Poet Profile

Charlotte Digregorio

Charlotte Digregorio is the author of nine books, including her latest, Wondrous Instruction and Advice from Global Poets: How to Write and Publish Moving Poems and Books and Publicize Like a Pro. Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, along with her latest title, is also adopted as a text and a supplemental text by many university English departments. Other poetry titles include: Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing, a poetry/reference book about our challenging times that inspires readers to write as a healing exercise; and two collections, Shadows of Seasons: Selected Haiku and Senryu by Charlotte Digregorio, and Blue Lines: A Poetry Collection by Charlotte Digregorio. Digregorio does haiku/haiga exhibits 365 days a year at libraries, galleries, corporate buildings, convention centers, park districts, and hospitals, among many venues. Her individual poems are featured on public transit, at botanic gardens, wooded parks, banks, apparel shops, supermarkets, and wine stores.
She organizes national poetry conferences and speaks/gives workshops for writers' organizations/ libraries/ chain bookstores/hospitals in poetry, non-fiction, creativity, journalism, and publicity. She is often the keynote speaker at conferences and at non-profit and alumni association programs. She is a writer-in-residence at universities; does numerous poetry readings; writes a poetry column for Winnetka-Kenilworth Living, a glossy lifestyle magazine; translates poetry books from the Romance Languages into English; judges international writing contests, and teaches poetry in the public schools. Her own poems have been translated into nine languages by other poets.
She hosted a radio poetry program on Oregon Public Broadcasting and has published more than 1,200 poems in sixteen forms. Her longtime project, Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, top-ranked since 2010, includes “The Daily Haiku,” featuring poets from sixty-one countries. She was an Executive Officer of the Haiku Society of America for many years, Board Secretary of the Northwest Association of Book Publishers, Oregon Regional Coordinator of the International Women’s Writing Guild, and she volunteers for The Haiku Foundation. She holds graduate degrees in Italian/French Literatures from The University of Chicago, and was on the faculty of universities for decades, teaching languages and writing. Prior to her academic career, she distinguished herself as a newspaper and magazine editor, columnist, and public relations director.

Awards and Other Honors:

She was honored in 2018 by the Governor of Illinois for her lifelong achievements in the literary arts and her work to promote the field. She’s received eighty-two poetry awards and has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes. She was selected for the International Authors and Writers Who's Who (Cambridge, England) and the Who's Who in Writers, Editors and Poets U.S. & Canada. Two of her titles have been "Featured Selections" of Writer's Digest Book Club, and five of her titles have been acclaimed abroad for their excellence in instruction, by, among other organizations, The Higher Education Commission in Pakistan. The titles have also been adopted as texts abroad, as well as in the U.S.

Books Published:

Wondrous Instruction and Advice from Global Poets: How to Write and Publish Moving Poems and Books and Publicize Like a Pro, Artful Communicators Press, 2025; • Haiku and Senryu : A Simple Guide for All, Artful Communicators Press, 2014; • Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing, Artful Communicators Press, 2020; • You Can Be a Columnist: Writing & Selling Your Way to Prestige, Civetta Press, 1993; • Beginners’ Guide to Writing & Selling Quality Features: A Simple Course in Freelancing for Newspapers/Magazines, Civetta Press, 1990; • Everything You Need to Know about Nursing Homes: The Family’s Comprehensive Guide to Either Working with the Institution or Finding Care Alternatives, Civetta Press, 2005; • Your Original Personal Ad: The Complete Guide to Expressing Your Unique Sentiments to Find Your Dream Person, Civetta Press, 1995; • Shadows of Seasons: Selected Haiku and Senryu by Charlotte Digregorio, Civetta Press, 2012; • Blue Lines: A Poetry Collection by Charlotte Digregorio, Artful Communicators Press, 2024.

walking 
through darkness . . . 
trillium

after confession . . . 
my neighbor burns leaves
in autumn's chill

after his funeral . . . 
his walking stick rests
beside the door

wooded hills . . . 
the evening downpour
fogs distant city lights

in the red wagon
my brother and i bring home
our stiff cat

pruning
the bonsai . . .
my knotty life

Credits:

"walking" – Asahi Haikuist Network, Oct. 7-8, 2006; "after confession" – Modern Haiku Vol. 28:1, 1997; "after his funeral" – Modern Haiku Vol. 33:2, Summer 2002; "wooded hills" – Modern Haiku Vol. 27:2, 1996; "in the red wagon" – Frogpond Vol. 42:2, Spring/Summer 2019; "pruning" – Frogpond Vol. 34:1, Winter 2011.