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.”

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!