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Haiku Across Borders: From Japan to the United States . . . and Back Again? Perspectives of an American Haiku Poet

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Mon, Jun 22 2015 - 6:00pm

Abigail Friedman, Haiku Poet; Author, The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan; Former U.S. Diplomat

Promotional support by the Japan Society of Northern California. Part of the Good Lit series underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Haiku, the 17-syllable poetic form from Japan, is today written by haiku poets worldwide - from 2011 Nobel Prize-winning Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, to American writer Richard Wright, to elementary school children across America. How has this traditional Japanese art form been understood – and misunderstood – as it made its way from Japan to America? How is haiku being written in Japan and America today and what can those two countries learn from each other? Abigail Friedman is a haiku poet, author and former diplomat posted at the U.S. Embassy in Japan. She won first prize at the Mainichi International Haiku Contest in Japan in 2014. Firmly planted in the worlds of haiku in Japan and North America, she will share her unique perspective.