Poet Profile

Goran Gatalica

Born in Virovitica, Croatia, 1982, Goran Gatalica got both physics and chemistry degrees from the University of Zagreb, and proceeded directly to a PhD program after graduation. He has published poetry, haiku, and prose in literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. He has published haiku, senryu, tanka and haiga poetry in journals: A Hundred Gourds, Acorn, Akitsu Quarterly, Allegro Poetry Magazine, Atlas Poetica, Autumn Moon, Better Than Starbucks!, Bonsai Journal, Brass Bell, Cattails, Chrysanthemum, Creatrix, Daily Haiga, Failed Haiku, Frameless Sky, Frogpond, Gnarled Oak, Haikuniverse, Hedgerow, IRIS International, Kabocha, Lilliput Review, Modern Haiku, Nature Writing, Presence, Revija Apokalipsa, Skylark Tanka Journal, The Asahi Shimbun, The Cherita, The Cicada's Cry, The Heron's Nest, The Mainichi, Human/Kind Haiku Journal, The Mamba Journal, Under the Basho, Wales Haiku Journal, Wild Plum, World Haiku Review, The Aurorean, Harusame, Shot Glass Journal, in the anthologies like: The light singing (ed. Olimpia Iacob and Jim Kacian; Haiku e Orchidee spontanei all'Elba, Beyond the Grave: Contemporary Afterlife Haiku; Atoms of Haiku Vol. III: A Haiku Collection by Authors United (Vol.3), Haiku: A Concise Anthology (ed. S. Kumar). He is a member of the Croatian Writers' Association.

Awards and Other Honors:

Award "Slavić",Croatian Writers' Association (2015) for book of poetry Krucijalni test, Award "Dragutin Tadijanović", Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts for book of poetry Kozmolom (2017), Award "Kvirin" for book of poetry Kozmolom (2017); Basho-an haiku Award (Tokyo, Japan, 2019), second place on 33rd Annual Sakura Festival (The University of Alabama, 2019); first and second place on Second Weelunk Haiku Competition (Wheeling, West Virginia, USA), The Haiku Moment Award: (Best of Volume 1, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 2018); first and third place on 32nd Annual Sakura Festival (The University of Alabama, 2018); third place on Oceanside library Haiku Contest (New York, USA, 2018), Haiku Master of the Month (Rikugien Gardens, Tokyo, NHK WORLD TV, Japan, 2016); Haiku Master of the Month (Biei, Hokkaido, NHK WORLD TV, Japan, 2017); Honorable mentions: EHS Contest (European Haiku Society, Pordenone, Italy, 2016); the 71st Basho Memorial Haiku Contest (Iga City, Mie prefecture, Japan, 2017); Sharpening The Green Pencil Haiku Contest 2018; Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2018, 33rd Annual Sakura Festival (The University of Alabama, 2019), International Pumpkin Haiku Contest (Ivanić Grad, Croatia, 2019), Anam Cara Haiku Competition (Ireland, 2019).

Books Published: Krucijalni test - OMH, Daruvar, 2014; Kozmolom - Biakova, Zagreb, 2016; Odsečeni od svetla - DHK, Zagreb, 2018)

spring pilgrimage―
first cherry blossoms
in mother’s sandals

autumn wind―
in each cowherd's shoe
corn seeds

winter dawn―
small refugee takes breath
in a tank car

Christmas night―
an allegorical snow
becomes brighter

deep solitude . . .
smaller than Planck constant
morning birdsong

thinking of war
wrapped in barbed wire
fragile butterfly

Credits:

“spring pilgrimage" - Autumn Moon Haiku Journal Spring/Summer 2018; "autumn wind" – honorable mention: the 71st Basho Memorial Haiku Contest (2017); "winter dawn" – honorable mention: Sharpening The Green Pencil Haiku Contest (2018); "Christmas night" - Modern Haiku 49:1, 2018; "deep solitude" - Frogpond Spring/Summer 2018; "thinking of war" - Basho-an Award, First Basho-an International English Haiku Competition, Tokyo, Japan, 2019.