This Wednesday, November 3, 7pm at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia’s Moonstone Arts Center hosts Camden’s Nick Virgilio Haiku Association for the launch of our second anthology, Nick Virgilio Writers House Poetry 2020: Volume 2: Haiku In Action.
Haiku in Action, conceived of by Dr. Savannah Cooper-Ramsey and edited by Warren Longmire and Sean Lynch, began as the online literary journal of NVHA in 2020 offering a safe and equitable space to practice haiku poetry in conversation at the onset of pandemic and quarantine. Haiku in Action honors the legacy of Camden native, Nick Virgilio, radio D.J., military veteran, and internationally renowned haiku poet. Democratizing haiku and related short form poetry, the organization solicits contributions on social media and the journal receives hundreds of submissions weekly, bringing together voices from all over the world, often on social justice topics through the contemplative and presencing practice of haiku.
Published by the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association’s Upright Remington Press, the anthology collects the Haiku in Action journal’s 2020 winners along with student winners of the Haiku Society of America’s Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku/Senryu Competition from 2020 and 2021. Also included in the anthology are the Haiku in Action prompts from 2020, original Nick Virgilio poems, short essays, and a lesson on writing haiku by renowned teacher Tom Painting.
The anthology is perfect for lovers of haiku who want to read poems focusing on the events of 2020, including the pandemic and protests, from an international and diverse range of both established and emerging poets.
The release party features readings of haiku from Warren Longmire, lead editor of the volume, as well as editor Sean Lynch, Rocky Wilson, NVHA board members, and local poets. Copies of the anthology will be on sale at the reading. The anthology, along with the Writers House Anthology Volume 1, and other books about Virgilio and haiku are also available on our website and from Amazon.
Learn more about NVHA and submit poems to Haiku in Action on our website: www.nickvirgiliohaiku.org and on our social media:
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickVirgilioHaiku
On Instagram: @NickVirgilioWritersHouse
On Twitter: @NVWritersHouse
View our recent press coverage:
From Noah Zucker at TAP into Camden on our annual poetry celebration at Virgilio’s grave in Harleigh Cemetery and recent activities From Phaedra Trethan in the Courier Post on NVHA’s expanded mission during the pandemic and her coverage of the opening of the Writers House.
And coverage from Peter Crimmins with WHYY when the Writers House Opened a few years ago:
About the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association: The Nick Virgilio Haiku Association is a 501c3 in Camden that operates the Nick Virgilio Writers House, home of Mighty Writers Camden. The organization runs programs in support of poetry, literacy and food insecurity for adults and children, and an annual youth contest with the Haiku Society of America that draws thousands of scholarship competitors from around the world. www.nickvirgiliohaiku.org