These two new books on haiku are complementary. One is a guide to haiku practice, mainly as it has developed in the United States, and written by one of its major practitioners. The other is a selection of 100 haiku in Japanese, chosen by one of Japan's most important modern poets, lavishly illustrated and with English translations. Though the two books approach the subject from opposite directions, the author of the first book has a hand in the second too. Lee Gurga is one of the leading exponents of American haiku today. Having, as he explains, read the writings of the haiku scholar R.H. Blyth when he was a high school student, he returned to this form of poetry once his professional and family life had been established. He emerged as a strong voice in the American haiku movement in the 1980s, and served as president of the Haiku Society of America, the oldest haiku society outside Japan.
More recently, Gurga took over the editorship of Modern Haiku, which is almost certainly the oldest haiku journal overseas. "His Haiku: A Poet's Guide," directed at the general reader, also serves to acquaint the readers and contributors to Modern Haiku, with its new editor's general outlook and aesthetic. He is the journal's third editor, following the death of his distinguished predecessor, Robert Spiess.