Haiku Society of America Mentorship Program

Haiku Society of America Mentorship Program

mentor-writer

Program Guidelines

We will attempt to keep group size small with just a few students per mentor. A group size of three is ideal for reviewing 2-3 poems in an hour.

Groups are expected to meet a minimum of one hour per month, preferably more frequently but this is up to the individual members. Should you desire to meet more often, say twice a month, or for longer than one hour per month, that is fine, but everybody in the group should agree to the time table.

Groups should ideally be located in the same or similar time zones to facilitate scheduling. Groups will be assigned based on time zone but will otherwise be randomly determined to prevent bias. However, if you have a preference for a mentor or instructor please notify the program director in advance. Additional assignments will be made as new requests come in.

Mode of interaction is virtual. Because of the pandemic we cannot allow real face-to-face meetings. Zoom or other videoconferencing software is preferred to email because it is more direct and in real time. If you do not have access to videoconferencing software then you can communicate by other means. If you desire to communicate by phone then all parties must agree to share their phone numbers.

The meetings are designed as workshops, not lectures. Students will present poems they have written and these will be commented upon constructively by the mentors. All student participants should have the chance to present the same amount of work and approximately the same amount of time should be devoted to each student's poems.

Discussions should be limited to Japanese poetic forms including haiku, senryu, haibun, haiga, renku, and other related types. The HSA cannot sanction support for other types of poetry.

Instructors please be nice! Critiques should be constructive and empathetic. Keep in mind that students may not have the same level of experience that you do. Instructors will be vetted based on teaching and poetic experience.

The director will perform periodic reviews about every two months by soliciting feedback from teachers and learners. If there are any problems or complaints please direct them to the director and not to each other. Accommodations or reassignments can be made.

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President's Invitation:

Do you want to learn more about basic haiku principles? Have you ever felt like you wanted to improve your poetry writing skills? Are your submissions being turned down by journals more than you would like? If so, then you may benefit from a mentoring session with an established poet willing to provide expert level instruction. In the HSA mentorship program we pair students with teachers who collaborate through videoconferencing to workshop poems and provide guidance in a supportive manner.

If you wish to participate as a student in this program, please send an email to jay.friedenberg@gmail.com. Be part of the community and join up now!

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See the HSA Education Web Pages

Educational Resources

Education Resources Web Sites

Unexpected Weight:
Mentor Anthology 2021

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Mentor's Recommended Web Links

Program mentors have developed and maintain these additional PDF file lists of web link resources:

Links on Writing Haiku

Haiku How-To Books

Links on Writing Senryu

Contest Links

Haiku Journals

Haibun Journals

Tanka Journals

Haiku Book Publishers

Recommended Books to Read

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