In 2004, the Haiku Society of America awarded Francine Porad its highest service honor, the Sora Award, named for Basho’s faithful companion, Sora. Connie Hutchison prepared the following notes about Francine for the award presentation, and the award was given in December of 2004—as a surprise to Francine—at a national meeting of the Haiku Society of America held at the Redmond Regional Library, in Redmond, Washington. 

Francine Porad’s artistic career began with painting, and branched out to writing in the 1980s. She found the most success and fastest “turnaround” with haiku editors, which suited her very flexible and prolific tendencies. In the past twenty years, she has continued to paint, exhibit, and win awards while also achieving recognition for haiku, senryu, tanka, and renku. She regularly includes her visual art with each haiku collection. She holds juried membership in the Northwest Watercolor Society, Women Painters of Washington, and National League of American Pen Women (Arts and Letters). She was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women Painters of Washington in 2004.

Francine’s sketches were part of the Haiku Society of America Northwest regional anthology, To Find the Words, which won the society’s First Place Merit Book Award in 2000. This anthology was dedicated to Francine Porad “whose joy in writing haiku became the magnet for a congenial, supportive writing group and whose leadership, generosity and innovation continue to inspire us.”

The group she organized in September, 1988, called itself Haiku Northwest. The inaugural meeting at the Bellevue Regional Library featured British Columbia guests anne mckay, Beth Jankola, and Anna Vakar. Meetings continued every other month at the library or at Francine’s home on Mercer Island. In the early ’90s, the group became affiliated with HSA. Mary Fran Meer was the first Northwest regional coordinator. The group now meets monthly, has attracted new members, and has published several regional anthologies.

Francine’s early success led her to expand the available markets for haiku by taking over Brussels Sprout from Alexis Rotella in May, 1988. With Connie Hutchison as associate editor, Francine published this international journal of haiku and art until 1995. She influenced numerous writers with her encouragement and supportive criticism, both as editor and friend. Many of them contributed to an online tribute to her in 2003.

As president of the Haiku Society of America in 1993 and 1994, she encouraged national and international discourse and friendships among haiku practitioners. She presented workshops at the Haiku Canada Weekend (1992) and the Haiku North America conference (1993, 1995). She judged local, national, and international contests, including contests for the Haiku Society of America (1997), New Zealand International Haiku Contest (1995), North Carolina Poetry Contest (1994), Washington Poets Association Haiku Contest (1994), and San Francisco International Haiku and Senryu Contest (1992). In addition, she was featured in the public television show “Cactus Poetry Series” (Seattle), placed first in the 1993 Japan International Tanka Competition, and won awards in the 1996 and 1998 Itoen Tea International Haiku Contests.

In a 1995 Poet’s Market interview, Francine told an editor that she began publishing her collections to share with her family the poems that she had published during the year, and to challenge herself to create an artistically pleasing volume. The result is an impressive body of work. It includes twenty-three individual collections of her haiku, senryu, and tanka that also incorporated her art. In addition, she published three collaborations of linked poetry with Marlene Mountain (Cur*rent, 2000; Probably, 2002; Probably II, 2004), and the “Other Rens” series with Marlene Mountain and Kris Kondo (Other Rens, books 1, 2, and 3, and Trio of Wrens, 2000, with books 5 through 9 in manuscript form, 2001–2002), all of which take the tradition and practice of linked verse to new levels.

Marilyn Sandall, Northwest regional coordinator of the HSA for 2004, points out Francine’s “enthusiasm to be inclusive, to give each of us a chance to participate, indeed to take on leadership roles in the group” as examples of the traits that endear her to us. In recognition of her achievement and leadership in this field, the Washington Poets Association established the Francine Porad Haiku Award in 2003.

Because she views and practices writing haiku as a way to record incidents and wonderful memories of her life, her books of haiku literally reflect her and become a window on her life. The following are some of my favorite haiku written by Francine, selected from her many books.

—notes compiled by Connie Hutchison, November 2004

EDUCATION
1976 University of Washington, BFA Painting
Seminars: (Art) William Ivey, Jack Tworkov, Peggy Zehring, Frederick Franck (Poetry) Carolyn Forche, Nelson Bentley, David Wagoner
CRITICISM
Gross, Dr. Larry. How To Write And Publish Poetry,TheWORDshop, Tallahassee, 1998 and 1989 editions
Rosenow, Ce. “Artist and Poet: Francine Porad”
Northwest Literary Forum, Summer 1995, pp. 30-39
Rosenow, Ce.”All Eyes” Portlandia Review of Books, Fall 1995
Martin, Christine. Close-up Interview: Francine Porad. “Haiku Expands Horizons” 1995 Poet’s Market, pp. 70-71
Becker, Bart. “Woven Watershades – Francine Porad.” Stepping Out Number 25, August 1987, pp. 11-20.
Sato, Kazuo. From Japanese Haiku to English Haiku, Nan’un-do Publishing Co., Ltd., 1987
RECENT HONORS
Top 100 Writers 2005, Int’l Biographical Centre from Cambridge, England
Francine Porad Haiku Award established by Washington Poets Association in 2004
Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award 1st Place, Art by Porad, 2002
Women Painters of Washington, Sydney Museum, Port Orchard, WA 2001
Mainichi Yearly Haiku Contest, Japan, HM 1999
The Cicada Award, 1999
Linked haiku, co-authored with Marlene Mountain
Marquis Who’s Who in America, 53rd Edition, 2001; 1999; 1997

For contact regarding the artwork of Francine, please contact lporad@aol.com