DailyHaiku - A Daily Shot Of Zen

Laurie MacFayden has lived in Edmonton, Canada since 1984. When she's not pushing words around the page she's often throwing paint at a canvas or arguing with her inner 11 year-old. She is a frequent reader on the world famous Raving Poets' open-mike stage. In addition to wordsmithing, she is obsessed with string theory and time travel.

Aaron Marko has been disturbing the peace since he was born. Presently, he resides in Vancouver, Canada where he is plotting to overthrow the Canadian government. He can be summed up thus: "In a word, Aaron J. Marko is fucking crazy. The SOB tried stabbing me to death with a mechanical pencil once. I'll never turn my back on that bastard again." -Craig Sampress

Ray Rasmussen became interested in haiku after photographing the Kurimoto japanese Garden. He searched for Asian poetry to post with the images on a web site, found haiku and settled into writing in the haibun style (prose plus haiku). He is haibun editor of the World Haiku Review and Managing Editor of Contemporary Haibun Online. Ray teaches haiku & haibun composition. Ray has had his haiku published in Heron's Nest, Simply Haiku, Tiny Words, Contemporary Haibun Online, and Haiku Harvest. He spends most of his time writing, doing photography, and hiking Canada's mountain parks and Utah's Canyonlands. In a former life, he dreamt he was a university professor. His website is: www.raysweb.net. His email is ray@raysweb.net.

Kelly Shepherd's poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. His chapbook Circumambulations was published by Beyond Borders Publishing in 2002. A Canadian ex-pat, he is a contributing writer and monthly columnist for the Gwangju News, in South Korea, where he works as an English teacher. When not at work, Kelly is probably either reading, hiking, or looking at birds through green binoculars.

Mingus Tourette drives a pink ambulance. He is the author of nunt, and The Unclean. He is a founding father of The Roar, and the editor of the gonzo Daily Mingus. He started the Write The Nation Tour in 2004, and has relentlessly performed and promoted poetry from Vancouver to New York. Tourette lives in Edmonton. He is no longer married and has no children, to the best of his knowledge.

Thomas Trofimuk's first novel, The 52nd Poem, was published by Great Plains Publications in the spring of 2002. The book went on to win a few awards including the 2003 Alberta Novel of the Year and the City of Edmonton Book Prize. A second novel, Doubting Yourself to the Bone, is set to be published in April 2006, from Cormorant Books. Thomas is a founding father of the Raving Poets movement, and festival director of The Roar, a spoken word festival set to smash into the Edmonton literary scene September 21, 22 and 23, 2006. He’s a regular reviewer for the Edmonton Journal book page, and his poems and short stories have been published in literary magazines and journals across Canada, and broadcast on CBC radio.

Nicole Pakan, Co-Editor, DailyHaiku, is an active member of the Edmonton poetry and art communities as a poet, painter, candlesti... er... um, printmaker, potter and photographer. By day she masquerades as the communication manager for a non-profit organization; by night she can be caught flirting with words—frequenting the Raving Poets and Stroll of Poets readings. Nicole participates annually in the Roar Spoken Word Festival, the Edmonton Poetry Festival, the Edmonton Stroll of Poets Haven Series, and the Cortex multimedia exhibit. Her recent publication credits include filling Station, Other Voices, the Stroll of Poets Anthology, and Notebook Magazine. She may be contacted online at DailyHaiku.

Patrick M. Pilarski, Co-Editor, DailyHaiku, lives in Edmonton with his oolong tea and far too many tea pots. Patrick's poetry and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in journals in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Japan, including PRISM international, The Antigonish Review, Other Voices, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Simply Haiku, Contemporary Haibun Online, Roadrunner, Ribbons, Asahi Haikuist Network, Chrysanthemum, Haibun Today, White Lotus, Wisteria, Modern English Tanka, broadcast on CBC Radio One, and on the CD Raving Poets - Remixed. His first full-length collection of short-form poetry, Huge Blue (2009), is forthcoming from Leaf Press, and he is the author of one chapbook of experimental haiku and haibun: Five Weeks (2007). Patrick may be contacted online at DailyHaiku or (for non-DailyHaiku matters) at Pilarski.ca.

Michael Gravel, Past-Editor and Founder, DailyHaiku, is a writer based in Edmonton, Alberta. He's a founder and the frontman of Edmonton’s Raving Poets, and co-founder of The Roar Spoken Word Festival. He is a freelance writer, web designer, and professional presenter. In December 2007, his life was nearly ended by a pulmonary embolism. In response he authored the chapbook, The Fast Places (Red Nettle, 2008). He lives in a wee house with his wife, stepdaughter, and two incorrigible hounds. He lives to write, code, and spend time with his family.