Poet Profile

Quendryth Young

Quendryth Young is a wife, mother, and grandmother who plays bridge (National Master). After a 40-year career as a cytologist, she discovered, when 68, a passion for haiku. Her work has been published in 11 countries and translated into five other languages. She coordinates Cloudcatchers, a local group of haiku enthusiasts.

Awards and Other Honors: First Place, Yellow Moon Competition (Australia, 2005); First Place, New Zealand Poetry Society Competition (2006, 2007, 2010); Second Place, the Mildred Kanterman Memorial Book Award (The Haiku Society of America, 2008) [for The Whole Body Singing]; Second Place, Romanian Haiku Society Competition (2008); First Place, Friendly Street Poets (South Australia, 2010); First Place, Romanian Haiku Society Competition (2010); Award Recipient, The Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems (The Haiku Foundation, 2010); Second Place, Haiku Presence Award (United Kingdom, 2010); Jean Stace Memorial Prize for Senior Haiku (New Zealand, 2010); First Place, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival [Best International Haiku] (Canada, 2011). Her work has also been selected for big sky: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Red Moon Press, 2007) and evolution: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2010 (Red Moon Press, 2011); a featured poet in A New Resonance 7: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2011); First Place, Irish Haiku Society (2011).

Books Published: The Whole Body Singing (DRAGONWICK, Goonellabah, NSW, Australia: 2007)

salt spray
a taste of peat
in my whisky

a twist of roots
in the glass vase –
summer rain

mosquito
a stranger’s blood
on my hand

tiny frog …
a breaststroke kick
doubles its length

bedside vigil …
moonlight comes
and goes

sun after rain -
the sky refills
with rosellas

Credits: "salt spray" - The Heron's Nest VIII:3 (2006), big sky: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2007), Presence 34 (2008); "mosquito" - Wollumbin Haiku Workshop 3 (2007), moonset (December 2007), FreeXpresSion XVI:10 (2009); "bedside vigil" - The Heron's Nest XI:2 (2009); "a twist of roots" - Presence 39 (2009); "tiny frog" - Shamrock 5 (2008); "sun after rain" - Famous Reporter 38 (2008)