Poet Profile

Đurđa (Djurdja) Vukelić-Rožić

Djurdja Vukelić-Rožić is a writer and translator who publishes haiku, poetry, stories and humorous sketches in Croatian, Kajkavian and English. She has published 25 books altogether. She is editor-in chief of the haiku magazine IRIS and IRIS International Tri Rijeke – Three Rivers ; secretary of the Haiku Association "Three Rivers" in Ivanić Grad, Croatia and Editor-in-chief of Nepokošeno nebo: Antologija hrvatskoga haiku pjesnistva 2 / An Unmown Sky 2: An Anthology of Croatian Haiku Poetry 2008-2018; proclaimed Book of the year by Hrvatsko književno društvo /Croatian's Writers Association, Rijeka, Croatia. She has translated numerous independent and joint haiku collections into English and organized a number of domestic and international haiku contests. Her work appears in a number of joint collections, journals, web-magazines and post-contest anthologies in Croatia and abroad.

Awards and Other Honors:

Chosen Haiku, The 33th A-Bomb Memorial Day Haiku Meeting Competition (Kyoto, 1999); Award, Ashiya Haiku Festival (Japan 2001); Commendment, stillAutumn Award Competition (London, 2001); Commendment, World Haiku Club, R. H. Blyth Award (2002); Third Prize, International Kusamakura Haiku Competition (Kumamoto, Japan, 2004); First Place, World Haiku Association Kukai (September 2005); Third Prize, Romanian Haiku Society Haiku Competition, Haiku in traditional form, Greieri şi crizanteme, Haiku Antologie Internaţională, Editura Orion, Bucureşti [Editor: Valentin Nicoliţov] (2007); Second Prize, Haiku and Music, International contest of Bulgarian Haiku Club (2007); One thousand cranes, The International Haiku Contest, The 13th edition of the international Origimi Peace Tree (Romania, 2008); First Prize, senryu contest, moonset 5:1 (2009); Prize, Genkissu! Spirits Up! World Wide Hekinan Haiku Contest (Japan, 2009); First Prize, 10th Day Dubravko Ivancan, Krapina, Croatia (2008); inclusion in Világ Haiku Fesztival/World Haiku Festival Pécs 2010 [an anthology of haiku by the 31 delegates who attended the festival in Pecs, Hungary] (Magyar-Japán Baráti Társaság Pécs, 2010); Runner-up, Second Annual Bashō Haiku Challenge (2010); Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2010); named one of the top 100 European haiku poets by haiku.forum.pl. Second Prize, Annual Haiku Contest by the Journal of the Romanian-Japanese cultural interferences HAIKU (Bucharest, Romania, 2011); work included on the Haiku Society of America's "Haiku Wall" at the Liberty Theatre Gallery in Bend, Oregon (June 3-5, 2011); named as one of The European Top 100 most creative haiku authors in 2011; Commended, The Second Annual Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award (Osaka, Japan 2012); one of the books she edited, Nepokošeno nebo / An Unmown Sky, Antologija hrvatskoga haiku pjesnistva / An Anthology of Croatian Haiku Poetry 1996-2007, won The Haiku Foundation's Touchstone Distinguished Book Award (2012); Award Graševina [among finest Croation wines] by Željko Funda (Ludbreg 2012); The Zagreb County Award for contribution to reputation and promotion of the Zagreb County in Croatia and the world (2012); Second Prize, The Haiku Contest organized by the Romanian Kukai Group, Sharpening the Green Pencil (2013); Third Prize and Honorable Mention, the National Space Society of North Texas/Fort Worth Haiku Society poetry contest (2013); 1st Prize, Rangitawa Publishing Haiku and Humor contest 2013, New Zealand; First Prize, "Fleeting Words" Waka/Tanka Competition, cattails (United Haiku and Tanka Society, 2014); First Prize, The 5th Kokako International Tanka Competition (New Zealand, 2015); Commendation, (theme: the sea), 2nd Haiku meeting in Rovinj, (Rovinj, Croatia, 2015); First Award, Revista HAIKU, edition (Romania, 2016); Honorable Mention (for senryu), The International Matsuo Bashō Award, 4th Edition, organized by The Italian Haiku Association (2016); Commendation, IAFOR Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award, (Japan 2017); Runner up, NKH Television, Haiku Masters Haiga Gallery (Japan 4/2017); Second Prize, Nature in the Eye haiku competition (Montenegro, 2017): Runner up, NKH Television, Haiku Masters Haiga Gallery (Japan 7/2017); Runner up, Third International Haiku Contest "Cherry Blossom" (Bulgaria, 2017); Commendation, Revista Haiku Contest (Romania, 2017); Commendation, Apokalipsa Haiku Contest (Slovenia, 2017); Second prize, Revista Haiku Contest (Romania, 2018); Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review, Shintai haiku (WHC, 2018); First prize, "Afrodita" award for erotic haiku, (Croatia, 2018); Commendation, the 6th Japan – Russia Haiku Contest (Japan 2018); Second prize, Melnik' Poetry Evenings (Bulgaria 2019); Runner up, Fourth International Haiku Contest „Cherry Blossom“ (Bulgaria 2019); First prize, 21. „Apokalipsa“ International Contest for the Best Haiku (Slovenia 2019); Third Place, 5th International Haiku Contest „Cherry Blossom“ (Bulgaria 2021); Overseas Grand Prix, The 2nd Star Haiku Contest Remote Award, (Japan 2021); Award of excellence, The Second Setouchi Matsuyama International Photo-Haiku Contest, (Japan 2021); Second Prize, Haiku by Mogila, Oroslavje (Croatia 2021).

