On September 15, 2013, Ms. Julia Guzmán in Argentina kindly gave such a nice comment on the article “The Results of the 2nd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest.”
You can check it out on the website below.
https://akitahaiku.com/2013/09/14/
Then our correspondence started.
On September 22, 2013, Ms. Guzmán kindly sent me a haiga (modern haiga) where the photo and haiku complement themselves.
Here is her haiga.
She kindly translated her haiku into English as follows.
In the fallen leaves
the yellow chest
of a great kiskadee
落ち葉の中
大きなヒタキの
黄色い胸
(Translated into Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta)
Here is a brief bio of Ms. Julia Guzmán.
Now let me tell you a bit about myself. I´m from Córdoba, the second city in Argentina. I´m a teacher of English literature and a public translator. I´m an amateur photographer and a lover of the Japanese Culture; specially haiku and sumi-é , both disciplines I really enjoy a lot.
My husband and I are very much interested in teaching haiku and as such we are permanently travelling around our country to give Workshops about haiku and its essence in different Book Fairs.
I participate in haiku forums in the Web – Paseos.net; El Rincón del Haiku, Hojas en la Acera, etc. My haiku have been published in different Anthologies and I have had the honor to be included in the First Haiku Anthology by hispanish speakers which was recently printed in Spain and it’s called “Un Viejo Estanque” (An Old Pond”).
In 2010 I had the honor to be selected by the Japanese Embassy to give a lecture on “Chiyo-ni”, a haiku woman poet I´m very much interested in.
Last year my husband and I were selected by the Japanese Embassy to expose our haigas in the Luna Park, a very important place in Buenos Aires.
I also participate in the International Haiku Congress with different lectures -every two years- which is held in Buenos Aires and organized by the Tozai Institute.
I permanently collaborate with translations with the virtual and published magazine “Hojas en la Acera”, printed in Spain and specialized in Haiku.
Together with my husband we published our first haiku book “Aniko and Akiro ” and now we have the intention to print a new one with our haigas. We also published a series called “Seasons” where we included our haikus related to the season. We distributed them free in congresses and general public.
I have just started a blog called “haikukoyasan”, which I pretend to continue -now that I´m almost retired. I´m 57 years old.
Here is the website address of her haiku blog.
http://haikukoyasan.blogspot.jp/
I have been judge in haiku contests, too.
I have just returned from a Book Fair where I gave a workshop about sumi-é ( simply as a student of this marvelous artistic expression which I´m learning with a Japanese sensei (from Akita) who lives near me and who accepted me as her student). Now we are preparing an Exhibition in Córdoba for September -spring time here. Last year my partners and I participated with one of our paintings in an exhibition held in Tokyo.
Last of all, Ms. Julia Guzmán has invited people to participate in the 3rd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest, whose deadline is June 30.
Please check it out on the website below.
https://akitahaiku.com/2014/05/03/
― 蛭田秀法（Hidenori Hiruta）
Akita International Haiku Network 