VILÉN,
FLORENCE: lives in Sweden, works in adult
education,
teaching and writing. Interested in Japanese
haiku
for some time, she has recently become interested
in
Western haiku. Among her other interests are many
kinds
of literature and the history of great cultures. Her
haiku
and tanka have been published in still, The Heron's
Nest
and Haiku Harvest along with other poems in Templar
Phoenix.
Florence
Vilen
WAKAN,
NAOMI BETH: a writer and artist, Naomi has
written
over twenty books including Haiku Bag
(Lightsmith
Publishing) and Haiku: one breath poetry
(Heian
International). The latter has been a choice of
the
Canadian Children's Book Centre and was also
selected
by the American Library Association for its
2001
catalogue of Popular Paperbacks for Young
Adults.
Naomi is a member of Haiku Canada and
contributes
frequently to their newsletters. One of her
haiku
received honourable mention of the 1999 Betty
Drevniok
Haiku Competition. She lives on Gabriola Island,
B.C.
with her husband, the sculptor, Elias Wakan.
Naomi
Wakan Website: The
Art & Work of Naomi Wakan
WARD,
LINDA JEANNETTE: has been writing tanka,
haiku
and haibun for about five years. Her work is widely
published
in journals and anthologies internationally.
Two
of her tanka were included in TANKA SPLENDOR
awards
(1998 & 1999), and she was recently awarded
second
and third prizes in the Tanka Society of
America's
annual contest. She also edited FULL MOON
TIDE,
THE BEST OF TANKA SPLENDOR 1990-1999.
Linda
Ward
WATSKY,
PAUL: Paul’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals,
several
issues of The Red Moon Anthology, and A New Resonance:
Emerging
Voices in English Language Haiku. He co-authored Four
Trails,
Four Seasons: Point Reyes Rengay (Jopa, 2000) with John
Thompson,
and in February of this year, a chapbook of longer poems,
More
Questions Than Answers, was published by tel-let. In 1996 and
1997
he was awarded Second Prize in The Haiku Society of America's
Gerald
Brady senryu competition. He lives and works in San Francisco.
Paul
Watsky
WEEKLEY,
J. MARCUS: currently lives in Hattiesburg,
MS
where he is a graduate student at The Center for Writers
at
The University of Southern Mississippi. Marcus has lived
in
over six states, three countries, and had only six cats in his
entire
life. He enjoys sculpting, and has been interested in haiku
since
he was fifteen but didn't get serious about writing the form
until
a little over a year ago.Marcus has work forthcoming in
bottle
rockets and The Penwood Review and has been published
in
Poetry Motel, Black Ink, Christian Poet, and several other
journals.
J.
Marcus Weekley
WELCH,
MICHAEL DYLAN. A writer and poet originally
from
Watford, England. He has lived in Ghana, Australia,
and
Canada, and now lives Foster City, California, where
he
is a staff editor for IDG Books Worldwide, publisher of
the
yellow "For Dummies" computer books. From 1989
to
1997 he edited the quarterly haiku journal Woodnotes,
and
he now edits Tundra, a journal of short poetry. He
is
also editor and publisher of Press Here haiku books,
with
18 titles in print. In 1997 he served as first vice
president
of the Haiku Society of America. He co-founded
the
biannual Haiku North America conferences that began
in
1991, and in 1996 he co-founded the American Haiku
Archives
at the California State Library in Sacramento.
The
1998 edition of Poet's Market features an interview
with
him regarding haiku poetry and his new publication,
Tundra.
He has been writing haiku for 20 years, and is
pleased
to share moments of keen perception with others.
Michael
Welch Website: CAPTAIN
HAIKU
WESTON,
JOANNA M.: born in England, now lives in Prince
Albert,
SK Canada. Married to an accountant, Robert, they
Have
3 sons: Andrew, Jon and Mark; and 3 grandchildren:
Shelby,
Steven,Emma and one cat, Kelly. Joanna, presently
renovating
one house and one garden, obtained an M.A. from
the
University of British Columbia and her work is published
in
several anthologies. Published in Canada, U.S.A., U.K. etc.,
her
work appears in CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES, CONVOL-
VULUS,
ENDLESS MOUNTAINS REVIEW, GREEN’S MAGAZINE,
PRAIRIE
FIRE, SISTERSONG, SPIN and others. Author of the
following
chapbooks: ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES, 1987;
CUERNAVACA
DIARY, 1990; SEASONS, 1993; ALL SEASONS,
1996
(2nd edition 1997). Joanna also reviews poetry books and
is
presently renovating one house and one garden.
Joanna
M. Weston
WIGGINS,
DON: recently retired from the United States Air
Force
and now lives in central North Carolina. A newcomer
to
writing poetry, his poems have appeared in The Haiku
Corner
and Sijo West. Don
Wiggins
WILSON,
BILLIE: born in Indiana (August 1, 1941), She
moved
to Juneau, Alaska, on a gray, windy, rainy day in
November
1962. Billie says, "I knew I was home when I walked
to
the airplane's exit door and saw my first mist-shrouded
mountains.
People behind me had to wait while I breathed in the
freshest
air on the planet." She and her husband Gary share
eight
grandchildren. She is semi-retired, taking on the occasional
writing
contract. She states, "My real joy is creative writing. I
knew
in fourth grade that I'd be a writer." Her articles (self-help
inspirational,
true-life drama, etc.) have been published in small
magazines.
Her poetry is included in a number of Alaska anthologies
and
small magazines. Her haiku has appeared in Modern Haiku,
Frogpond,
The Heron's Nest, Hummingbird, Poetry in the Light/
Haiku
Light, Haiku Headlines, Temps Libres, and several other
journals.
Her first haibun will be included in "stone frog" Anthology,
Vol
II, Red Moon Press. She is a member of the Haiku Society
of
America, the Alaska Haiku Society, and the World Haiku Club.
She
says, "I've been writing haiku-shaped poems since the late 1960s
and
learned only a few years ago that I had almost as much to unlearn
as
to learn about real haiku." Billie
Wilson
WOODRUFF,
PHILLIP: has lived most of his life in
Colorado.
He enjoys spending time in the Rocky Mountains
and
writing poetry. His poems have appeared in Templar
Phoenix
Literary Review (Spring 2000, Summer 2000) Wild
And
Whirling Words, and Inscape.
YOUNG,
LAURA: lives in rural north Florida. She and
Neca
Stoller earned the Grand Prize in the Haiku Society
of
America 1997 Renku Contest for their collaborative work
"The
Turkey's Wattle." Laura's work has appeared in
Modern
Haiku, Woodnotes, and Lynx and forthcoming
in
Frogpond and Tundra. Laura
Young