I’ve always loved trains (the lonely call of a whistle in the night, the view of passing landscape from a train seat, the rocking rattle of an overnight berth, conversations with strangers in the dining car…), and have been thinking for some time about putting together an anthology of haiku about trains. Well, the project is finally getting on track.
You are invited to submit haiku, tanka, rengay, and haibun with a train theme (including experiences and imagery related to steam trains, bullet trains, cross-country journeys, commuter trains, freight trains, the passing landscape, human interaction on trains, internal journeys, etc).
Please submit:
– up to 20 haiku
– up to 5 tanka
– up to 3 rengay
– up to 3 haibun
Unpublished and previously published work will be considered. Please include submissions in the body of the email, and provide previous publication credits, as well as your name, email and postal address. Please put “train anthology submission” and your name in the subject line of your email.
Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2018 [Submissions now closed. Info on upcoming book will be posted in spring/summer 2020]
If you’re coming to this blog for the first time and would like more information about who I am, I write haiku and other poetry, short non-fiction, and novels for children (my website: jacquelinepearce.ca). My haiku, tanka and haibun have been published in a variety of journals and anthologies, and two of my haiku recently co-won the League of Canadian Poets inaugural haiku contest. I also co-edited The Jade Pond, a collection of haiku by the Vancouver Haiku Group published earlier this year, and I’m a co-judge for the 2018 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational.
You can read something about my family’s train legacy here.
May 19, 2018 at 1:08 pm |
Sounds like it will be a good anthology. Do you have a title for it yet?
May 19, 2018 at 1:32 pm |
Thanks, Greg. No title yet (hoping it will emerge as I read through the submissions)
May 30, 2018 at 3:13 pm |
Please confirm contributor’s payment of one copy of the printed book 😊
June 1, 2018 at 11:18 am |
I’ve received more submissions than expected, and in order to include as many of the best poems as possible (which means more poets than expected), I might not be able to provide complimentary contributor copies. I won’t know for sure until everything is confirmed (possibly in the fall).
January 18, 2019 at 9:28 pm |
Is this still going to press? If so, when? Will you let the poets know whether their haiku was accepted? ~nan
January 18, 2019 at 10:34 pm |
I’m still in the process of making selections and will be sending everyone who submitted an update. I’ll be contacting poets individually if their haiku is accepted. Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions about your submissions.
February 21, 2019 at 3:10 pm |
Have all (train) book selections been made at this point? TY.
March 13, 2020 at 2:12 pm |
Hi Roberta. Sorry for my delayed response (I just saw your comment now). Yes, the selections have been made and I’m working on finalizing everything to go to press soon. Two of your haiku are included.