Our Roving Ambassador in the United Kingdom
UK Writers’ Festival – A First for Haiku!
During the weekend of July 14-16, THF Roving Ambassador Roberta Beary and frogpond haibun co-editor Lew Watts gave a haiku/haibun workshop as part of the 2023 Flash Fiction Festival UK, a first for the festival. Roberta discussed the resources available at The Haiku Foundation for writers new to haiku and also engaged with workshop participates eager to find a haiku group in their local community. Roberta’s presentation focused on writing haiku while Lew’s focused on haibun. Attending the workshop were fiction writers and poets from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Canada, and USA. Those who had some experience writing haiku admitted they had limited themselves to the traditional 5-7-5 form they were taught as children. The participants’ interest in learning about haiku and its related forms was sparked by Haibun: A Writer’s Guide, coauthored by Roberta and Lew along with Rich Youmans, which was launched earlier that weekend by festival curator Jude Higgins.
Photo of Roberta Beary and Lew Watts along with festival curator Jude Higgins.
Submitted August 7, 2023
Roberta Beary, THF Roving Ambassador
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Would love to see Roberta and Lew ‘rove’ to Australia sometime.
Hi Jenny
Had a great time in Sydney & Melbourne with the Australian haiku poets in 2017!
x
Roberta
Is another one of those planned for the near future? I wasn’t aware of haiku groups in 2017 and workshops in but would certainly attend now. Loving the genre.
If a haiku conference is planned in Australia that would certainly motivate me to return!
That’s really great, as a haiku writer in the UK, its great to see that there is a roving ambassador! Looking forward to hearing more.