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In addition to new works of flash fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and prose poems, we are especially interested in original, unpublished haibun stories and tanka tales. That is, pieces that include fictional elements as well as “factional,” works that use story-telling techniques such as dialogue and plot, and that incorporate more embellishment than journalistic reportage, while also using techniques of haibun and/or tanka prose.
We say “Amen” to these words from Bob Lucky, former content editor at Contemporary Haibun Online (CHO):
“...as an editor, I read a lot of haibun that is just one damn fact after another. Memoir and autobiography are the trickiest bits of nonfiction around because in order to tell the Truth you have to lie. There is artifice in art.”
—Quoted with permission from “Random Praise: Tim Gardiner’s ‘Skeleton Wood’” (CHO, July 2017)
So you can get an idea of what we’re looking for, we offer a range of examples below. These works (13 haibun stories, five tanka tales, and a couple of hybrids) include various degrees of artfulness to tell their Truths:
General Guidelines for Submissions of Haibun and Tanka Prose:
Electronic submissions only, via our Submittable page.
Maximum word count per piece is a thousand, including the title, prose, and haiku, senryu, or tanka verses, as well as any author footnotes. Multiple haiku, senryu, and/or tanka within a single piece are acceptable, even encouraged.
We also encourage experimentation and stretching of conventional boundaries; after all, haibun and tanka prose, fluid hybrids by nature, are “terra incognita—vast and only marginally explored” by writers working in the English language (Jeffrey Woodward, editor of Haibun Today).
However, even unconventional works benefit from refining and polishing. In fact, highly polished pieces stand the best chance of winning prizes and publication in MacQueen’s Quinterly.
In other words, we look forward to reading your best work. Thanks so much!
Exceptional works may be nominated for The Best Small Fictions, Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, and/or Best Microfiction. We’re thrilled to report that:
Tips and Resources:
If you’re new to haibun, then you may be surprised to learn that:
The following resources include philosophies and how-to tips:
For those who prefer a comprehensive, more technical discussion of the various forms of haibun, including numerous examples of formats:
Finally, a summarized history of prose-with-poetry works in Classical, Modern, and Contemporary Japanese literary traditions; article includes references and list of suggested readings:
What English-Language Haibun Poets Can Learn From Japanese Practices: the Mysteries of an Almost-Heard Birdsong First Autumn Abroad
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