Touchstone Distinguished Books Awards for 2019

The Haiku Foundation is pleased to announce The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award winners and honorable mentions for books of haiku and related forms published in 2019. The sixty-two books nominated for this year’s award represent a rich variety of English-speaking books from many nations and haiku traditions. Each panel member read each book and then nominated ten books for consideration. Through a series of votes and discussion, the panel members arrived at the Shortlist. Following another round of voting and discussion, the panel members recognizes five award winners and two honorable mentions.

I speak for the entire panel when I say that everyone recognized that each book on the Shortlist was unique and had great merit. I can attest to the difficulty of distinguishing the ‘best’ of the books. I wish to thank the panel for their diligence, expertise and effort, especially in the last month as we have all coped with the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award Panelists for 2019:

	Beverly Acuff Momoi
	Patricia J. Machmiller
        Scott Mason 
	Michael Rehling 
	Don Wentworth 

Touchstone Distinguished Books Award Winners for 2019

Balabanova, Ludmila. Sunflower Field (Plovdiv, Bulgaria: Zhanet, 2019).

Chula, Margaret. One Leaf Detaches (Uxbridge, UK: Alba Publishing, 2019).

Gilbert, Richard, Ito Yuki, David Ostman, Masahiro Hori, Koun Franz, Tracy Franz, Kanemitsu Takeyoshi. Haiku as Life, A Kaneko Tohta Omnibus (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2019).

Rotella, Alexis. Scratches on the Moon (Arnold, MD: Jade Mountain Press, 2019).

Trumbull, Charles. A History of Modern Haiku (Lincoln, IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2019).

Honorable Mentions

Hotham, Gary. Rightsizing the Universe: Haiku Theory (Scaggsville, MD: Yiqralo Press, 2019).

Moss, Ron C. Broken Starfish (Leslie Vale, Australia: Walleah Press, 2019).

The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award 2019 Shortlist

• Balabanova, Ludmila. Sunflower Field. (Plovdiv Bulgaria: Zhanet, 2019)
• Bartow, Stuart. one branch. (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Bennett, Brad. a turn in the river. (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Chula, Margaret. One Leaf Detaches. (Uxbridge UK: Alba Publishing, 2019)
• Cooper, Bill. moon music. (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Crocket, Elizabeth. Happy Haiku. (Pilot Knob MO: Crimson Cloak Publishing, 2019)
• Elliot, Kirsten Cliff. Patient Property: a journey through leukaemia. (North Highlands CA: velvet dusk publishing, 2019)
• Fontana, Lucia. Sunflower Moon. (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Frampton, Alice. from here. (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Gilbert, Richard, Yuki Ito, David Ostman, Masahiro Hori, Koun Franz, Tracy Franz, Takeyoshi Kanamitsu. Haiku as Life: A Kaneko Tohta Omnibus (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Haynes, Tia. leftover ribbon. (North Highlands CA: velvet dusk publishing, 2019)
• Hotham, Gary. Rightsizing the Universe: Haiku Theory. (Scaggsville MD: Yiqralo Press, 2019)
• Machmiller, Patricia J. (editor). Ferry Crossing. (San Francisco CA: Two Autumns Press, 2019)
• Martin, Jeannie, with 31 haiku by vincent tripi. touch of light. (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• McKeon, Joe. Oars Up. (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2019)
• Moss, Ron C. Broken Starfish. (Lesley Vale Australia: Walleah Press, 2019)
• Rotella, Alexis. Scratches on the Moon. (Arnold MD: Jade Mountain Press, 2019)
• Trumbull, Charles. A History of Modern Haiku. (Lincoln IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2019)
• Wilkinson, Geoffrey. Going to the Pine: Four Essays on Basho. (Powys Wales: Geoffrey Wilkinson, 2019)

Bruce H. Feingold
Chair, Touchstone Awards Committee
The Haiku Foundation