Ann Atwood

Ann Atwood, a native of California, USA, is a poet and the author and photographer of many distinguished books and films. Her work has been widely acclaimed. She studied photography at the Art Center School in Los Angeles and for many years had her own studio. Jane Reichhold says: "Ann Atwood began her prolific outpouring of haiku works, in books, film and in translations. The first of her three books published by Charles Scribner's Sons, was Haiku: The Mood of the Earth, in 1971 which was reissued in soft cover in 1980. Combining her vast talents in both photography and haiku, Atwood began a legend that no other woman has been able to follow. With the enduring popularity of her evocative photos she wrote haiku, that from the beginning were of such high quality, there is still deep pleasure in reading them and very much to learn from her work. It was no surprise that Scribner's printed My Own Rhythm. An Approach to Haiku, in 1973 and in 1977, brought out another edition of her haiku and photographs, Haiku-Vision in Poetry and Photography. In addition, Ann Atwood made four films for Lyceum Productions, La Puente, Ca, as writer and photographer between the years, 1971-1978. Another dimension to her work is her steadfast involvement in translating the haiku of Gunther Klinge from German to English. Atwood selected and translated his haiku for Charles Tuttle Company's two slipcover editions, Drifting with the Moon, and Day into Night. In 1982, Atwood and Gunther Klinge published a book of her photos with his haiku, Im Kreis des Jahres. Totally faithful to furthering his work, she sends submissions of her translations of his work in to the magazines every four months; as recently as last month. Of the other haiku written and published prior to Ann Atwood, there is a strong possibility that if they were submitted to North American haiku magazines today, 99% of them would be rejected on the basis of being "not haiku" or not meeting the current styles and standards. Only one woman who began publishing in the early 70's is still active in the field. Ann Atwood's haiku written twenty years ago are indistinguishable from her most recent poems seen and admired for their high quality in the national magazines. She, and she alone, began great and has remained the most constant, prolific writer of excellent haiku". Source: http://www.ahapoetry.com/twchp2.htm