With a new foreword by poet, translator, and author Jane Reichhold ("Basho: The Complete Haiku"), this anniversary edition presents a concise history of the Japanese haiku, including the dynamic changes of the haiku throughout the twentieth century as this beloved poetry form has been adapted to modern and urban settings. Full chapters are offered on form, the seasons in haiku, and haiku craft, plus background on the Japanese poetic tradition and the effect of translation on our understanding of haiku. Other unique features are chapters on teaching and sharing haiku, with lesson plans for both elementary and secondary school use; a seasonal word index of poetic words; a comprehensive glossary; and a list of enduring classic resources for further exploration. By any standard, "The Haiku Handbook" is the defining volume in the genre.

Author Biography

Poet, translator, and literary historian William J. Higginson (1938-2008) has been called "the guru of American haiku." For over forty years, Higginson translated, wrote, commented about, and lectured on Japanese haiku and on haiku written in English and more than a score of other languages worldwide. He studied Japanese at Yale University, where he discovered haiku. He was a charter member of the Haiku Society of America, founded in 1968, and edited and published Haiku Magazine from 1971 to 1976. He was the recipient of a poetry fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Merit Book Award from the Haiku Society of America, and The Sora Award, honoring an HSA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the organization over time. His four books on haiku were published with major houses. Altogether, he wrote or edited more than 30 books and chapbooks of poems, translations, and commentary. Since the early 1970s, he made his primary living as a teacher of writing, working especially with young people. Penny Harter's poetry is published widely in journals and anthologies. Her most recent books include The Night Marsh, Along River Road, Lizard Light: Poems From the Earth, and Buried in the Sky. Her illustrated alphabestiary, The Beastie Book, is published by Shenanigan Books. She has won three poetry fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, as well as awards from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Poetry Society of America, and the first William O. Douglas Nature Writing Award for her work in the anthology American Nature Writing 2002. She is a poet-in-residence for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and has worked for many years as a teaching poet for the Council's Arts-in-Education program. She also travels to give workshops and lectures on poetry and creative writing.