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Midwest Region
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Midwest Region
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Midwest RegionThis region includes Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Midwest region has traditionally been a focal point of American haiku activity with publications such as American Haiku, the world’s first English-language haiku journal (started in 1963), and Modern Haiku, which has been published here for most of its existence, among others. In addition, we are also home to Brooks Books, the country’s oldest publisher devoted to books of haiku, and its journal Mayfly. The region hosted the landmark Haiku Chicago event in 1995 (the first-ever joint conference of the Haiku Society of America and Japan’s Haiku International Association), the 1999 Haiku North America conference, the 2000 Global Haiku Festival, and, more recently, the “Cradle of American Haiku” festivals. In addition, Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, hosts the country’s only university haiku studies program. The Midwest region has a wealth of talent, with HSA members in eight states, and strives to grow in its knowledge of haiku by holding informative readings and critiques, with presentations by excellent poets and speakers, to which the public is always invited. Additional activities include outdoor walks, such as visiting the Japanese garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Members often meet for dinner after events to socialize. If you’re not already an HSA member, please come to one of our gatherings or free programs, and give us a try. We encourage haiku poets throughout the Midwest to start a new group (the Midwest regional coordinator is always happy to help), or to join an existing group:
See the 2011 Midwest Archive of Events. See the 2010 Midwest Archive of Events. —Charlotte Digregorio Regional Links
Join the HSARegional Member News & Events 2012We welcome 11 new members to the Midwest Region: from Illinois, Alicia Hilton, William Shehan and Amelia Cotter; from Indiana, Jerry Dreesen; from Minnesota, John Henningsaard, John Sigfrid, John Hocter, and Matthew Murphy; from Missouri, Gordon Johnston; and from Wisconsin, Philip Allen and Susan Godwin. New members are encouraged to join local haiku groups in their area. Please check with Charlotte Digregorio, Midwest Regional Coordinator, We have local groups meeting in these areas:
Mac Greene and Bruce Pfeffer of Indianapolis are interested in networking with poets in their area. They can be reached by email at <mcgreene@yahoo.com> and <brucejpfeffer@gmail.com>, respectively. Illinois member Tom Chockley and Missouri member Jeanne Allison are interested in networking with haiku poets by email to share haiku/ideas. To join them, contact Tom, <thomassem2@hotmail.com>. If you want to learn haiku and get published, networking helps, in addition to reading a lot of it in journals. Further, all members who’ve recently changed email addresses or who are not receiving emails from Charlotte, please contact her. In other news, in the Chicago metro area, we will be holding “Haikufest,” Saturday, April 28 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie, IL. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. Members who have had three or more haiku published in a haiku journal or in “Ripples,” may notify Charlotte if they want to read their haiku at the event. “Haikufest” will also include a brief presentation about haiku by Charlotte, and Artist-Poet Lidia Rozmus will speak on haiga, (haiku combined with her black ink paintings). Many artists like to combine haiku with their medium of choice, including photography, so Lidia’s talk will have broad appeal. In addition, there will be an audience haiku contest. Skokie has a significant Japanese population, so we expect the program to be well-received, and we hope to pick up new members. Members in our region are often busy getting the word out about haiku. Last September, Lidia Rozmus held an exhibit at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago. At her opening reception, more than 150 people attended, and she spoke for 45 minutes about haiga. Her exhibit also featured the work of her friend and calligrapher, Masanobu Hoshikawa. Lidia’s paintings have been exhibited all over the U.S. and in foreign countries, and she has published and designed award-winning books of haiku, haibun, and haiga. She is the art editor of “Modern Haiku” journal. Charlotte Digregorio’s 2012 award-winning haiku sequence, “Grandfather’s Death,” will appear on bus lines running along Chicago’s north shore the month of April. --Submitted by Charlotte Digregorio • • • See 2010 event reports in our Midwest Web Archives: 2011 Midwest Archive of Events 2010 Midwest Archive of Events • • • |
Regional Coordinator
Charlotte Digregorio Charlotte Digregorio is an award-winning poet and author of four nonfiction books: You Can Be a Columnist, Your Original Personal Ad, Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Homes, and Beginners’ Guide to Writing and Selling Quality Features. She’s a media guest throughout the United States, and her books are sold in 31 countries. She holds graduate degrees in Italian/French literatures, and has been on university faculties teaching languages/writing. She’s a writer-in-residence at universities, a speaker at writer’s conferences, and gives poetry readings at libraries and bookstores. Digregorio hosted her own radio poetry program on public broadcasting, and has been interviewed on “Poetry Today,” a cable television program in suburban Chicago. Digregorio’s haiku are displayed in wine shops, art galleries, supermarkets, apparel shops, and on public transit in Metro Chicago.
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