Allerton Park & Retreat Center

Experience Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Learn the history, aesthetics and craft of traditional haiku at Intro to English Language Haiku on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

Instructor Lee Gurga will lead students through a stress-free writing exercise to help them gain confidence to write their own poems. Students should be prepared to spend time outside (weather permitting), and should bring their favorite journal and writing utensil.

$20/person. Registration will close Oct. 2 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lee Gurga has served as president of the Haiku Society of America (HSA) and is currently the editor of the journal Modern Haiku and the Modern Haiku Press. His books of haiku, “In & Out of Fog” and “Fresh Scent” were awarded First Prize in the HSA Merit Book Awards. In addition, his “Haiku: A Poet’s Guide” was recognized by the HSA as the Best Book of Criticism for 2004.

His anthology, “Haiku 21”, co-edited with Scott Metz, was honored as Best Anthology by the HSA and with the Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award. Their anthology, “Haiku 2014” also received a Touchstone Award. 

His awards also include an Illinois Arts Council Poetry Fellowship, the Japan-America Society of Chicago's Cultural Achievement Award, and, in his work as a dentist, an American Red Cross Healthcare Heroes Award. 

Gurga lives in mischievous retirement with his wife Jan and three cats on the Sangamon River in Piatt County, Illinois.