Global
Haiku Festival
Student Participants
Michael
Welch, President of the Tanka Society of America and
editor of Tundra
magazine, discusses English-language tanka with senior,
Ryan Casey.
Eighty-three
registered guests attended the Global Haiku Festival, including
31 Millikin University students. The students in Dr. Brooks'
"Global Haiku Traditions" course were especially
pleased to have seven guest haiku poets visit their class
before the festival.
The
students were not pressed into service at the conference
but were invited to participate in all events except for
the meals and the Midwest literary culture tour.
One
student expressed her experience this way:
The
Millikin Global Haiku Festival was a memorable event.
Before the haiku authors arrived at Millikin, all of the
students were aware that they there were going to be meeting
haiku authors from every walk of life—yet seeing
and speaking with these authors really helped open our
eyes and further inspire us in our own writing. Some of
the highlights from the weekend included question and
answer sessions from authors , open mic haiku readings,
and foreign language haiku, read by such authors as Horst
Ludwig, who shared many beautiful haiku in the German
language.
The
haiku experienced during the festival ranged from the
traditional Japanese haiku (read in the original language
and in English..and in a kimono!) to more modern, humorous
senryu. Hearing the authors share their haiku in their
own voices made haiku that we had heard before seem new
to us. The Global Haiku Festival left us with a broader
sense of knowledge on what haiku is, what makes it special,
and what we can do to relate what is imporant to us through
this form of poetry. —Molly McLinden
Jennifer
Richmiller & Julie Weightman discuss haiku studies
at Millikin University with John Stevenson, President
of the Haiku Society of America
Ryan
Casey and Lidonna Beer writing haiku in
Fairview Park for the Sunday morning Kukai.
Millikin
honors student, Kristin Boryca, discusses her research
on haiku poet Raymond Roseliep with Roseliep's good
friend and former student, Professor Bill Pauly of Loras
College, Dubuque, Iowa.
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