about me...
David G. Lanoue
I'm a translator of Japanese haiku, a teacher of English and world literature, a writer of haiku and "haiku novels."
I earned my B.A. at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska (1976), then went on to complete the M.A. & Ph.D. in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1977, 1981). My dissertation topic was musical symbolism 14th-century English, French and Spanish poetry. Since 1981, I've been teaching English at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, where I hold the rank of professor.
In 1982 I discovered haiku. I began studying Japanese and visited Japan in 1987 and '88, working on a book of translations of the poet Issa. To further this project, in summer of 1989 I participated in a three-week National Endowment for the Humanities workshop on Literary Translation, held at the University of California-Santa Cruz. The book appeared in 1991: Issa: Cup-of-Tea Poems (Asian Humanities Press). I returned to Japan in 2001, '03 and '07, continuing my translations and study of Issa.
Over the years, I've published haiku and haiku criticism in Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Bottle Rockets, Mayfly, Moonset, Ginyu (Tokyo), Jointure (Paris), Poesia (Milan), Literaturen Vestnik (Bulgaria), FreeXpresSion (Australia), Presence (England) ... and other places.
In May of 2000, with the help of my son Bryan and Bart Everson of Xavier University, I launched my website, The Haiku of Kobayashi Issa, the most comprehensive English-language Issa site on the Web.
I'm an active member of the Haiku Society of America and a former director of the World Haiku Association. In 2002 I co-founded, with Johnette Downing, the New Orleans Haiku Society.
So far, I've published three of a series of haiku novels: Haiku Guy (2000), Laughing Buddha (2004) and Haiku Wars (2009).
In 2003 I had the privilege of editing The Haiku Society of America's Members' Anthology. My critical book on Issa and Buddhism, Pure Land Haiku: The Art of Priest Issa, came out in 2004.
Svetla Hristova's Bulgarian translation of Haiku Guy appeared in May, 2007, published by Iztok-Zapad Press. On May 23, I gave a talk on Issa and participated in a book signing in Sofia. During the same trip, on June 19, I presented a paper on "The Spiritual Poetry of Kobayashi Issa" in Milan.
In October 2007, I gave a lecture on Issa and Pure Land Buddhism at the Higashi Honganji temple in Tokyo. Later that month, I visited Belgrade to celebrate the publication of Saša Vazic's Serbian translation of Haiku Guy.
In June 2008 I gave a talk on "America's First Haiku Masters: Kerouac and Wright," at a conference on "World Haiku: A Challenge to the 21st Century," held at South West University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. A few days later, in Sofia, I participated in a bilingual reading and book signing of the Bulgarian translation of Laughing Buddha—at the Helikon Bookstore.
I celebrated the publication of the French translation of Haiku Guy with readings and book signings in Brest and Rennes (Bretagne, France), in December 2008.
In May 2009 Keiji Minato and I gave bilingual readings of Haiku Guy in English and Japanese in Kyoto and Tokyo. I also was interviewed by Sumi Zushi on NHK radio's "World Interactive" program, broadcast on June 7. Listen to it here. Copy and paste the following into your browser's address window:
http://haikuguy.com/part1.mp3
http://haikuguy.com/part2.mp3
http://haikuguy.com/part3.mp3
http://haikuguy.com/part4.mp3
August 7, 2009, I led a workshop on "Reading the New Haiku" at the Haiku North America conference in Ottawa, Canada.
September 20, 2009, I gave a reading to launch my third "haiku novel," Haiku Wars, at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans.
May 2010 marked the tenth year anniversary of the Haiku of Kobayashi Issa website. Haiku poets in New Orleans and Issa's readers from around the world joined in an online celebration.
June 7, 2010: Svetla Hristova and I gave a bilingual reading at the Helikon Bookstore in Sofia to launch the Bulgarian version of Haiku Wars. One of Bulgaria's leading literary critics gave it a glowing review on a television program, Zona na chetene.