Submission Information

Please Note: In 2026, we are introducing a special haiga week. Do not use the submission form to submit haiga; those should be submitted via email. Please check the haiga-specific guidelines below the general guidelines.

Submit your haiku/senryu here: https://forms.gle/YNURE5FfZExehWqq8

General Guidelines

1. Please submit 3-5 haiku per submission.

2. Submissions open on May 15th, 2026.

3. Submissions close on August 15th, 2026.

4. Please use a seasonal referent in your haiku.

5. Take risks with your seasonal referent. I (and the guest editors) will look up whatever I/we do not understand!

6. Please do not use the word "summer" in your haiku. The goal is to connect to the season without naming it.

7. I welcome haiku/senryu of 1-3 lines, as well as experimental forms.

8. Unpublished haiku only, please. We define "published" as appearing in any public-facing print or electronic blog, journal, social media app, or newsletter. Haiku published on private servers (such as Discord) are eligible.

9. Haiku Girl Summer does not allow AI-generated poetry.

New for 2026: Haiga Week

Guest editor Melanie Alberts will be creating special haiga-only issues the week of July 20th - 26th. We have a special submission process for this week. Please review the haiga guidelines below.

Please note that a submission for Haiga Week does not count toward your three (3) total submissions of haiku and senryu throughout the summer.

  1. Haiku Girl Summer does not permit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation or editing of either text or art in a haiga. 
  2. Haiga Week submissions open along with the regular haiku and senryu submissions on May 15th, 2026.
  3. You may submit one (1) submission of up to five (5) haiga.
  4. Haiga must be previously unpublished.
  5. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 pm Central time July 19th, 2026.
  6. Send your haiga via email to editor@9squarepress.com and CC melaniealbertsmedium@gmail.com.
  7. Haiga should be sent as either PNG or JPEG files, with a minimum of 600 x 600 px.
  8. Submit your haiga as attachments.
  9. Both solo-creator and collaborative haiku are welcome. 
  10. As a reminder, Haiku Girl Summer only publishes work from women-identifying poets. For collaborative haiku, both parties should identify as women. (Haiku Girl Summer is a trans-inclusive publication.)
  11. While haiga do not have to be branded with the writer’s/artist’s name(s), please be sure that all parties in a collaborative haiku are named clearly in your submission so we can credit appropriately.

Housekeeping Information

1. Poets are welcome to submit haiku and senryu three times for the duration of HGS. I encourage you to only submit once per month during the journal run. If you send work for the specific haiga week, you are still eligible to submit three sets of haiku/senryu.

2. You are still welcome to submit again even if previous work is still in the queue.

3. HGS will be published from June 1st to September 1st, 2026.

4. I will publish haiku based on thematic groupings rather than order of submission.

5. All submitted haiku will stay on file until September 1st, 2026.

6. HGS is a nonbinary- and trans-inclusive project. All who identify as girl/woman are welcome to submit.

7. Selected poems will appear on the HGS public site and email list.

8. Selected poems may also appear on the personal social media of myself and the guest editors, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. (You are not obligated to post on social media. If you wish to, see the “Sharing” section for further details.)

9. We encourage all poets and artists to include their location, though this is not required. Our preferred format is City, State/Region, Country.