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.”

NaHaiWriMo is pleased to announce the Johnny Baranski Memorial Haiku Contest. This contest is named in honor of Johnny Baranski, one of NaHaiWriMo’s earliest and longest-running supporters who passed away in January of 2018. The deadline is September 30, 2018, and it is FREE to submit up to two unpublished haiku. Prizes are $100 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place, and $25 for third place, plus honorable mentions. Paul Miller, editor of Modern Haiku magazine, will serve as the judge. The only eligibility requirement is to have liked the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook. See the submission guidelines. We welcome your haiku submissions in celebration of Johnny’s life and his passion for haiku poetry.

Thanks to an outpouring of generosity on its Facebook page, NaHaiWriMo has recently received more than $1,000 in donations. We are pleased to recognize this generosity on our new NaHaiWriMo Donors page. This support will cover domain name and website costs past, present, and future, for which we are very grateful. What a great community we have in NaHaiWriMo!

NaHaiWriMo has another first-time prompter this month, for July 2018. Its Roy Kindelberger, who lives near Seattle in Washington State. Roy has been a kindergarten teacher for many years, and currently teaches grades four through six in an alternative school. Learn more about Roy Kindelberger, his middle-grade novel, and read three sample poems, all in his newly posted interview available through the “Meet the Prompters” page. Thank you, Roy!

Just added to the “Meet the Prompters” page is our interview with the NaHaiWriMo daily writing prompter for May 2018, Deborah B. Shepherd. This is Deborah’s first time as a prompter for us, and we’ve been grateful for her inspiring prompts. In her interview, learn about her stint in the army, her background as a newspaper columnist, and how she came back to haiku after a long absence. “I’m so glad to have found this group,” Deborah says, because “I need the discipline of writing every day.” Thank you, Deborah.

NaHaiWriMo is grateful to Lynne Jambor for serving as a first-time daily writing prompter on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page for the month of April 2018, National Poetry Writing Month. You can now read about Lynne Jambor at her “Meet the Prompters” interview, including information about her extensive background in curling and sports management, and her advice not just to read haiku but to talk with other haiku poets as much as possible to help yourself learn the haiku art. Thank you, Lynne!