Lee Gurga (born LeRoy Steven Gurga, July 28, 1949, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), American poet, editor, and essayist. He served as president of the Haiku Society of America in 1997, and editor of Modern Haiku (2002–2006) and of Modern Haiku Press (2006– ). His books of haiku, In & Out of Fog (1997) and Fresh Scent (1998), were awarded First Prize in the HSA Merit Book Awards; Haiku: A Poet’s Guide was recognized by the HSA as the Best Book of Criticism in 2004; and the anthology Haiku 21, which he coedited with Scott Metz, was named Best Anthology by the HSA and honored in The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards. Their anthology Haiku 2014 also received the Touchstone award. Gurga’s personal awards include an Illinois Arts Council Poetry Fellowship, the Japan-America Society of Chicago’s Cultural Achievement Award, and, in his work as a dentist, an American Red Cross Healthcare Heroes Award. He lives on the Sangamon River in Piatt County, Illinois.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.