Frequently Asked Questions about HNA
How can I join HNA?
We’d love to have you join but we don’t have members. HNA is not a group or organization, but a conference, held in North America since 1991. You are welcome to attend the next conference.
Is HNA on Facebook?
Yes, we have a Facebook page. Please show your support for HNA by visiting the page and clicking its Like button. We also have a blog with late-breaking news and discussions, links to attendees’ pictures of HNA, and more.
How is Haiku North America structured?
HNA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit American corporation run by three directors: Garry Gay, Michael Dylan Welch, and Agnes Eva Savich (who serves as treasurer). HNA’s corporate directors appoint the hosts of each HNA conference. A dedicated team of volunteer haiku poets in the host location forms the “organizing committee” for each successive HNA conference. The organizing committee may also delegate responsibilities to other people who help make the conference happen. HNA is therefore not a group, but a grassroots event that happens because volunteers choose to help make it happen. HNA receives no ongoing grant money (other than what may be procured by the organizing committee for a specific conference), nor does HNA have any specific academic or institutional affiliation. The existence of the HNA conference is therefore somewhat tenuous, because the event can only happen if enough dedicated people are willing and able to make the event happen in a given host city. As a result, if no host city and organizing committee can be established for any future HNA conference in a given year, it is possible that the conference will not be held that year. One reason the conference moves to a new location every other year is to spread out the work that the HNA conference entails, thus no single region will burn out from having to do the work too often. HNA has succeeded since 1991 because of the tremendous amount of volunteer work done by various organizing committees and their helpers.
What can I expect at a typical HNA conference?
You can expect to meet many of the leading haiku poets writing in the English language to socialize, hear them read their poetry, and hear their presentations on a range of topics related to the art and craft of haiku. Conferences feature papers, panel discussions, readings, haiku-writing walks, haiku contests, a conference anthology, haiga displays, a haiku bookfair, an exchange of haiku handouts, featured speakers, musical and other artistic performances, tourist activities, and more. Each HNA conference has something unique about it (like the dance on a boat cruise in 2009) or has added to the traditions over the years (such as having a regional reading and memorial reading for haiku poets who have died since the last conference). We're in the process of uploading photos and schedules from past conferences. You’ll see that we’re a friendly bunch, and that we’ll do our best to make you feel welcome.
What is the relationship between the Haiku Society of America and HNA?
HNA is an independent, inclusive event. It is not a Haiku Society of America event, nor is it run or controlled by any other specific group. Rather, it is a coming together of the tribes—encompassing all the various groups and their approaches to haiku. Everyone is welcome! HNA welcomes the “sponsorship” of all haiku organizations, but it should be noted that this sponsorship does not make the event any sort of extension of the sponsoring group. Sponsorship means that the group’s name is added to the conference program as a sponsor, and often the group’s mailing list and other resources are made available to the organizing committee, and the group may also make a financial donation to help offset conference costs. While there are many approaches to haiku as a literary art, the HNA conference was set up to be as inclusive and nonsectarian as possible. This was a conscious choice of the original founders. As a consequence, HNA discourages the holding of any group’s regular meetings as an official part of the HNA conference, because HNA was not meant to replace such events (and thus diminish the identity and activities of any particular group) but to supplement them.
Why is HNA held every other year?
In the wake of the first HNA conference in 1991, it took about a year before the original organizers felt sufficiently recovered to consider holding the conference again. When they decided in 1992 to do so, they planned the next conference for 1993, and thus the every-other-year cycle came about. This frequency has turned out to be fortuitous because of the energy the event takes, and also helps to make the event more special than if it happened every year. As the second conference was taking shape, it became clear that HNA could and should be a regularly occurring event, and that it would best serve the haiku community if its location changed every two years. The founders are happy to see that the HNA conference has grown in size as well as reputation each time it has been held.
Is HNA a lot of work to organize?
Yes. Emphatically. And the budgets for pulling it off have been increasing nearly every time. But HNA is also very rewarding for those who volunteer for the task. In addition, those who attend typically report tremendous satisfaction from attending the event—and not just because of the opportunity to hear the papers and presentations, but mainly for the chance to meet and interact with other haiku poets, both well-known and emerging, sometimes whose names they have often seen in print before, but never met in person.
Why does HNA not publish “proceedings” collecting all the papers presented at the conference into a book for each participant, or for others to purchase who are not able to attend?
An anthology of poems by conference attendees has been published by Press Here for each conference since 1991. However, proceedings have not been published for several reasons. First, producing proceedings of the conference would be a great logistical challenge, especially when dealing with a variety of presenters, a number of whom are not familiar with academic publication methods and standards. Second, producing proceedings would be very expensive, and has been beyond the financial capabilities of each organizing committee and the HNA nonprofit corporation. Third, the original HNA organizers found that authors of many papers preferred to seek their own publication, thus the organizers decided not to limit speakers by requiring that all papers be published in HNA proceedings. Many of the papers presented at HNA have frequently seen publication in leading haiku journals such as Modern Haiku, Frogpond, or elsewhere. These readily available outlets for the papers presented at HNA already exist, and the conference wishes to support them rather than compete with them. The conference founders are happy that HNA is a catalyst for original thinking on the art and craft of haiku, and that these papers contribute to the growth of knowledge about haiku and related genres of poetry. When papers originally presented at HNA are published, HNA’s organizers would appreciate it if the paper would acknowledge HNA in the following fashion: “This paper was originally presented at the Haiku North America conference held in [CITY, STATE/PROVINCE], on [MONTH] [DAYS], [YEAR].”
