Friday Night at HNA
On Friday August 16, 2013, at 7:00 pm Haiku North America 2013 is pleased to open its doors to the public for a special evening program of poetry, performance, and music.
Tickets to the program are included with conference registration, and are $15 for non-conference attendees. Tickets for students with a valid student ID are $10. Discounted parking is available. Attendees should tell the Queen Mary attendants upon arrival that they are part of the haiku conference to avoid being charged to board the boat.
The highlight of the evening will be the launch of a major new anthology of English language haiku published by Norton, Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, which will be introduced by one of its editors, Jim Kacian. Approximately 50 of the anthologized poets are expected to be in attendance. The night will also feature a special presentation by Dr. Eri Yasuhara of California State University at San Bernardino on a group of Southern Californian senryu poets in the early 20th Century. Additionally, haiku poets from all over the world have been invited to give a series of short talks during a “Haiku Pecha Kucha,” which is being coordinated by Canadian poet Jessica Tremblay. Finally, the program will debut an original haiku-inspired musical composition by Aaron Ishibashi, a student at USC’s Thornton School of Music.
The highlight of the evening will be the launch of a major new anthology of English language haiku published by Norton, Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, which will be introduced by one of its editors, Jim Kacian. Approximately 50 of the anthologized poets are expected to be in attendance. The night will also feature a special presentation by Dr. Eri Yasuhara of California State University at San Bernardino on a group of Southern Californian senryu poets in the early 20th Century. Additionally, haiku poets from all over the world have been invited to give a series of short talks during a “Haiku Pecha Kucha,” which is being coordinated by Canadian poet Jessica Tremblay. Finally, the program will debut an original haiku-inspired musical composition by Aaron Ishibashi, a student at USC’s Thornton School of Music.
7 pm – Eri Yasuhara presents a special lecture on the Lemon Notebook
Groups of poets have been meeting to write and share haiku and senryu in Southern California for over 100 years. In her 7 p.m. lecture, Eri Yasuhara will introduce the Lemon Notebook (Remonchô), a literary journal that was published from 1916-1919 by a small group of issei (first generation Japanese-American immigrant) laborers and housewives living in inland Southern California. The poetry in these journals provides an unprecedented glimpse into both the daily and literary lives of the first generation of Japanese-Americans, particularly those living in Southern California.
CSU San Bernardino Dean Emeritus Eri F. Yasuhara received her Ph.D. from UCLA in 1982, from the Department of Oriental Languages (now Department of Asian Languages and Cultures). Her dissertation was Buson and “Haishi”: A Study of Free-Form Haikai” Poetry in Eighteenth Century Japan. As Professor of Japanese, she taught Japanese language, literature, and culture in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at California State University, Los Angeles.
7:50 pm – Haiku Pecha Kucha, moderated by Jessica Tremblay
Canadian poet Jessica Tremblay has organized a series of Pecha Kucha presentations, in which poets, cartoonists, artists, event organizers, and publishers will talk about innovative ways to write, illustrate, promote, perform, and publish haiku. Pecha Kucha, which means “chit-chat” in Japanese, is a style of making short presentations in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (for a total of six minutes and 40 seconds). Pecha Kucha nights are held in over 500 cities around the world and involves a series of multiple speakers talking about a variety of topics (More info on www.pechakucha.org/faq).
The line-up for Haiku Pecha Kucha includes poets from all over the country and the world: Carlos Colón of Shreveport, Louisiana, who incorporates poetry into performance as Haiku Elvis; kris moon of Kanagawa, Japan, who blends haiku with art(haiga); Jessica Tremblay of British Columbia, Canada, who draws inspiration from haiku in creating her comic strip Old Pond Comics; Kathabela Wilson of Pasadena, California, who organizes poetry-writing events as a leader of Poets on Site; Michael Dylan Welch, of Sammamish, Washington, who promotes haiku online through Facebook and social media with NaHaiWriMo(National Haiku Writing Month); Matthew Chase-Daniel and Jerry Wellman, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who developed a public art project called Haiku Roadsign Project with Axle Contemporary; and Luce Pelletier, a publisher from Québec, Canada.
Jessica Tremblay created Old Pond Comics in 2007. The comic, featuring Master Kawazu — the frog who inspired Basho to write his famous haiku — and his apprentice Kaeru, is published in haiku journals Frogpond, Gong, and in The Bulletin: a journal of Japanese Canadian Community, History and Culture distributed in Japanese cultural centers across Canada.
The line-up for Haiku Pecha Kucha includes poets from all over the country and the world: Carlos Colón of Shreveport, Louisiana, who incorporates poetry into performance as Haiku Elvis; kris moon of Kanagawa, Japan, who blends haiku with art(haiga); Jessica Tremblay of British Columbia, Canada, who draws inspiration from haiku in creating her comic strip Old Pond Comics; Kathabela Wilson of Pasadena, California, who organizes poetry-writing events as a leader of Poets on Site; Michael Dylan Welch, of Sammamish, Washington, who promotes haiku online through Facebook and social media with NaHaiWriMo(National Haiku Writing Month); Matthew Chase-Daniel and Jerry Wellman, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, who developed a public art project called Haiku Roadsign Project with Axle Contemporary; and Luce Pelletier, a publisher from Québec, Canada.
Jessica Tremblay created Old Pond Comics in 2007. The comic, featuring Master Kawazu — the frog who inspired Basho to write his famous haiku — and his apprentice Kaeru, is published in haiku journals Frogpond, Gong, and in The Bulletin: a journal of Japanese Canadian Community, History and Culture distributed in Japanese cultural centers across Canada.
8:45 p.m. Musical Interval: “Haiku Song Cycle,”
Composed by Aaron Ishibashi
Haiku North America is pleased to present the world premiere performance of an original classical musical composition for haiku poems written by Japanese-American poets Intaru Ina, Yajin Nakao, and Senbinshi Takaoka. Inspired by the haiku written while the poets were imprisoned during World War II, composer Aaron Ishibashi has created an arrangement that aurally captivates the beauty and emotion of the haiku. The performance will feature tenor vocalist Ryan Tani (also a student at USC’s Thornton School of Music) and pianist Hannah Lim (from the University of Redlands).
9:05 p.m. Norton Haiku Anthology Reading
One of the highlights of the conference will be the launch of the long-anticipated haiku anthology, Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years published by Norton and edited by Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns, with an introduction by Billy Collins. Editor Jim Kacian and approximately 50 of the contributing poets will be on hand for the reading launch, and will be available for autographs afterwards.
Jim Kacian is the founder and director of The Haiku Foundation, and publisher of Red Moon Press, and author of 16 (mainly haiku) books.
Jim Kacian is the founder and director of The Haiku Foundation, and publisher of Red Moon Press, and author of 16 (mainly haiku) books.
