For July of 2019, NaHaiWriMo has a first-time daily writing prompter. Kirsten Cliff Elliot is from New Zealand, and has been writing haiku for a dozen years. Read her interview on the “Meet the Prompters” page to learn what first launched her into haiku, about her blog and poetry book, and what else she does when she’s not writing haiku. Thank you, Kirsten!

If we’ve done the math correctly, today, April 19, 2019, marks the 3,000th daily writing prompt in NaHaiWriMo’s history. We began the prompts on the Facebook page on February 1, 2011, the day NaHaiWriMo started. A deep bow of thanks to all the volunteers who have supplied prompts over all these years. Congratulations to "twilight" for being the 3,000th prompt today, and happy 3,000th prompt everyone!

Newly posted to the “Meet the Prompters” page is an interview in French and English with Vincent Hoarau, who has served as the daily writing prompter for NaHaiWriMo en français on Facebook for February 2018 and 2019. Read how he fell in love with haiku, and see three sample poems. Merci, Vincent!

Congratulations to Karen Schauber, of Vancouver, British Columbia, who became NaHaiWriMo’s 3,000th Facebook like sometime on 4 February 2019. At the end of 1 February 2019, NaHaiWriMo had 2,980 likes, which represents an increase of 189 over our 2,791 likes on the same date in 2018 (an increase of 6.78 percent). And the likes continue!

Where do most NaHaiWriMo likes come from? As of 4 February 2019, we had 3,011 likes (and rising) from around the world. Here’s the breakdown of the top twenty-five countries with the number of people who like NaHaiWriMo:

United States of America: 1,579
India: 194
Canada: 194
United Kingdom: 186
France: 101
Australia: 101
Bulgaria: 38
Japan: 28
Philippines: 27
Italy: 27
Indonesia: 21
New Zealand: 20
Malaysia: 18
Bangladesh: 18
Romania: 17
Ireland: 17
Israel: 17
Sweden: 16
Brazil: 16
Poland: 15
Germany: 14
Pakistan: 14
United Arab Emirates: 13
Nigeria: 12
Netherlands: 12

Elsewhere: 296

And in case you’re wondering, here are the top ten cities:

New York, New York: 45
Seattle, Washington: 40
London, England: 28
Vancouver, British Columbia: 27
Toronto, Ontario: 26
Los Angeles, California: 25
Melbourne, Australia: 23
Sofia, Bulgaria: 21
Portland, Oregon: 20
Mumbai, India: 20

Thanks to all for liking the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook. Better yet, thanks to all who write haiku as often as they can!

We’re fortunate to have Margo Williams providing daily writing prompts for NaHaiWriMo for the month of January 2019. You can now learn more about Margo at her “Meet the Prompter” interview, just added to the NaHaiWriMo website. Read three of her haiku, and learn more about her family and especially the haiku inspiration she continues to receive from her father, Johnny Baranski. Thank you, Margo!

National Haiku Writing Month is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Johnny Baranski Memorial Haiku Contest, judged by Paul Miller. First prize goes to Tia Haynes, second prize to Mel Goldberg, and third prize to Vandana Parashar. Honorable mentions go to Olivier Schopfer, Jessica Malone Latham, Florin C. Florian, and kjmunro. Please read the winning poems and all of Paul Miller’s commentary at “Johnny Baranski Memorial Haiku Contest Winners.” Congratulations to each of the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered in memory of Johnny Baranski.

Want to learn more about NaHaiWriMo’s daily writing prompter for November 2018? Read Marina Bellini’s interview, available through the “Meet the Prompters” page. Discover why this Italian poet went to Ireland, what her seven pets and some of her many favourite plants are, and a few of her other interests. You can also read three of her best haiku. Thank you, Marina!

Did you know that our NaHaiWriMo daily writing prompter for October 2018 is Dutch, but was born in Ethiopia, and lives in Portugal? And that she’s written a children’s book, in English? Find out more about Corine Timmer and read three sample poems of hers at her “Meet the Prompter” interview.

For the month of September 2018, we have a first-time prompter. So that means we have a new interview to share with you. Please read about Jessica Malone Latham, plus her books and blogs, on the “Meet the Prompters” page. Her detailed responses explain how this Californian followed her heart to haiku, and how she believes “NaHaiWriMo . . . is a way of connecting consciousness with creativity.”