How have HNA locations been decided?
The first HNA conference in 1991 took place in the San Francisco area because Garry Gay and others helping to organize the event all lived there. At first, it was going to be a one-time affair, but about a year later, Michael Dylan Welch asked Garry if they might do HNA again. If Michael hadn’t persisted, HNA would have ended in 1991, but Michael and Garry put together a new organizing team and the conference was held for a second time, in the same California location, in 1993. Garry’s original idea was to hold a national conference that could help bind together all haiku poets across the continent—an action that helped shift the traditional focus on haiku in North America away from New York City where the Haiku Society of America was founded, and where all that society’s meetings were held until the 1990s. Since 1993, the placement of HNA conferences has mostly been set up by Michael Dylan Welch. The placement of the 1995 conference in Toronto was planned in 1993 by Michael and a few of the core members of the 1993 HNA organizing committee, especially Garry Gay. At the 1995 conference, Raffael de Gruttola volunteered to host the 2001 event after being asked previously by Michael and Garry if he might do so. Michael also arranged for the 1997 event to be in Portland, Oregon, working with Ce Rosenow. The 1999 HNA conference was originally planned (in 1997) for North Carolina, but when that was not possible Michael contacted Charles Trumbull in the Chicago area to see if he could make the event happen. Michael also approached Pamela Miller Ness to lead the 2003 conference in New York City, and directed the conference himself in Port Townsend, Washington, in 2005. Shortly before the 2005 conference, the idea to hold the conference in North Carolina resurfaced, and Michael and Garry asked Dave Russo to direct the 2007 event. Michael placed the 2009 event in Ottawa after securing support from Terry Ann Carter to direct it. Similarly, Michael contacted Randy Brooks and Francine Banwarth to host the 2011 conference in Decatur, Illinois. When they were later unable to host the conference, he again took it on as director in Seattle. For future years, anyone who is interested in hosting this conference is welcome to contact the HNA directors to express an interest.
How will future HNA locations be determined?
Michael Dylan Welch and Garry Gay have been responsible for placing all of the Haiku North America conferences. Proposed locations for future conferences are eagerly welcomed, and HNA’s directors will continue to negotiate the placement of future conferences. Suitable locations require the following vital components: an established local community of haiku poets (approximately half of the attendance of each conference consists of people who live in the nearby area); a core organizing committee that has the time and energy to devote to planning such a conference; and a location reasonably close to an international airport, preferably in a desirable location that will also attract participants for cultural or tourist activities as well as the conference.
How can I become a speaker or presenter at an HNA conference?
Space on each HNA program is limited, but because planning for the HNA conference starts about two years before the event happens, potential speakers have plenty of time to get involved. The organizing committee for each HNA conference usually posts an announcement seeking speakers and presenters, typically in the HSA Newsletter (the quarterly newsletter of the Haiku Society of America) as well as on the HNA website and blog about a year before the event. Those who wish to speak, make presentations, develop a panel discussion, or give poetry readings or workshops may also contact organizing committee members directly to make their proposal or ask for more details (contact information is listed elsewhere on this site). Most HNA conferences have an announced theme, or develop one, and while a number of papers and presentations have deviated from that theme, preference is often given to papers and presentations that best fit the theme. However, if your idea does not fit the theme, please do not be discouraged, because originality and fresh thinking are always welcome.
What topics are appropriate for HNA presentations?
Haiku North America was specifically named both to limit and to encompass. It specifically limits its focus to North American haiku, and also seeks to encompass all of North America, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including haiku that are chiefly written in English, French, and Spanish. Accordingly, a strong preference for each conference is that topics relate directly to haiku and related poetry (senryu, renku, haibun, and haiga) in North America. Presentations purely on tanka are not encouraged, unless they focus on how tanka has influenced or relates to haiku, with the presentation having a primary focus on haiku. Presentations on international haiku may be appropriate, but stand a better chance of acceptance if they discuss the relationship of that haiku to North American haiku. Presentations on the translation of any international haiku into English are welcome. Presentations may run the gamut from introductory workshops to highly academic papers, but introductory workshops are less likely to be included because the majority of attendees tend to be experience haiku poets. While HNA may be considered an academic conference, it also seeks to be accessible by enthusiastic haiku writers who may not have an academic background. HNA presentations, however, have a stronger focus on discussion and criticism and how to write haiku than upon doing much haiku writing itself (meaning that HNA is not a writing retreat, but a place to share poetry and to discuss theory).
How might I join the HNA advisory board?
In the past, HNA had an informal advisory board with membership by invitation only. However, when HNA was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation, this informal advisory board was superseded by the current board of officers, which makes decisions on the scope and vision of the event, and also negotiates the placement of conferences and the appointment of each individual conference director or local organizing committee. However, anyone is invited to offer his or her opinions and ideas by contacting one of the officers of the corporation, as new ideas are always welcome. The success of HNA relies on the grassroots volunteer involvement of each local organizing committee, so feedback, ideas, and participation are sought eagerly.
What is haiku?
Check out the links under Community. Better, yet, come to the next Haiku North America conference and find out!