Books Published:

Jabuka / An Apple, haiku, joint collection Sedam prozora/Seven Windows, Agapa, doo, Kloštar Ivanić (2002); Malo ulijevo, malo udesno (“Insulla Ivanich” doo Kloštar Ivanić [Croatian], 2005); Zapravo…/Actually… (“Insulla Ivanich” doo Kloštar Ivanić [Croatian and English], 2005); Moze a ne mora (Obrt “Otok Ivanić” Kloštar Ivanić [Croatian]. 2007); Hvatajući oblake/Chasing the Clouds (“Insulla Ivanich” doo Kloštar Ivanić [haiku: Croatian, English and the Kajkavian dialect] 2005). Editor-in-chief, Nepokošeno nebo: Antologija hrvatskoga haiku pjesnistva / An Unmown Sky: An Anthology of Croatian Haiku Poetry 1996-2007 [Winner of The Haiku Foundation's Touchstone Distinguished Book Award (2012)]; Od ljepote boli me noćno nebo - It Hurts Me, This Beauty of the Night Sky [“Venerus”, Rijeka, [Poetry, Croatian] (2011); Raščehal je veter oblake – [“Venerus”, Rijeka [poetry: kajkavian dialect] 2012); Fuj, ti si normalan! – Phew,You Are Normal! [“Venerus”, Rijeka [humorous sketches inCroatian] (2012); Naizgled maleni / Seemingly Small [“Venerus”, Rijeka [aphorisms: Croatian and English] (2012); Hodajući unatraške / Walking Backwards [Self published, Ivanić Grad; Thoughts and aphorisms: Croatian and English] (2013); Gospar konj / The Master Horse [Diogenova mala svjetska haiku antologija o konju / Diogen A Little World Anthology of Haiku Poetry About Horse] (Einhorn Verlag, Switzerland, 2013) [Sabrala, uredila i prevela / Collected, edited and translated by Đurđa Vukelić-Rožić; http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/622315]; Vrludanja s najadama / Wandering with Nymphs [Self published, Ivanić Grad; Thoughts and aphorisms: Croatian and English] (2013); Od pećine do grada / From a Cave to the Town [Self published, Ivanić Grad; Thoughts and aphorisms: Croatian and English] (2013); Tiha glazba / Silent Music - Self published, Ivanić Grad; [haiku: Croatian and English (2015) ]; Čiji je ovo planet?/ Whose is this Planet? - Self published, Ivanić Grad; [senryu: Croatian and English (2015) ]; Pogled na Otrantska vrata / A Gaze at the Strait of Otranto – self published, Ivanić Grad; [tanka: Croatian and English], (2015); Zvijezda vodilja / Leading Star – Haiku Association "Three Rivers", Ivanić Grad; [collected texts to the memory of Vladimir Devidé, Croatian foremost haiku poet and Japanologist] (2015); Pod krilom rode / Under the Wing of a White Stork [haiku: Croatian and English] (JU Zeleni prsten Zagrebačke županije, Zagreb 2015); KABOCHA– Haiku Association "Three Rivers", Ivanić Grad; [awards and choice of haiku from the contests on theme Gourd, 2014-2016 [haiku: Croatian and English] (2016); Polski put / A Country Lane, self published; Ivanić-Grad [haiku: Kajkavian dialect, Croatian and English] (2016); I onda, kak sad to (And now, how's that?), collection of stories in Kajkavian language, self-published, 2017; Sepia vrapci / Sepia Sparrows, collection of haiku and senryu, self-published, 2017.

open windows
on the school building
cicadas, cicadas

this summer rain
bathing the whole town
on my windowpane

forest clearing
summer breeze suddenly changed
contour of the sky

plum orchard under the snow
whole night it's so blue
in moonlight

city back street
a woman’s shadow
the only graffiti

the Sun jumping
from puddle to puddle
beside the bus

Credits:

"open windows" - From One Sky to Another [Haiku anthology of the European Union, Association francaise de haiku (2006); "forest clearing" - Prize, Genkissu! Spirits Up! World Wide Hekinan Haiku Contest, English haiku (2009); "city back street" – Magnapoets 4 (2009); "this summer rain" - Mainichi Daily News (August 2004); "plum orchard under the snow" – First Prize, 10th Day Dubravko Ivancan, Krapina, Croatia; "the Sun jumping" – Award, Ashiya Haiku Festival (Japan 2001).