It's New Zealand Book Month!

March is NZ Book Month and so I headed to the library this morning to hunt out novels to read over the next few weeks, written by New Zealand authors. Here's what I'll be delving into in the days to come:

• The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton
• Classical Music by Joy Cowley
• Come Yesterday by Sue Emms
• Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame
• The Night Book by Charlotte Grimshaw
• The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox

Find out more about NZ Book Month at their website, including info about events around the country, and to print out your $5-off voucher -- http://www.nzbookmonth.co.nz/ 

stacks

of poetry 

books

i choose 

a novel

Kirsten Cliff

News From Haiku News

Greetings Friends!

We would like to announce that after a several month hiatus, Haiku News will be returning in January. As often happens, life got in the way and forced us to prioritize other things. However, we are ready to begin 2012 with a new vision and commitment to publishing excellent poetry that reflects the social and political events of our world.

On January 15^th, we will begin accepting submissions. Please email your tanka, senryu, and haiku to our new address, the4shades@gmail.com.

We would like to thank all of our readers for being patient and supporting our journal through word of mouth and quality poetry. Please be on the lookout for news about site updates, including a new interview project headed by Laurence.

Thanks!

The Haiku News Staff

An Update on the 2011 NZPS Anthology

I just found this information on The New Zealand Poetry Society website, regarding poems submitted to The 2011 Annual International Poetry Competition:

"We regret that due to circumstances beyond our control notification of poems selected for our anthology were not made before the end of August. We apologise for the delay, and request that entrants wait a little longer before submitting their poems elsewhere. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

So, you could still have a haiku chosen for the 2011 NZPS anthology edited by Linzy Forbes. Watch this space :)

Pin-ku: The Wearable Short Form Poetry Project

Pin-ku is an exciting new experimental zine/journal created by the multi-talented Melissa Hill who proposes making short poems into wearable pin-back buttons (badges). Each issue will feature five poems, each on a badge, with a broadside containing author info.

Pin-ku is now calling for submissions for its first publication, September 2011. Send one short poem (it must fit in a circle 1.25″ in diameter and still be readable), previously published is okay, to pinku.editor@gmail.com by August 20. This was my submission for week 30 of 2011 and I look forward to seeing this project grow.

Check Out My Updated Website

Some exciting news for me this month is that my website has finally been updated! Many thanks to my immortal beloved, Cameron Elliot, who originally created my website in secret as one of my birthday presents nearly two years ago.

Up on the site are new links to my writing, information about what services I'm currently able to provide and poetry journal covers that have featured my photographic images (more covers coming in July and September 2011).

Do go over and take a look and let me know what you think - Kirsten's Website

A Time To Say Thank You



Taken at Papamoa Hills 1.1.11

It's March 2nd and the one-year anniversary of my leukaemia diagnosis.

Here I am today, still alive and creating, and growing a fine crop of curls, too! :)

Thank you to all who have supported me through my journey, especially my fiance, who I couldn't imagine doing this without, and my family, near and far, young and old.

Thank you to those who visited and telephoned; sent emails, texts and letters; gifted cards, books and magazines; left messages of support on facebook and here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku.

Thank you to the absolutely fabulous can't-say-enough-good-things-about-you staff of Ward 25 at Waikato Hospital who cared for me for about 14 weeks with not only competence and kindness but with so many smiles and so much laughter too. May I never have to come back again! :)

As part of Leukaemia Appeal Week 2010 I shared my story on the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation website, along with this haiku:

last day in hospital
my cheeks sore
from smiling

If you haven't already read it then please do go and take a look here.


One of my favourite photos of me with my fiance taken during
my time in hospital, cicra May 2010, third cycle of chemo.

I continue to work on my collection of haiku, tanka and haiga exploring my experience of this journey. It's been a highly therapeutic way for me to process the events, some of which remain a part of my life with a further 18 months of maintenance therapy ahead of me. Some haiga will be up soon on my website.

Guest Post: Why Kukai? by Cara Holman

Cara Holman is one of my haiku buddies and is a fellow cancer survivor. She told me about the kukai comps she was involved in a few months back and I've since had the joy of watching her success. I knew she could do a much better post on this topic than I, so I asked her to be my first guest blogger. Her enthusiasm for writing is a delight to be part of and I thank her for this contribution to Swimming in Lines of Haiku. Take it away, Cara...

I discovered Kukai contests in much the same way I’ve discovered everything of worth in cyberspace: by serendipitously following links. The first Kukai I discovered was the Shiki Monthly Kukai. What is a Kukai? Simply put, it is a peer-reviewed haiku competition, in which anyone who submits a haiku gets to vote.

Here’s how it works, in more detail. The Shiki Monthly Kukai has two divisions: the “Kigo” and the “Free format”. In the former, the kigo provided must be included in the haiku, along with a seasonal reference. In the “free format” section, the haiku may be set in any season. Sometimes the word provided must be used verbatim; other times, the only requirement is that it be “strongly imaged or implicit”. A writer may submit one haiku to either or both sections.

