A Hundred Gourds Haiga Editorship

Although this is old news by now, I realized today that I never officially announced it on here on the blog aside from including it my news page with the publications at the beginning of last month.

A Hundred Gourds is a journal that I have admired since its beginning, and have been incredibly fond of the editorial team. Over the summer, I was informed that Melinda Hipple, one of the founders, was stepping down from her position as haiga editor to pursue the next adventure in life. Some things happened and one thing led to the next, and eventually it was decided that starting with issue 2.2 in March, I will be editing the haiga section of A Hundred Gourds. My first issue will be in March, but the submissions period is now.

From September 15th to December 15th is the submissions window for issue 2.2. You can look on the submissions page for more information. I’ve also included my little spiel below. Hope to see some of your work!

On the most fundamental level, I consider haiga to be the combination of an image and short poem. However, the poem should not explain the picture or vice versa. Rather, the poem should expand upon what’s presented in the image and vice versa. This expansion may play off an emotion, theme, or detail that’s presented in either or both the image and poem; the image/poem may also alter the audience’s perception of the poem/image. The best haiga do not always have an obvious connection between the poem or image, but resonate and create an experience that would not be possible by the poem or image alone—the two art forms come together to create something new when put together that would not exist otherwise. That being said, both the poem and image must be well crafted and be able to carry their own weight.

I accept the combination of image and haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka, and short haibun. Play is an important part of haikai to me, so I strongly encourage the use of all mediums for artwork including, but not limited to: photography, brushwork, collage (digital and handmade), pencil/ink sketches, and computer graphics. Please do not send haiga made with stock and/or creative commons images.

Haiga images must be JPEG/JPG format with a maximum height/width of 750 pixels including any decorative borders and a minimum height/width of 600 pixels. Include your signature as part of the artwork itself. Please make sure the text within the graphics is readable, and keep in mind we may resize images when necessary to fit our format. If a haiga is a collaboration, both parties must give permission to publish and include name and contact information.