month of May at the library and discuss it in detail at Haikufest.

    Rozmus has authored and designed several portfolios and books on Japanese-style poetry and haiga that have won HSA awards, including,“A Dandelion’s Flight Haiku and Sumi-e”; “Twenty Views from Mole Hill: My Journey”; and “Hailstones, Haiku by Taneda Santoka.” Rozmus’ art has been exhibited throughout the U.S., Japan, and Poland.

   HSA is a not-for-profit organization to promote the writing and appreciation of haiku in English.  Its website is www.hsa-haiku.org

   For more information on Haikufest, and to pre-register, contact Charlotte Digregorio, 847-881-2664 or the Evanston Public Library, 847-448-8600.