Michael Dylan Welch

Michael Dylan Welch is originally British, but grew up in England, Ghana, Australia, and Canada. He lived in Winnipeg for many years, in central Alberta, briefly in Vancouver, and currently lives near Seattle, Washington. He learned about haiku in 1976, in high school in Alberta, and has been writing them ever since. He joined Haiku Canada in 1988. Michael has edited and published many dozens of books relating to haiku, including Becoming a Haiku Poet. His haiku have been chiseled in stone in New Zealand, printed on balloons in Los Angeles, and performed at the Baseball Hall of Fame and for the Empress of Japan. He was keynote speaker for the 2013 Haiku International Association conference, and in 2012 one of his translations (with Emiko Miyashita) appeared on the back of 150,000,000 United States postage stamps. Michael has won first place in the Drevniok, Henderson, Brady, and Tokutomi contests, among others, and his work has been translated into at least twenty languages. Michael served for many years as vice president of the Haiku Society of America and is active with the Haiku Northwest group (www.haikunorthwest.org). He also cofounded Haiku North America, the American Haiku Archives, and the Seabeck Haiku Getaway. Michael founded the Tanka Society of America (www.tankasocietyofamerica.org) and National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com) and maintains their websites. He is also president of the Redmond Association of Spokenword and curator, since 2006, of SoulFood Poetry Night. Michael is a frequent speaker at poetry conferences and related events, and his own website, devoted mostly to haiku, is www.graceguts.com.