Haiku Society of America Region
~ ~ ~
Pacific Ocean & Alaska Region
This region includes Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Pacific & Alaska region may have small HSA membership numbers but makes up for it with a distinctive geography influenced by the strong presence of Japanese culture throughout the region. For about thirty years Darold D. Braida and others organized the Hawaii Education Association’s annual haiku contest, resulting in scores of anthologies showcasing the work of both students and adults. Longtime member Helen E. Dalton was one of the oldest American poets writing haiku when she passed away in 2004 at the age of 103. On Oahu, Hawaii is home to the infamous Haiku Stairs. And if you ever wanted to live in Haiku, there’s a town by that name on the island of Maui, which is home to haiku pioneer James W. Hackett (and also poet W. S. Merwin).
The University of Hawaii Press has occasionally published haiku-related books, notably Heiwa, an anthology of peace-related haiku, in 1995, and academic books such as Peipei Qiu’s Basho and the Dao: The Zhuangzi and the Transformation of Haikai, Lucien Stryk’s On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho, and Stephen Addiss’s Haiga: Takebe Socho and the Haiku-Painting Tradition, among others.
For more information about the region and its activities, please contact the regional coordinator.
Regional Links
The Haiku and Zen World of James W. Hackett
http://www.hacketthaiku.com/University of Hawaii Press
http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/~ ~ ~