Shortly after the submission period ends, ballots are distributed to each participant with the haiku listed anonymously. Each participant has 6 points to distribute, in increments of 1, 2, or 3, and they may not vote for their own haiku. Finally, the votes are tallied, and the haiku are listed in ranked order, along with the writers’ names, points, and any comments they may have received. In addition to the Shiki Monthly Kukai, two other Kukai that I regularly participate in are the Sketchbook Kukai and the Caribbean Kigo Kukai. These are some of my favorite Kukai entries from this year:

night sky –

my thumb

eclipsing the moon

1st place, Shiki Monthly Kukai, July 2010

3rd place, 8th Annual Shiki Poets’ Choice Kukai, October 2010

strains of Mendelssohn

the groom fiddles

with his carnation

1st place, Caribbean Kigo Kukai #13, May 2010

lingering heat

the dogwood’s leaves

curling inward

2nd place, Sketchbook Kukai, July/August 2010

What is novel about Kukai contests, is that unlike traditional haiku journals or competitions with a single judge, Kukai are “judged” by all of the participants, creating a kind of vox populi effect. Kukai are also inclusive—anyone can participate, and everyone is made to feel equally welcome—whether this is their first haiku, or they have been writing and publishing haiku for years. The best way to get started with any of these Kukai is simply to familiarize yourself with the rules, read the past few months of results to get the “flavor” of that particular Kukai, and start writing!

Cara Holman lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, the youngest of their three children, and their two cats. She finds inspiration for her haiku in the garden and on forest trails. Visit her blog, Prose Posies, for links to all of her writing, including her creative nonfiction.

Two Online Opportunties for Your Haiku

Four and Twenty: short form poetry

A monthly online pdf poetry journal interested in fresh and emerging voices. Named for their guideline on what short form poetry is - poems with four lines or less that have no more than twenty words. Full submission guidelines here. The website also features a Four and Twenty of the Week, and if you join them on Twitter or Facebook you'll receive their Monday to Friday writing prompts.

a handful of stones: celebrating the extraordinary in the ordinary

This poetry blog zine is edited by author Fiona Robyn. A small stone is described as, "...a very short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment." One is published each day. Read more about the small stone philosophy here and check out the submission guidelines here.

FREE online haiku self study course

When I was first teaching myself about haiku in 2007, I started with two things. One was The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share and Teach Haiku by William J. Higginson with Penny Harter, which I still highly recommend today. It's a book that I dip into a few times a year, and I've even used the lesson plans in it for teaching children haiku. If you're in New Zealand, you can buy it from Fishpond (my favourite online bookstore).

My other main learning tool was a FREE online haiku self study course, which I still recommend to beginners: In The Moonlight a Worm...  

You will see on the left hand side under 'The Lessons' section, 'Basho's Spirit', the third one down says 'self study' - just click on that and follow the instructions. There is also a 'Show Don't Tell' lesson with a self study module, which is great learning for any genre of writing.

This self study course is a great introduction to haiku. The website also has information for teachers with lesson plans that you can download, photocopiable poem sheets and a reference section.

I hadn't looked at this website for a while so had forgotten that they had resources for those teaching haiku. I'm going to check out the lesson plans myself now!

Learning about haiga, and loving it!

Over the past year or so I've been branching out from haiku into writing tanka and haibun as well. I've really enjoyed experimenting with these forms, and have found I've grown as a writer through extending myself in this way. I've had a few tanka and haibun published now (see one of my haibun under 'Links to My Writing') and feel reasonably comfortable writing them. I've only scratched the surface of how I can use these forms to express and record my journey through this life. I'm sure I'll continue writing them, along with haiku, for many years to come.

In recent weeks, I've found myself drawn to haiga. It feels like a natural progression for me as someone who delights in playing with words and crafts, and likes to explore the relationship of how one can inspire the other. I actually made my first haiga before I really knew I had. But when I realised what I'd come up with, and how fun the creative process had been, I was eager to learn more about the connection between words and images that is the basis of haiga.

What I discovered was http://www.haigaonline.com/
Haigaonline is an online journal of haiga. From the traditional to the experimental, you can emerge yourself in this form through these pages. Each issue has a haiga workshop and I'm steadily making my way through them. If you Google "haiga" you will find lots of examples, but the articles on Haigaonline are a great place to start.

Go here for a definition of haiga: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiga

Need funds for your literary arts project?

Are you thinking about organising an event for writers? Maybe you'd like to put together a poetry anthology? Is it your dream to study writing at university?

The Max Foundation for NZ Women stems from the Max chain of retail stores, and could be a source of funding for your next literary arts project.

“In the spirit of believing every woman should have the opportunity to be the best they can be, we've created a charitable trust called the Max Foundation for New Zealand Women. The aim is to support women (or groups of women) whose actions enhance the wellbeing and advancement of New Zealand women.” http://www.maxfoundation.co.nz/

All applications are via on-line application form. The Summer funding round is open NOW. Applications close 4pm, December 31, 2010. Categories include: Creative Arts, Work/Study, Personal Dream/Goal and Special Event.

