Poet Profile

Robert Kania

Robert Kania is editor-in-chief of the Polish online haiku magazine "Papierowy Żuraw" (since December 2018), former President of the Polish Haiku Association (September 2015 - May 2018) and co-organizer of the European Quarterly Kukai with Krzysztof Kokot (March 2013 - December 2017). He was co-organizer (among others with Lidia Rozmus) of the Second International Haiku Conference in Krakow, Poland in 2015 (with participation of authors from 13 countries). His haiku have appeared in Art & Business, Asahi Haikuist Network, Blithe Spirit, Chrysanthemum, Creatrix, Diogen, Frogpond, A Hundred Gourds, The Heron’s Nest, IRIS, Kuzu, The Mainichi, Przekrój (web edition), Salon Literacki, Senryu To, Tinywords, Whirligig, World Haiku Review and Wytrych. His photo-haigas made with collaboration of Tomasz Budziak have appeared in Daily Haiga and WHA Haiga Contest and were exhibited in Warsaw, Krakow, in other Polish cities, and during the 9th Conference of the World Haiku Association in Parma (Italy). He is co-organizer of the European Kukai (since 2018) [web page: European Quarterly Kukai & European Kukai].

Awards and Other Honors:

First Prize for senryu, Diogen Winter Contest (2013); Prize Winner, 15th HIA Haiku Contest (2013); Honourable Mention for haiku, Diogen Summer Contest (2013); Honourable Mention for haiku, Diogen Spring Contest (2014); First Place in Neo Classical Haiku section, World Haiku Review (January 2014); Third Place, 3rd Polish Haiku Contest (Autumn 2014); Honourable Mention, 2nd Polish Wakai Haiku Contest (2015); WHA Haiga Master Artist title awarded by Kuniharu Shimizu (2015); Nomination (shortlist), the “Golden Point of Poetry” 2015 Award for the best Polish debut book of poems in 2014 for spot; Commendation, 5th Polish International Haiku Competition (2015); Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2015); Distinguished Poet, 4th International Matsuo Basho Award (2016); Honourable Mention, 21st Mainichi Haiku Contest (2017); Second Prize, 25th International Kusamakura Haiku Competition (2020); Second Prize, 24th Mainichi Haiku Contest (2020).
Participation in e-book anthologies (selected): Faces And Places, edited by Don Baird (The Little Buddha Press, Burbank, CA, USA 2015); Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Vol. II, edited by Chen-ou Liu (Canada 2016); Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Vol. III, edited by Chen-ou Liu (Canada 2017); and Fuga No Makoto - Ten Years of World Haiku Review 2008-2017 edited by Rohini Gupta (The World Haiku Club 2019); A Haiga Journey edited by Ion Codrescu (Red Moon Press, Winchester VA 2020).

Books Published:

spot (Stowarzyszenie Salon Literacki, Warszawa 2014) [in Polish and does not contain haiku]; 39 haiku (Wydawnictwo Kontekst, Poznan 2015)[in Polish and English]; wołynie i inne wiersze (Wydawnictwo Anagram, Warszawa 2017) [in Polish and does not contain haiku]; prizivi i drugi stikhotvoreniya (Izdatelstvo Vayan, Sofia 2018) [in Bulgarian and does not contain haiku]; noc amerykańska (issa BOOKS, Warszawa 2021) [in Polish and does not contain haiku].

last cherry blossom
I agree 
to divorce

leaves falling . . .
the rustle of a newspaper
between us

ruins of a castle
wild flowers 
in the ballroom

full moon―
remembering the steps 
of Neil Armstrong

butterfly―
I remember
nothing

a sandstorm . . .
calm 
only in the hourglass

Credits:

"last cherry blossom" – 10th Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2015); "ruins of a castle" – 42nd Caribbean Kigo Kukai (May 2013); "butterfly" – The Heron’s Nest XVI:1 (March 2014); "leaves falling – Sharpening the Green Pencil, The Book of Contest (2014); "full moon" – Creatrix 25 Haiku (June 2014); "a sandstorm" – Daily Haiga (January 14, 2013).