About THF
The impetus behind The Haiku Foundation was the realization that English-language haiku had done a poor job of promoting itself in two important venues: in gathering, interpreting, honoring and making available its comprehensive history, and in reaching beyond a coterie audience to establish its importance as a literary vehicle in the present and future. As a result, THF has two primary missions:
1) to archive our first century of English-language haiku; and
2) to expand possibilities for our second.
Projects
We have identified several projects within each of these objectives. In the first instance, we are working towards a complete English-language haiku archival library with an eye toward making it available to scholars and poets for research and scholarship; simultaneously we are preparing an online virtual library that will be available to all; and we have plans for a haiku biographical encyclopedia. In the second we are creating a scholarly journal to heighten interest in haiku studies; we plan to host, with major media co-sponsors, truly comprehensive and international competitions for poems, journals and books; we are seeking mainstream outlets to connect with the haiku world and by so doing broaden both.
And this is only the beginning. Our long-term goal is to be the resource center for the future projects that will enhance the understanding and practice of haiku around the world. We invite your ideas and participation in The Haiku Foundation.
