11. A new year of confluence
As confluence enters its second year, we have much to celebrate and to share with our community.
First, deep bows of gratitude to everyone who made year one possible. To my departing co-editor, Antoinette Cheung, a distinguished haiku poet, steadfast and thorough editor, and the best colleague that one could ask for. To former co-editor Aidan Castle, also an exceptional poet who was vital to birthing the journal and edited with us in the first months, before departing the team to care for his newborn. To all the poet Fellows from year one, your outstanding work and your willingness to participate vibrantly in our experiments with community. And of course, to all of you, our whole community, for enjoying our work and giving it meaning. Thank you so much.
We hope the first year represented what confluence set out to be: a journal centered on innovation and community. We published 7 poets across 7 issues, giving each Fellow a standalone issue to feature a representative body of their work, to share their philosophy of haiku, and to receive commentary from their poet fellows. We invited the Fellows to participate in collaborative writing, while also engaging the whole community through the online comment feature and the live poetry reading, a recording of which we are happy to share below. We grew from 0 to 230 subscribers.
confluence is continuing into our second year. I'm so pleased to welcome three new Associate Editors for 2025-26: David Green, Matt Snyder, and Rowan Beckett Minor. David and Rowan were both Fellows last year, and I am so excited they've chosen to join the editorial team. This reflects what we hope the Fellowship to be: not merely a one-off publication, but a vibrant and lasting community. Matt is returning to confluence after being part of the initial group that birthed the idea in early 2024. I'm so happy to have him back on the team. I (Ryland Shengzhi Li) will be staying on the team and taking on the title Editor in Chief to reflect the leadership role I hold for now.
In year two, we look forward to making confluence an even richer and more beautiful experience. The team is still figuring out what this will look like. We'll definitely be experimenting with even more ways to build community, not only among the upcoming Fellowship cohort, but with our now Senior Fellows (the 2024-25 cohort) and all of you. If you have ideas for what you want see confluence do, please share via the "comment" button below, or reach us at editor@confluencehaiku.com.
For 2025-26, we will also expand the Fellowship to include not only haiku but also tanka. We feel this choice honors the historical and literary connection between these two major forms of Japanese short-form poetry. We also wish create opportunities for cross-pollination and innovation across the two forms and their poets. We remain committed to bringing to our readers the best emerging and innovative work, now in the overarching genre of Japanese short-form poems.
Finally, we are open for submissions! If you are a haiku or tanka poet who wishes to showcase a representative body of your work, and you also want to join a vibrant community of poets, we invite you to learn more about our Fellows program and to submit. Submissions will be open until August 20, 2025.
Ryland Li
Ryland Shengzhi Li, Editor-in-Chief
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