On the First Thursday of each month from February to October 2016, we ran a haiku walkshop. Each was delivered in a different London neighbourhood and took place from 6.30pm-8.00pm, so some took place entirely in darkness, some entirely in daylight and some in twilight. Whether a novice or a haiku expert, this is a wonderful opportunity to join others having fun capturing London’s heritage in just 3 lines and 17 syllables.
- First Thursday each Month
- Walk, talk, recite, write haiku
- Foot powered poems
Why Thursday? so we could mark National Poetry Day which fell on Thursday 6th October in 2016, with a selection of haiku to celebrate life on foot and living in London.
What it entails is a free form walk in which you get to write and inspire others to write haiku. With the option to have them printed and published in a zine – as an anthology from each walk (see below). Download details of what happens on a First Thursday: Haiku_walkshop
Download current and past zines here – print on both sides of an A4 sheet the 2 page pdf:
- October’s haiku zine inspired by time travelling through Clerkenwell celebrating National Poetry Day Volume 1 of 2
- October’s haiku zine inspired by time travelling through Clerkenwell celebrating National Poetry Day Volume 2 of 2
- September’s haiku zine inspired by the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London – Monument
- August’s haiku zine created in the gardens of the Horniman Museum
- July’s haiku zine created in Deptford as part of NOW ‘Welcome Home” Festival
- June’s haiku zine created in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park to celebrate #LondonTreeWeek
- May’s haiku zine created from Kings Cross to Old St Pancras Churchyard
- April’s haiku zine created from Southwark Cathedral to the Globe – 2 volumes – Vol 1
- April’s haiku zine created from Southwark Cathedral to the Globe – 2 volumes – Vol 2
- March’s haiku zine created in the Barbican
- February’s haiku zine created in Greenwich
Then download this handy crib sheet to making your very own zine – all you need is a pair of scissors and the sheet of A4 paper on which you have printed the 2 page pdf.
We believe you can reveal a city through haiku – so we have reprised our 2011 Haiku encounter project – through which you can find out more about London’s local neighbourhoods. Do please submit a haiku to the Haiku encounter project (beta version).
- Being inspired to write haiku
- Novel – never done this before
Feverish haiku composition in the Horniman Gardens
- Thinking about familiar places in new ways
- The location was great and the group was such fun
- A beautifully creative way to spend an evening
What was the most surprising thing?
- I got into it – I was wary at first
- I had so much fun
- The variation and feeling achieved in such short verse
We Tweet haiku #575onfoot @museumofwalking
Walking in step with:
