Michael Dylan Welch (born May 20, 1962, Watford, England); lived in England, Ghana, Australia, and Canada, and now resides in Washington state, U.S.A. Editor, publisher, as well as haiku poet, translator, critic, and organizer. Among his accomplishments are editing and publishing journals including Woodnotes and Tundra, founding Press Here, a haiku publishing company, and National Haiku Writing Month, cofounding and directing the biennial Haiku North America conferences, founding the Tanka Society of America and the annual Seabeck Haiku retreats, and involvement in many other haiku- and poetry-related activities.

Rengay is a form of linked verse created as an alternative to Japanese renga or renku. The form was devised by Garry Gay in California in 1992. A rengay consists of six thematic haiku verses and is normally composed by two or three poets, although solo and six-person rengay are not uncommon. Since its invention many hundreds of rengay have been published, primarily in English, and two competitions and two journals for rengay have been established in the United States.