Registration for the Society’s 2013 long weekend haiku poetry retreat is available. The retreat will be November 7-10, at Asilomar State Seashore and Conference Center, located along a dramatic section of the Monterey California coastline. The retreat is designed to inspire and nurture the creative spirit of haiku poets from near and far. The program will allow ample time for attendees to wander and write in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. Opportunities are also available for poets to share their work, and participate in renku. This year’s retreat will feature a more relaxed schedule and a more economical fee than recent retreats, only $400 for three nights with all meals.
Registration information and a form for registration are provided here.

 The Society sponsors the 2013 annual Kiyoshi & Kiyoko Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest. The in-hand deadline is May 31, 2013; prizes are 1st, $100; 2nd, $50, and 3rd, $25; plus honorable mentions. The haiku must be in the form 5-7-5 syllables, and contain a season word from a supplied list. See 2013 Contest for complete rules and entry information.

The Society conducted its second tanka workshop. The Tanka Revision Workshop, November 3,  enhanced the participants skills and insights into how to write and revise tanka. The workshop showed each poet how to study her or his tanka for emotional content, form, organization, vocabulary, sound, and grammar. Details are here.

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society’s conductis an annual Kiyoshi & Kiyoko Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest. Prizes of $100, $50, and $25 are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively. The rules of the contest are based on the teachings of the Tokutomis, founders of Yuki Teikei, on the proper form and content of haiku in English. Haiku in English of 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern are required, and each haiku must use one and only one kigo (season word). For the contest, the kigo used must be taken from the list supplied.  Winners and poems of the 2012 contest are posted here. The details of the 2013 contest will be announced shortly.

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society poets were featured in a broadcast from KUSP, Santa Cruz.  The poets read one haiku by each author in Wild Violets, the Society’s 2011 members’ anthology. They also described many projects of the Society, including the Geppo newsletter, the monthly meetings, the annual retreat at Asilomar, the annual Tokutomi haiku contest, and on-going intensive studies of haiku season words and haiku form. You can listen to the podcast of the broadcast here.

Wild Violets, the Society’s 2011 poetry, haibun, and essay anthology has been published and is available using information available here. The volume has been exceptionally well-received and popular, and a second printing has been authorized. Edited and introduced by Jerry Ball and J. Zimmerman, the anthology’s poems and text are enhanced by Ann Bendixen’s powerful, elegant art. Judith Morrison Schallberger designed the anthology and Harry Lafnear designed the striking cover. Wild Violets is 70 pages plus folding inserts; 6″ x 9″. Glossy art covers; perfect bound. ISBN 978-0-9745404-9-8. The editors’ introduction can be read here. $12.00

One of the tenets of haiku esthetics that the Yuki Teikei Society honors, is the importance of the use kigo, or season words in English language haiku. Robert Wilson, a prominent editor and critic of haiku and allied forms has recently published a treatise strongly supporting the use of season words in all haiku. See it the on-line journal, Simply Haiku, at this link. (See our publication that elaborates on San Francsico Bay area season words below.)

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society provided a one-day workshop on tanka on 6 November 2011 by Joan Zimmerman and Patricia Machmiller. The Tanka Workshop focused on gaining skill and insight into how to write effective English-language tanka, a five line short dramatic form of Japanese poetry. The workshop provided time for walks and writing sessions both in the morning and the afternoon.The event was fully subscribed and participants expressed appreciation for the effective form and content of the presentations and exercises.

Thanks to all the YTHS members whose creativity, hard work, and donations culminated in the YTHS Haiku Booth at the day-long open-air Japanese Cultural Festival  in SantaCruz County on 18 June 2011. Read more about it here.The Society is proud to present three recent publications. The San Francisco Bay Area Nature Guide and Saijiki is authored by Anne Homan, Patricia Machmiller, and Patrick Gallagher. It presents 100 Bay Area season words, together with descriptions, photographs, and poems illustrating the use of the season words. An ebook version of the Saijiki is available from lulu.com The second book is The Diary of Kiyoshi Tokutomi, translated by Tei Matsushita Scott , with an introduction and annotations by Patricia Machmiller, provides insights into the manifold activities and thoughts of this generous, kind, and inventive man, one of the co-founders of the Society. The price of this book is $10. Also the prize-winning book Autumn Loneliness: The Letters of Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi, July-December, 1967 translated by Tei Scott Matsushita and Patricia J. Machmiller, is available. A listing of all publications of YTHS and ordering information is shown here.