Sunday, February 07, 2021

Snapshot Press Book Awards, 2020

I'm beyond honoured to announce that my full-length haiku manuscript, Random Blue Sparks, has received the 2020 Snapshot Press Book Award!

I'll post further details when the books is released.



From Snapshot Press:

Snapshot Press is an independent publisher specializing in English-language haiku, tanka and other short poetry by authors from around the world.

Founded in 1997, our publications include anthologies, single-author collections, and annual editions of The Haiku Calendar. Our books have been honoured by the Haiku Society of America, The Poetry Society of America, and The Haiku Foundation.


From Michael Dylan Welch in Modern Haiku:

Snapshot Press sets the platinum standard for design and production values among haiku and tanka books. Their quality is unsurpassed. Indeed, books from Snapshot Press are always a tactile and poetic delight.
 

San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka, 2020

a raven
believed it could fly
through me
unaware that I am glass,
pretending to be sky

Third Place


Judge's comments:

This one-breath tanka is not only whimsical, but astonishing. The first three lines reveal a raven with magical traits—one who believed it could fly through a person. The tone of the tanka sounds fanciful until it pivots on the fourth line with the word "unaware." Eventually, I hear "glass" shattering into pieces and I feel a sudden twinge of pain as I read the revelation of the last line—"pretending to be sky." Sometimes, I, too, like to pretend that I am carefree and invincible like the sky because it feels good. I even manage to convince others that I am such until I get hurt and I'm reminded that I'm actually fragile, vulnerable, and destructible. It's a sad truth, and the poet has effectively conveyed this message in five lines.
—Christine Villa

The Haiku Foundation, Juxta 5 - Research and Scholarship in Haiku, December 2019

Haiga Feature:

...Nevertheless, the selections for Juxta 5 show haiga by fine women poet-artists with a great range of observation and imagination. This demonstrates growing interest and increasing creativity in this multifaceted form of visual-verbal expression. Each of the following artist-poets has also been chosen for the Gallery of the Haiku Foundation, where you will find further examples of their work...


My thanks to Stephen Addiss for his commentary below:

Utilizing digital elements to help transform both her watercolors and her digital images, Debbie Strange is able to create a number of focused images, many from everyday life. Some of her ink paintings are minimal but cogent, while her digital images tend to be more complex. In either case, there are always free areas that give the poems their own space while helping to complete meaningful visual structures.

(Note: this haiku received an Honourable Mention in the 2015 Autumn Haiku Contest administered by the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan, Washington D.C.)

 

The Poetry Pea Journal of Haiku and Senryu, Winter 2020

Editor: Patricia McGuire


"Found"

storm clouds
I spread out my joy
on the grass

culled from: "New Rain", The One & the Many by Rabindranath Tagore


"No Verbs"

dry fountain
the blue tongue
of a gargoyle


warm earth
between our fingers . . .
cemetery birds
 

Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2020-2021

tablelands
nothing left to catch
the wind


Haiga Gallery:






Poetry Pea, January 2021

The Haiku Pea Podcast


Series 4, Episode 2 - "Spring and Autumn", January 18, 2021


blue nemophila
I still miss the little things
about my sister

Winner
2020 Akita International Haku Contest


the ruts we slip into falling leaves

 

Tinywords, Issue 20.2, January 2021


Note: this haiku first appeared in the Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 3:2, Spring-Summer 2020

 

Dance into the World, Tanka Society of America Twentieth Anniversary Anthology, 2020

Edited by Michael Dylan Welch


sprites flash
across purpling skies
for an instant
I forget the grim state
of this locked-down life
 

Stardust Haiku, Issue 49, January 2021

seed packets
the many colours
of grief
 

The Cicada's Cry: A Micro-Zine of Haiku Poetry, Winter 2020

the last patch
of watermelon snow . . .
alpine chough
 

The Bamboo Hut, Number 1, 2021

the year that was


mask debate
the wasps inside
my mouth

lockdown
a song sparrow offers
mother's eulogy

isolation walk
I wash my hands
at water's edge

quarantine
the silent scolding
of squirrels

travel ban
a jet on the runway
of my mind

social unrest
we drive into a tornado
of tumbleweeds

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, January 2021

 Curated by Lavana Kray


January 14, 2021


(Note: this haiku originally appeared in Creatrix 48, March 2020)

January 23, 2021


(Note: this haiga originally appeared in colour, and it received a Highly Commended in the 2020 Santoka International Haiku and Haiga Contest)






NeverEnding Story, February 2021

Translated into Chinese by Chen-ou Liu:


a smudge
of blackbirds swirling
into evening . . .
how fluid the shape
of this sorrow

2nd Place
2018 Fleeting Words Tanka Competition


Chen-ou Liu's Comments: (excerpted from commentary by judges Carole MacRury and Michael McClintock)

This well-constructed tanka uses sibilance to enhance the fluidity of the reading as well as the fluidity of the emotions shown through the image in the first three lines. This fine poem by Debbie Strange shows the power of understatement and the power of imagery to express deep emotions. It has that magic space where readers may enter with their own experiences. Deep sorrow, as most of us know, comes unexpectedly in dark, wave-like moments just like the "smudge of blackbirds swirling into evening". Every single word earns its place in this poem.

Narrow Road Literary Journal, Volume 12, December 2020

2020 Weighing Raindrops Haiku Contest

"Narrow Road shook hands with the ArtMantram Foundation to curate the first-ever haiku contest at their Glass House Literary Festival. Editors Rohini Gupta, Paresh Tiwari, and Raamesh Gowri Raghavan doubled up as judges. 129 entries poured in from all over the world on the theme of 'rain'. The winners were announced on 26th July 2020 at the Grand Finale of the Glass Festival over Zoom video conference."


ceaseless rain
the questions I still
ask myself

Third Prize


My thanks to the judges!

 

Kingfisher, Issue #2, December 2020

grawlix I learn to embrace my cronehood


sumi-e ravens nesting in my eyebrows
 

Hedgerow Poems, Number 133, Autumn 2020

 


#FemkuMag: An E-zine of Womxn's Haiku - Issue 28, January 2021

 



Failed Haiku - A Journal of English Senryu, Vol. 6, Issue 62, February 2021

Honoured to have the following haiga selected for the cover of this issue by editor, Bryan Rickert: 





Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, February 2021

Featured Artist: February 2, 2021


Note: this haiku was first published in Hedgerow 130, Winter 2020


 

Contemporary Haibun, Volume 16, Red Moon Press, 2021

Honoured to have this haiga chosen by Ron Moss for Contemporary Haibun!

(note: this haiku received a Judge's Choice Award in the 2016 Craigleigh Press Poetry Contest)


Brass Bell, February 2021

Theme: colourful haiku


persimmons
golden crowns fill
with snow
 

Bottle Rockets, Vol. 22, Number 2 (or#44), February 2021

murky night
a great grey owl sees
all there is to see

Asahi Haikuist Network, January 2021

new snowshoes
the scrambled prints
of lynx and hare