News Release—Changes in Editorial Staff

Dear Haibun Aficionados:

After 15 years, the team that has brought you contemporary haibun, and its sister publication, contemporary haibun online, has decided it’s time to move on after our next (April 2014) issue. Bruce Ross has been with me since the first volume of ch in 1999, and Ken Jones joined us for the third volume. Shortly after that (2004), thanks to the technical expertise of Ray Rasmussen and Dave Russo, contemporary haibun online became a fixture on the haibun scene. It’s been a great run and we’ve taken a lot of pleasure throughout the process.

This is not the end of these haibun mainstays, however. We’re pleased to announce that beginning in April, cho will be taken up by a new group of editors: Marjorie Buettner, Lynne Rees and editor-in-chief Bob Lucky. They will be making a few changes, I’m sure, but for the most part you can expect cho to continue to be what it has been in the past: a premier online outlet for the best haibun being written in English.

And under the new editorship of Jeffrey Woodward, contemporary haibun will continue to glean and publish the best haibun from cho and other sources.

Thank you for your support during all these years. I believe together we’ve done a very fine thing: ensured the continuation of a nascent genre that is now part of the English-language literary world. We know that our successors will continue this important work, and look forward to your, and our, further explorations of the genre.

Jim Kacian
Editor-in-Chief
contemporary haibun
contemporary haibun online