Summer 07/08 saw them grant Sophie Prebble the full fees of her Masters of Creative Writing in Scriptwriting at Victoria University. You can check out her story here: http://www.maxfoundation.co.nz/default,100,summer_0708_recipients.sm

The Literary Gift Company

I came across The Literary Gift Company when reading Joanna Preston's blog this week and I couldn't resist going straight to the website.

I wasn't disappointed! Filled with glorious delights for book lovers, this UK company is into wares that recycle old books, and began out of a family book selling business.

These people are the real deal. They have jewelry, kitchen items, clothing and stationery, amongst much, much more. I want you to go and discover it for yourself, but will tempt you just a bit further with three that took my fancy...

1. the Virgina Woolf typewriter pin - "Books are the mirrors of the soul"
2. the "Go away I'm writing" mug
3. the 'Paperback' Perfume (for that wonderful book smell we all love)

They even have a haiku t.shirt, which I find funny and offensive all at the same time. Let me know what you think. Cameron has challenged me to write a better one. I haven't yet accepted.

August is their first birthday so it's discounts all round. Just type 'dickens' in the 'voucher code' section at the checkout for your 10% discount. I put my first order in today so will let you know how it goes.

The Literary Gift Company blogs at http://giftsforbooklovers.blogspot.com/
Joanna Preston blogs at 'A Dark Feathered Art' http://jopre.wordpress.com/

FREE 28-Day Creativity Journal

Do you want a FREE 28-Day Creativity Journal? Well you won't get it from me! But I can point you in the right direction.

Head to the Creative Muse Coach http://www.creativemusecoach.com/ Fill out the Creativity Survey and get your FREE 28-Day Creativity Journal as a thank you gift!

So why would you want to do this?

The Creativity Survey "Your Creativity and You: Blocks and Dreams" is an on-line survey being conducted by Creative Muse Coach to discover how creative people address obstacles to expressing their talent. I found this to be very interesting and it helped me begin to recognise what my creative goals are and what's blocking me in my pursuit of those goals. It was worth the 10-15mins I spent filling it out.

The FREE 28-Day Creativity Journal. I have been using this journal, which recipients can print out for their own use, and am up to my fourth and final week. It has been a very enlightening journey and one that I'm very happy to have taken.

The journal begins with an explanation of its use...

"This journal was developed to support you in your creative process by providing a place to record your inspirations, track your challenges, and deepen your connection to your Inner Muse."

The journal uses the 9 Most Common Creative Blocks as identified and defined by Creative Muse Coach. By signing up to Muse News (an e-newsletter) you will receive a FREE e-course about these Creative Block Busters. So you can learn exactly what's holding you back instead of lumping it all under 'procrastination' and beating yourself up yet again!

Before you begin the journal, you list your creative goals. This had me focused right away. Then each day you fill out things like how you fed your muse, your creative successes, what your creative blocks were and how you overcame them. All this has made it clear to me where I'm spending (or wasting) my time and energy, what activities truly feed my creative self, how much time I'm spending creating, and what my main creative blocks are.

So I've gathered a dossier of information about me and my inner muse. I know what to work on and what activities to do everyday to keep myself fed. Could you benefit from having this knowledge about yourself?

The Poetry Archive

“The Poetry Archive is the world's premier online collection of recordings of poets reading their work. You can enjoy listening here, free of charge, to the voices of contemporary English-language poets and of poets from the past.”

This is a user-friendly site: search for a poem or a poet, or browse poems by theme, form, title or the poet’s last name. Also included are a glossary of poetic terms and resources for teachers, students and librarians. Each poem is in recorded form as well as written with the poet’s bio below and a link to which books contain that poem. A must see (and hear) website that’s expanding all the time!

Click on the title of this post to be taken to The Poetry Archive.

Jumping Tangents

I first stumbled upon the Jumping Tangents online gift shop when looking for Cameron's Christmas present – a wooden handled wax seal in the letter 'E'. Not only did I find exactly what I was looking for, but I found a haven full of other treats for writers!

Jumping Tangents is essentially a paperie & design store, which is based in Wanaka, New Zealand. They sell beautiful imported European stationery including quills, ink and writing sets, notebooks, diaries and leather journals. A delight for the writer who loves history or just wants to be surrounded by exquisite objects.

For all the readers out there (and writers too!) they have a fun range of products with the slogan “reading is sexy”- mugs, fridge magnets, and T-shirts. http://www.jumpingtangents.co.nz/shop_product.php?page=0&sci=103&pi=1263

They also sell books, fine chocolates, clothing, and jewellery. My latest delight is their range of Frida Kahlo (my favourite painter) rings, brooches and earrings. http://www.jumpingtangents.co.nz/shop_product.php?page=0&sci=156&pi=2010

Jumping Tangents don't just have great products on a user friendly website, they follow it up with fast, personal service and fabulous gift wrapping. Remember them when you next buy a present for someone special in your life. Or just visit them now and treat yourself!