Brooks Books Haiku

The Virgil Hutton Memorial Chapbook Awards 2000-2001

Haiku poetry collections by Johnny Baranski of Portland, Oregon; D. Claire Gallagher of Sunnyvale,California; Elizabeth Hazen of Winooski, Vermont; and Robert Major of Poulsbo, Washington, snatched the four winning slots for publication in the Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest for 2001-2002.

http://www.geocities.com/sakipress/

A celebration of haiku, as well as a fitting memorial tribute to the late haiku poet, Virgil Hutton, this contest is sponsored by the Hutton family and Saki Press, Normal, Illinois. This second annual haiku chapbook contest had entries from the US, Canada, Mexico, England, New Zealand, and Australia.

In this time of world change and reconsideration of what is important, haiku poetry continues to sustain us while providing hope and beauty, even joy and a pinch of wisdom, with insights not only for this time but for all time… Haiku offer continuity and a meaning to our existence on this earth and help to bring us into harmony and balance with nature and our fellow man.  The four winning chapbook collections for this year's contest illustrate the diverse mix of the traditional form and celebrate, each in its own way, those unique haiku moments as seen through special "eyes" and in circumstances that touch and involve us all in that moment as well.

The contest was sponsored by the Hutton Family and Saki Press, Normal, Illinois, as a tribute to the memory of the late haiku poet, Virgil Hutton. It is also a celebration of the haiku form. The third biennial haiku chapbook memorial award contest attracted entries from the U.S.A., Canada, England, Austria, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia.

Saki Press
1021 West Gregory
Normal, IL 61761

Each chapbook is available for $4.50 plus postage. Make your check out to "Lenore Hutton" in US funds. postage each = 57¢ USA · 76¢ Canada · $2.55 oversea

Johnny Baranski is a haiku poet and working bookkeeper living in Portland, Oregon. In this collection the poet's "haiku moments" center on his glimpses of the human spirit and its oneness with nature from behind bars. Structured within such a confining environment there remains a universe of experience for the poet that enables him to provide a tone of strength and unity encompassing man and nature throughout his work.

          Prevailing wind!
    neither prison bars nor spider web
            yield to it

"In prison...the haiku poet is held captive...by images that reflect the true nature of liberation." —Johnny Baranski

D. Claire Gallagher, a haiku poet living in Sunnyvale, California, is the editor-in-chief of Mariposa, the journal of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, as well as being named a new editor for Red Moon Anthology.  The haiku in this collection focus on those moments in nature, time, space, and perception...when a shift or transition, however small, occurs. The haiku reflect the poet's keen awareness and attention to cycles of nature and man's kinship to it.

          budding maples—
          how fast the ground moves
          under his tricycle

"It is the transitions, not the distinct (seasonal) divisions, that I am interested in..."—D. Claire Gallagher

Elizabeth Hazen, a writer, artist, and poet from Winooski, Vermont, works to make haiku available to persons who cannot read print and to introduce sighted readers to the context of those who are blind.  A richly drawn and inspired collection of haiku which connects the layers of perception the poet experienced while blind.  Crisp, vivid imagery from an unusual perspective contributes to additonal understanding of nature, the earth, and one another.

          fall rain
          the patter
          of pine needles

"When I became blind, the distinctions between my other four senses blurred, and my awareness of place and the present moment sharpened."—Elizabeth Hazen

          Playing hide-and-seek
          on a long summer's evening...
          called home one by one

"In youth we learn; in age we understand." —Marie Eschenbach

A new compilation of 50 haiku and senyru by the late haiku poet, Virgil Hutton gathered from his private files and journal notes, the collection presents some of his personal favorites plus a few works in progress.

               Tractor
               harvesting the wheat field--
               trail of golden dust

"The two basics that I strive for in haiku writing are simplicity and profundity… One's poems ideally should leave one with a sense of yet undiscovered meanings and nuances." —Virgil Hutton

THE FOURTH BIENNIAL VIRGIL HUTTON HAIKU MEMORIAL AWARD CHAPBOOK CONTEST

NOTE: THE VIRGIL HUTTON HAIKU MEMORIAL AWARD CHAPBOOK CONTEST IS NOW A BIENNIAL CONTEST

The Hutton Family (Lenore Hutton, William H. Hutton, Naurine Ligler Hutton) and Saki Press are sponsoring The Fourth Biennial Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest for the four best collections of traditional haiku (as defined by the HSA). Limit of 50 haiku per entry, and all chapbooks must be titled with haiku appearing in the order the poet prefers. You may submit more than one entry, but each entry must be accompanied by the entry fee.

PRIZES: Chapbook publication of the four winning entries. (There may be a cash award in addition to chapbook publication for a Grand Prize winner with the additional 3 First Prize winners being published as Saki Press chapbooks.)

ENTRY FEE: $26.00 US funds with a S.A.S.E. (or a S.A.E. with one international reply coupon, available from post offices in every country) for results notification. No entries will be returned, so clean photocopies are preferred along with any artwork or graphics. The four winners will receive 25 copies of their published winning entry chapbook and e-mail press releases to the media or organizations of their choice announcing their award. All winning entries will have an ISBN number from Saki Press, thus allowing the chapbooks to be listed in Books In Print. Copyright to the published haiku remains with the poets.

CONTEST TIME FRAME: The contest opens September 15, 2003, and submissions must be received by December 31, 2003. Winners will be announced in February 2004 and publication will be in March 2004 by Saki Press (Normal, Illinois). Send haiku collection of up to 50 haiku and entry fee of $26.00 US funds along with a S.A.S.E. to: Saki Press, 1021 West Gregory, Normal, IL 61761.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information about Saki Press, haiku collections in print, or The Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest contact:

E-mail: SakiPress@webtv. net
Phone: 309-452-6894

eFax/Voice Mail: 1-703-991-2327

or write with S.A.S.E. to:
1021 W. Gregory, Normal, IL 61761, USA

For more details and information about the next Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest, please visit the Saki Press Website at its new location:

http://www.geocities.com/sakipress/

Or, to contact the poets for additonal information and background,

e-mail LenoreHutton at <SakiPress@webtv.net>

The four winning chapbook collections of haiku may be purchased directly from Saki Press, 1021 W. Gregory St., Normal, IL 61761 U.S.A., for $4.50 U.S. funds each (please order by title and author) plus postage for each chapbook ordered: 57¢ U.S.A.; 76¢ U.S. funds to Canada and Mexico; and $2.55 for overseas in U.S. funds only, starting March 31, 2002. U.S. dollars or a check/money order in U.S. funds only payable to "Lenore Hutton."

If you would like your book or magazine or web site featuring haiku to be featured at this web site, send a review copy or contact information to: Brooks Books, 3720 Woodridge Dr., Decatur, IL 62526