News & reviews

May 15: breath is reviewed in the new posting of online journal LYNX. The reviewer, Dennis M Holmes, is generally positive but would have preferred no footnotes! It really is hard to please all of the people all of the time. Read the review here (scroll down to find it).

April 30: Kirsten Cliff has chosen breath as her pick for US Poetry Month! Her blog, Swimming in Lines of Haiku, features a large post about the book (and me) today. Read it here. Thanks to Kirsten for her support.

April 29: Spread the haiku “bug”  yesterday when I led a day-long haiku writing workshop for the continuing education department of Waikato University in Hamilton. All the participants, from the knowledgable to the newbie, were enthusiastic and willing and we had some fun, as well as some serious learning. 

April 17: “Breath is a triumph from every aspect: The size, the cover design, paper quality, font, spacing of haiku, grouping. I was really pleased
to see that you had used your own photos. I relished seeing some of my favourite haiku, and others that were new to me. I read it right through in one sitting – something I’ve never done with a poetry book or journal before! A beautiful book to gift to those overseas, too. I’m so happy for you!” – Kirsten Cliff, haiku poet & editor (NZ)

April 1: “Breathless – can’t stop myself reading your haiku! I think in so many years behind me I never received a book with so many wonderful haiku. Congratulations! We will review breath with our June issue of LYNX 2012.” – Werner Reichhold, co-editor of LYNX journal (US)

March 14: Kokako 16, New Zealand’s only dedicated haiku journal, has been mailed today and contains a review of breath by Patricia Prime.

March 11: “I found breath to be a re-affirmation of how resonant reality-based haiku can be. A wonderful collection – sure to get raves.” – George Swede, haiku poet & editor (Canada)

March 11: “The haiku are a delight and the whole production (photos, font, paper, etc) so well chosen. I agree with the reviewer who said that this is a book that would be a great gift for anyone wondering about haiku. Well done.” – Elaine Riddell, haiku poet (NZ)

March 5: A review appears in Shamrock, the journal of the Irish Haiku Society. Journal editor Anatoly Kudryavitsky has his criticisms (no page numbers!) but overall it’s a positive review. Read it here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

And silly me, not footnoting “nashi” – a fruit also sometimes known as “Asian pear” that is something of a cross between an apple and pear. Funny what others don’t know and what we take for granted.

Anatoly, after some inquiries, he says, has now footnoted his review to explain nashi.

February 22: “Your book is wonderful! It’s full of insight, the photos as well as the haiku. Congratulations!” – Owen Bullock, haiku poet (NZ)

February 14: “I have to admit that the poem ‘fifty-one summers’ made me cry!! Just the small selection I have seen are fabulous – I will be ordering a copy of the book. I have never really appreciated haiku before” – Coralee Standish, teacher (UK)

February 9: Have been approached by Total Library Solutions with a request to list breath on their website. They say they are the country’s leading supplier to libraries. Excellent!

Today is a bit of a red-letter day for sales … 7 copies sent to Wheelers (book distributors) in Auckland, 4 to a single buyer in the UK and 1 to Hamilton (NZ). Apart from my launch party, the most sold in a single day.

It may not be up there with Dan Brown and Alison Holst, but I’m happy.

February 1: A glowing review by John Carley of England appears on Haiku NewZ. Read it here. This is the first review to appear in a haiku journal, others are to follow throughout the year.

January 29: With great sadness I record the passing on January 27 of Cyril Childs, editor of the first 2 New Zealand haiku anthologies, the second of which featured some of my haiku and made me feel that, yeah, maybe I was beginning to understand it. In more recent years he has been a good friend. Cyril, his wife Christine and I spent a fun time together at the Haiku Pacific Rim conference in 2009 and we spent an afternoon with them at their beloved Riverton bach last summer. I was looking forward to seeing them both at the Haiku Festival Aotearoa in June.

I have been asked by his son to write about Cyril’s accomplishments in haiku which my daughter Sophia will read at his funeral. Cyril was 70.

January 26: Delivered another 4 copies to Books A Plenty, an independent bookseller in Tauranga. They had sold 3 of the original 4 and requested more, saying they were very happy with the way it was going. It is also available from them online.

January 25: Having discovered that my local library won’t buy from me directly, I completed the (free) paperwork to have breath listed on the Wheeler’s Books website, New Zealand’s largest online supplier to schools and libraries.

January 20: “What a lovely book, breath-taking haiku & stunning photos … and I’ve only skimmed through. Thank you, I will enjoy reading and savouring each delightful creation” – Andre Surridge, haiku poet (NZ)

January 18: “I have now enjoyed breath through two readings – one immediately upon arrival and another more careful savoring. It’s a beautiful collection, beautifully assembled” – Billie Wilson, haiku poet (US) 

January 12: “I enjoyed re-reading already admired haiku and meeting new haiku. And I very much liked the clear, fresh, uncluttered setting out, and selection and placement of fine photos” – Nola Borrell, haiku poet (NZ)

January 11: “You’ve put together a very impressive collection of the best of your work. I’ve always admired the consistent individual voice you bring to the haiku genre. Working within constraints, but making them your own in some very subtle, often physical poems. A real sense of presence.

“There are several established favourites here from my reading of Heron’s Nest, etc, but to have the book as a whole is an absolute delight!” – Tony Beyer, haiku poet (NZ)

January 9: “There are a number [of haiku] in breath that are favourite haiku for me: just absolutely delightful poems … Of course I expected the general standard to be high – and it was – but I didn’t expect a handful of favourites” – John O’Connor, haiku poet (NZ).

January 5, 2012: A half-page feature article about the book and author appears in the weekly Bay News (Tauranga, New Zealand). It’s a free paper with a wide distribution. Good feedback from it and, even better, a decent photo!

December 29: “Breath is a pleasure: content, design, just to hold in the hand” – Paul MacNeil, haiku poet (US) & associate editor at The Heron’s Nest.

December 29: An article and photo about the book and author appear in the Katikati Advertiser, a weekly community newspaper that has a devoted readership. (Katikati is home to the Haiku Pathway.)

December 21, 2011: “Leafing through [the book] it struck me for the first time what might draw such a talented poet to this form. It’s the ‘getting-to-the-guts-of-it’, isn’t it? No flannel, no ego, no ‘personality’. Total self-deletion.

“I found a number of these [haiku] quite beautiful” – Leonard Lambert, (not a haiku) poet (NZ).