Haikupedia was launched on the Web on June 21, 2020, under the aegis of The Haiku Foundation. It endeavors to be a comprehensive online encyclopedia about all aspects of haiku everywhere in the world, past and present.
We began by posting key articles, mainly Country articles and biographies of haiku poets, every Sunday for the first several months. At the beginning of 2021 we began publishing new material once a month.
During the period of its toddlerhood, Haikupedia will primarily contain materials in English with a focus on European and North American haiku activities and personalities. As we gain momentum, however, we hope to add original and parallel articles in other languages and expand our field of vision until it is uniformly international.
Haikupedia is a not-for-profit project of The Haiku Foundation and is compiled, edited, and published by the all-volunteer Haikupedia staff.
The Core Haikupedia Team
- Charles Trumbull, Editor-in-Chief
- Stella Pierides, Founding Managing Editor, 2019–2020
Theresa A. Cancro, Managing Editor, 2020– - Iliyana Stoyanova, Photo Editor
- Dave Russo, Haikupedia Website Manager
- Jim Kacian, Founder and President, The Haiku Foundation
Editorial Contributors
- Adjei Agyei-Baah
- Danny Blackwell
- Tzetzka Ilieva
- Jim Kacian
- Mike Montreuil
- Ðurđa Vukelić Rožić
- Mary Stevens
- John Stevenson
- Angela Terry
- Judit Vihar
- Michael Dylan Welch
- Billie Wilson
Organization of Haikupedia
- Core articles—Substantial, chapbook-length articles about major topics in haiku (e.g., “Haiku” and “Renku”;
- Countries —Substantial, chapbook-length reports on the history and current status of haiku in various countries and cultures around the world;
- Documents—Full texts of documents and essays important in the history and development of haiku;
- Awards & Contests—Haiku-related awards and competitions worldwide with information about the sponsors, adjudicators, number of entries prizes, and winners for each;
- Biographies—Full-length biographies of major haiku poets, translators, scholars, and critics. In addition, Haikupedia will include a large number of “short biographies” or “abstracts” of full biographies listing only the essential data and major achievements of the subject;
- Events—Haiku meetings and other events, including dates and locations, sponsors and organizers, attendees, and main activities and presentations;
- Gazetteer—Places mentioned or otherwise important in haiku;
- Glossary—Glosses and definitions of terms used in and about haiku, poetics and aesthetics, verse forms, and the like;
- Organizations—Past and present international, national, and local haiku organizations and groups, their sponsors and organizers, members, and main activities;
- Publications—Haiku publications in print and online (e-zines, websites and webpages, and blogs), including their history as well as subscription and submission information;
- Bibliography—Topical lists of the most important print and online books and major articles of or about haikai;
- Saijiki (to come later)—A listing and exploration of the most commonly used Japanese kigo and English-language season words together with examples of haiku in which they are used.
Note: Dear readers, you may be baffled by the orange-colored text that appears throughout Haikupedia articles. Because we are a work in progress and growing steadily, we find that it is convenient to mark future links in this way. Gradually, as these links go live, we expect the orange text will turn blue.
How Are We Doing?
The Haikupedia editors are eager to hear from you and learn your reactions to our online encyclopedia. We welcome your corrections and opinions, although regrettably we cannot permit the public to access and edit Haikupedia articles directly. We do encourage you to send us feedback via the Contact Us form. You can access this form from the Home page or from the footer of every page on the site.
Haikupedia is a huge, probably endless undertaking, and we are always looking for assistance in researching, writing, editing, proofreading, and preparation of materials for the Web. If you would like to help out, contact us as indicated above.
In the meantime, dive in, learn, and enjoy!