self-portrait
Petra Klingl (born 1957, Suhl, Thüringen, Germany), grew up in the Thuringian Forest, then pursued agricultural studies at Humboldt University, Berlin, worked on a farm in Brandenburg, and later served as a correctional officer in a Berlin prison. She discovered haikai in 2010 and writes haiku, senryu, and tanka, publishing mostly in German journals. Klingl is a member of the Deutsche Haiku-Gesellschaft and joined the Board in 2013. She served as DHG Treasurer and is Editor of its journal, Sommergras. She founded the Berliner Haiku Gruppe in 2015 and is still its leader. In 2020 she cofounded Rotkiefer Verlag, Germany’s only dedicated haiku publishing house. She has authored or edited several verse collections; those of or about haikai include an anthology, Unruhige See(le) (2017), Wundgelebt (2018), Haiku (2020), and Winter in meinem Seelenleben: Haibun (2025) as well as an instructional chapbook, Haiku schreiben— ein kleiner Leitfaden, and a calendar, Haiku-Agenda 2026. Klingl participates in haiku gatherings and leads workshops. She resides in Berlin’s Spandau district.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.