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Haiku in Belgium (French speaking region)

 

The situation is unfortunately simple. Haiku is quite unknown in the French speaking part of Belgium. Belgium is divided in two parts. The Flemish and Northern region and the Walloon region are very separated and there are quite non exchange between them.  Each region is culturally linked to their neighbours : The Netherlands and France.

At the difference of the Flemish region, there are no haiku associations, circles, meetings, or editors in the French speaking part. We don't have even an editor for the Japanese Classics. It is understable because we are too much linked to the French books market to have our own market.

At the Poetry House of our Community, they ignore even the meaning of the term haiku...

I think they are less than 20 haiku writers. Some of them publish on their good internet sites and blogs. We never met us. It was a poetry magazine accepting haiku for 2 years but it is closed now.

Haiku books are very rare in bookstores. We find, if we have chance, Classics Japanese, and I found only three present books of international haiku in six years.


Serge Tomé