Self-portrait
Dorota Pyra (born October 1962, Wałbrzych, Poland), graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, worked as a preschool teacher and, now retired, writes stories and songs for young people and teaches haiku and Japanese culture classes. She was an active participant in the Shiki Internet Kukai (2007–2014) and won First Place in the Shiki Special Kukai in Memory of William J. Higginson (2009); and the Mainichi Haiku in English column, winning awards five times in the Mainichi Haiku Contest (2008–2016). She has also won recognition in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2010, 2014), the Haiku International Contest, the 3rd Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest (Romania, 2014), the 20th International Kusamakura Haiku Competition (2015), and the Manggha Museum Competition, Kraków (2020), among others. Pyra attended the International Haiku Festival, Ghent, Belgium, 2010. Her haiku are included in international anthologies and featured in the exhibitions Sen o Japonii / Dream of Japan (Poland, 2010–2014), and Wander from Within (Milan, Seoul, and Tokyo, 2017–2018). She is the author of a book, Lodowy księżyc / Ice Moon (2009). Pyra lives in Gdańsk, Poland.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.