Alan S. Bridges began writing haiku in 2008 after meeting acclaimed poet John Stevenson, editor of The Heron’s Nest, on a cross-country train trip. Since then, Alan’s haiku have been widely published and he has received a number of awards, including first place in the Ito en Oi Ocha contest, Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Competition (twice), Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, Irish Haiku Society International Competition and Kaji Aso Studio International Haiku Contest. He was twice voted poet-of-the-year by readers of The Heron’s Nest. Alan’s haiku collections include In a Flash (Snapshot Press, 2019), Stirring Ashes (Turtle Light Press, 2020) and In the Curves (Red Moon Press, 2020). He enjoys golfing, skiing, cooking, fishing and hunting for arrowheads and mushrooms. Alan currently resides in Westford, Massachusetts.

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Kristen Lindquist’s haiku, haibun, and rengay have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. Her haiku chapbooks It Always Comes Back (haiku) and What We Tell Each Other (haibun) were winners of the Snapshot Press eChapbook Award in 2020 and 2023 respectively. A member of the Broadmoor Haiku Collective, along with Alan, she edited the group’s anthology What Weathers, What Returns (Red Moon Press, 2023). Her haiku collection Island (Red Moon Press , 2023) was short-listed for a Touchstone Award. Kristen has served as a judge for the Haiku Society of America Rengay Award in Honor of Garry Gay and guest editor for Drifting Sands Haibun Journal. She is currently coordinator for The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Awards for Individual Haibun, as well as serving as the Haiku Society of America’s Regional Coordinator for New England. Her daily haiku blog, Book of Days, can be found at www.kristenlindquist.com/blog.