International poetry celebration launches 2008 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival giving budding and seasoned poets a chance to honour the city’s 36,000 cherry trees

VANCOUVER, BC (Oct. 22, 2007) – The third annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (VCBF) launches the 2008 Haiku Invitational, inviting poets from around the world to submit one unpublished English-language haiku on the theme of cherry blossoms.

The Haiku Invitational is the first of many VCBF events celebrating the return of spring and the exuberance of the blossoming of Vancouver’s 36,000 cherry trees. Inspired by the tradition of viewing cherry blossoms in Japan, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is uniquely West Coast. Other VCBF events include Plein-Air Blossom Painting, BC Blossom Watch Photo Contest & Exhibition, Cherry Jam Downtown Concert, Blossom Trolley Tours, Tree Talks and Walks, and Bike the Blossoms.

In the previous contest, the VCBF Haiku Committee selected winning haiku from 1,132 haiku submitted from 32 different countries. In 2008, haiku will once again receive special recognition in the following categories: Best Canadian, Best American, Best International, and Best Youth Haiku (age 18 and under), as well as in a new category, Best B.C. Haiku, which recognizes our province’s poets.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of TransLink, Greater Vancouver’s transportation authority, selected haiku will again be featured on 500 buses and skytrains during March and April. Top selected haiku will be inscribed in a permanent stone monument, along with the 2006 and 2007 top poems, and placed among the new cherry tree plantings at VanDusen Botanical Garden. The Haiku Rock, donated by Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply, will be unveiled this spring at the garden during the festival (March 25 through April 30, 2008) with Vancouver’s inaugural poet laureate, George McWhirter. The festival is grateful to all festival sponsors and the Canadian Society for Asian Arts for their continued support of the haiku program.

“I’m delighted that the shortest literary form is creating such a big response in Vancouver, and I am touched that our city’s cherries are inspiring writers from around the world to share their passion for our cherry trees,” says Linda Poole, festival director.

The festival branches out this spring with educational support materials online with a teacher study guide on how to teach haiku. There will be a limited number of school workshops led by distinguished B.C. poets Naomi Beth Wakan and Alice Frampton at VanDusen Botanical Garden to create a Haiku Garden of illustrated haiku.

To submit a haiku to the 2008 VCBF Haiku Invitational, visit the festival website at www.vcbf.ca. The deadline for submissions is December 19, 2007.

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Contact: Greg Descantes - 604.646.3564 Linda Poole – 604.767.9044

BACKGROUND: THE HAIKU INVITATIONAL inspired by the cherry tree

What is a haiku?

A haiku is a poem that captures a scene or experience in just a few words, suggesting the depth and intensity of the moment. Haiku use concrete images to capture this moment of intuition. Above all, haiku try to imply the emotion of the poet’s experience without stating it.

What are some of the basics of writing haiku?

Haiku are plain-speaking poems where every word counts. Try to avoid using abstract or conceptual words. Use sensory images to convey experience about sights, sounds, smells, or tastes.

Does a haiku have to have 17 syllables?

In Japan, the haiku is traditionally written in a single vertical line with sound symbols arranged in a 5-7-5 rhythm, but Japanese words tend to be longer than their English counterparts, so literal translations end up as English poems with fewer than 17 syllables. While some haiku poets writing in English do follow the 5-7-5 pattern with wonderful results, most view the haiku as a poem in three lines of 17 or fewer syllables.

What else should I know about the form of a haiku?

Most haiku contain a kigo, or a word or short phrase that places their poem in a season of the year. For example, if you use the word “daffodil,” the reader will know you are describing a scene in spring. The kigo links a haiku to the deeper rhythms of nature. In addition, many haiku have two parts, separated by a word or punctuation mark to create tension and resolution, or an unstated relationship between two images.

2008 VCBF Haiku Invititational Judges

VCBF’s three Haiku Committee judges are associated with Pacifi-kana, a regional group of Haiku Canada and British Columbia’s leading English-language haiku organization. Carole MacRury, Michael Dylan Welch and Edward Zuk are active poets, teachers, and scholars of haiku, with publication experience in numerous journals and anthologies worldwide.

Submission deadline:

The deadline for receiving haiku submissions is December 19, 2007. For information on submitting your haiku, visit www.vcbf.ca.