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Confluence is a venue for emerging and innovative English-language haiku poets to showcase a representative sample of their work and receive readership and recognition. We will feature between 1 to 2 poet Fellows per issue, and publish no fewer than 15 poems per Fellow, so that the poet’s distinctive voice can be appreciated. 

The Fellows form a vital, global community of poets who collaborate and engage deeply with one another’s work. We are unlike other journals where you submit work, get published, and are done — each Fellow is invited and expected to participate actively in the community during the Fellowship year (August 2024 - May 2025). 

We are open for submissions from June 15 to July 15 and will make final decisions by the end of August. Fellows will be featured in monthly, online issues throughout the Fellowship year; we may also publish your work in social media, a future anthology, and other ways. 

Innovation

The journal intends to publish outstanding work that innovates the substance and form of haiku. Examples of innovation include:

• Themes underrepresented in the current literature, including underrepresented places, cultures, traditions, and perspectives
• Haiku as a vehicle for personal and societal transformation, such as for personal healing, social justice, and understanding the interdependence of all things
• Use of underrepresented dialects (e.g., African American English, Southern, Gen Z slang)
• Use of poetic devices in fresh ways
• Development of entirely new formal techniques (akin to rengay, split sequences, cherita, or blending haiku with free-verse poetry)
• Haiku especially intended to connect with new readers and writers, outside the current niche of haiku poets

Community

Upon selection, each Fellow is invited and expected to participate actively in the community during the Fellowship year (August 2024 - May 2025) in the following ways: 

• Read all of the other Fellows’ work. You will receive a pre-publication version.
• Write three brief commentaries (200 - 300 words each) on the work of another Fellow. Commentaries should appreciate, critique, and highlight what you find special about the work. We may publish your commentary as part of the issue featuring the other Fellow.
• Write a collaborative work (or works) on a theme.
• Participate in the virtual Fellowship Reading to be scheduled in spring 2025, where you’ll have the opportunity to read your work to a public audience.
• Contribute to the growth of the community by nominating future Fellows, spreading the word about the publication, and more.  

Over the course of the Fellowship year, we anticipate these activities will take about 10-20 hours. That is a significant time commitment; if that’s not for you, that’s ok—there are a wealth of more traditional journals. But we think intentionally cultivating community around haiku is important and joyful, and we want the journal to be a place where that happens in creative ways. We hope you’ll find these opportunities as exciting as we do. 

Submission Guidelines

Your submission must include:

• A brief cover message explaining why you want to become a Fellow. Please address how your work innovates the substance and form of haiku, and your interest in the Fellowship community.
• A substantial body of work, between 15-25 haiku. You may also optionally submit up to 3 haiku-related pieces such as haibun, haiga, or sequences.
  • Haiku may include traditional three-line haiku, monoku, senryu, and any other work that is recognizably haiku or derives organically from the traditions of haiku in English or other languages.
  • You may include work that has been previously published; such work should be accompanied by the place of first publication. You may also include haiku originally written in a language other than English; in that case, please include both the original and English translation, and credit the translator.
  • Arrange your work in the order in which you would like them to appear in the journal. Please submit your best work. The editors may publish your work as is, or we may edit the selection (subject to final approval by you); in all cases, if selected, we would publish at least 15 of your haiku in a single issue.
• Submit a short biography (up to 200 words) and a short essay on your philosophy of haiku (up to 400 words). Your essay may discuss what you think makes a good haiku, or what haiku has to offer to the world, or why you write haiku, or any other topic(s) reflecting your philosophy of haiku. 
• Submit a headshot or other photograph representing you, that is at least 800x800 pixels large, and if possible in a square format (otherwise we may crop it for you). 
• Confirm that you have read this entire page and commit to participating in the Fellowship community if selected.
• You retain the copyright to your work. By submitting, you confer on the journal and the editors a non-exclusive license to publish your work on our website and social media and in any other form, such as a possible future anthology. We are not a paying market.

If you have any questions, please email us at editor [at] confluencehaiku [dot] com.