Touchstone Distinguished Books Awards for 2021

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 2021.  The eighty-one books nominated for this year’s awards represent a rich variety of English-language books from many nations and haiku traditions.  Panel members read every book and then each one nominated ten books for consideration. Through a series of votes and discussion, the panel members arrived at the Short List.  Following another round of voting and discussion, the panel members selected four award winners and four honorable mentions.

The Touchstone Short List included outstanding volumes of haiku, haibun and haiga showcasing a wide range of subject matter and themes and spanning an equally broad spectrum of styles, from traditional and nature-based works to experimental and language-based treatments.

I speak for the entire panel when I say that everyone recognized that each book on the Short List was unique and had great merit. I can attest to the difficulty of distinguishing the ‘best’ among these books. I wish to thank the Distinguished Books Award Panelists — Kat Lehmann,  Beverly Acuff Momoi,  Scott Mason, Victor Ortiz and Michael Rehling — for their diligence, expertise and effort. The Awarded and Honored Books reflect the panel’s assessment of the most noteworthy offerings from this year’s highly distinguished field.

Chambers, Paul. The Dry Bones (New Mills, UK: Red Ceilings Press, 2021).

Kenney, Bill. keep walking (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

Stevenson, John. My Red: The Selected Haiku of John Stevenson (Editors Randy and Shirley Brooks. Taylorville, IN: Brooks Books, 2021).

Sugita, Hisajo. Lips Licked Clean (Translated by Alice Wanderer. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

Haynes, Tia and Jonathan Roman. After Amen: A Memoir in Two Voices (No Place: self-published, 2021).

Kumar, Shobhana. A Sky Full of Bucket Lists (New Delhi, India: Red River Press, 2021).

Pauly, Bill. Walking Uneven Ground: Selected Haiku by Bill Pauly (Editors Randy and Shirley Brooks. Taylorville, IN: Brooks Books, 2021).

Shankar, Shloka (Editor). where the roots are: Best of Paper Lanterns Volume 2 (Bangalore, India: Yavanika Press, 2021).

Beary, Roberta, Maitiu Quinn, and Willie Walsh.

One Breath (Clan Beo, artwork. Galway, Ireland: Doire Press, 2021).

Chambers, Paul. The Dry Bones (New Mills, UK: Red Ceilings Press, 2021).

Chhoki, Sonam, and Geethanjali Rajan. Unexpected Gift (Montreal, QC: éditions petits nuages, 2021).

Chula, Margaret. Firefly Lanterns (Brunswick, ME: Shanti Arts, 2021).

Hambrick, Jennifer. joyride (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

Haynes, Tia and Jonathan Roman. After Amen: A Memoir in Two Voices (No Place: self-published, 2021).

Kacian, Jim, Terry Ann Carter, and Claudia Brefeld. the endangered C (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

Kacian, Jim, and Julie Schwerin (editors). A New Resonance 12: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

Kenney, Bill. keep walking (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

Kumar, Shobhana. A Sky Full of Bucket Lists (New Delhi, India: Red River Press, 2021).

Pauly, Bill. Walking Uneven Ground: Selected Haiku by Bill Pauly (Editors Randy and Shirley Brooks. Taylorville, IN: Brooks Books, 2021).

Read, Dave. Fifty at Fifty: My Haiku (No Place: self-published, 2021).

Rotella, Alexis, and Friends. Grandmother’s Pearls: Dream Anthology (Greensboro, NC: Jade Mountain Press, 2021).

Shankar, Shloka (Editor). where the roots are: Best of Paper Lanterns Volume 2 (Bangalore, India: Yavanika Press, 2021).

Stevenson, John. My Red: The Selected Haiku of John Stevenson (Editors Randy and Shirley Brooks. Taylorville, IN: Brooks Books, 2021).

Sugita, Hisajo. Lips Licked Clean (Translated by Alice Wanderer. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2021).

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