About World Haiku Review

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Editors

Current issue, deadlines and details

Submission Guidelines

What is likely to be accepted and what is not

Categories of haiku

About the World Haiku Review,

the Magazine of the World Haiku Club

Please note that we have moved and this site will remain as an archive.

You can find the Summer 2021 issue and future issues here -

Http://worldhaikureview.wordpress.com

Please visit our new website.

EDITORS

Managing Editor & Acting-Editor-In-Chief: Susumu Takiguchi

Editor: Rohini Gupta

for queries or information, email :

Rohini Gupta at writingdays@gmail.com

Submission Guidelines

We look forward to seeing your work but please read the guidelines below.

What to Submit :

Haiku poems in English or in English translation, traditional or non-traditional on any topic, free or formal style, kigo or muki.

Up to ten poems which have not been published or are not considered for publication elsewhere.

The themes are only suggestions and you do not have to follow them.

As for other works relating to haiku (haibun, articles, essays, haiga or bookreviews on haiku etc.), just send in whatever you think would deserve publication in WHR. Once again, quality is the key.

If you have books which you wish to be reviewed, please send a review copy to susumu.takiguchi@btinternet.com or send a review copy by post to me at WHC HQ, Leys Farm, Rousham, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX25 4RA, UK.

How to Submit :

We accept submissions by email only. No snail mail please.

Submit in the body of the email and not as an attachment. We do not open attachments.

Keep it simple, no fanciful or decorative fonts please. Arial, 12 pt and left justification.

Please include your full name and the country in which you live.

In the subject line of the email put ‘Submission’ ,followed by what you are submitting and your surname.

For example : Submission – Haiku – surname.

Submit to both these addresses please :

susumu.takiguchi@btinternet.com

and

worldhaikureview@gmail.com

You will get an auto response from the worldhaikureview email. If you send them only to one address, they could get lost in the procedure. [Please do NOT send your submissions to Kala Ramesh as she resigned in March 2019]

Due to the volume of haiku we receive we do not send acceptance letters but all submissions will be acknowledged when they come in. When the issue goes up you will know if your haiku has been accepted.

Issues may have a theme which we will put up here. Do check just before the next issue. WHR publishes usually three times a year.

Publication rights

We ask for first publication rights, after which all rights revert to the author.

The copyright remains with the author but the author is required to mention the first publication in WHR on any subsequent publications.

We also reserve the right to publish in an anthology or collection.

The only criterion for selection is quality so please send us your finest work.

We will put selected haiku poems in either the Neo-classical, Shintai (new style) or Vanguard sections according to their characteristics. You need not worry about this classification. Just write whatever haiku your muse dictates, choose the best and send them to us.

We wish to continue to endeavor to present a unique haiku magazine which, while deeply rooted in tradition, is full of new ideas, innovative features or critical views. It will continue to aim at the highest standards and top quality as before.

Kengin to all,

Susumu Takiguchi

Managing Editor and Acting Editor-in-Chief, World Haiku Review

Chairman, The World Haiku Club

Indications for Haiku Selection

Those likely to be REJECTED

1 Hackneyed, clichés, imitative or derivative;

2 'So what?' haiku;

3 Too short to be good;

4 Made artificially vague or unintelligible (false 'yugen');

5 Gimmicky as opposed to real skills;

6 Bad English;

7 Template-like, or ticking-box-kind factory haiku;

Those likely to be ACCEPTED

1 New and/or original;

2 Have something to say;

3 Reflecting poetic truths, sincerity and honesty;

4 Coming from your heart and soul;

5 Based on your real and deep experiences;

6 If products of your imagination, true, fine and deep at that;

7 Transcending rules & regulations and yet good;

8 Good choice and order of words;

9 Have good rhythm;

10 Pictorial and/or musical and other sensory feel;

11 Have some sense of humour;

12 Reflecting the grasp of the essence of haiku (a sense of brevity, humour, somewhat detached view or karumi)

Indications for Selection of Other Works

Basically, many things about haiku would apply to them as well. Additionally:

Those likely to be REJECTED

1 Repeating what others have said many times;

2 Trapped by and subservient to rules and regulations;

3 Uncritical parroting of received views or conventional wisdom;

Those likely to be ACCEPTED

1 Critical (the more so, the better);

2 Innovative;

3 New contributions to the understanding of haiku;

The classifications of Haiku

Neo-Classical, Vanguard and Shintai

Some people are asking what on earth is Shintai haiku, or Vanguard haiku. The classification is just like the titles of a filing cabinet in order to avoid unnecessary polemics about what is and what is not haiku.

There are now so many different varieties of haiku that defining haiku seems to me to be almost like fighting a losing and pointless battle.

So much so that we had better say that “Haiku is haiku if the author says so.” All the rest is only one real and essential question: Is it then a good poem?

All haiku poems can conveniently be divided into three categories according to how traditional or radical they are.

The most traditional end is grouped together under the Neo-classical with stringent kigo or 5-7-5 rules.

The most radical (freest) end is classified as the Vanguard.

Anything between these two falls into the Shintai (or new-style).

The borderline cases can go either category depending on the perception of a haiku poet who creates or reads them. And whichever category they may go, it does not matter.