WHR Festival 2011
World Haiku Festival 2011 in Assisi, Italy:
Friday 14, Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 October 2011
The World Haiku Club is pleased to announce that this year's World Haiku Festival will be held in October in Assisi, yes St. Francis' place, in central Italy.
Assisi is a picturesque Umbrian town, a hilly place at about 400 meters (1300 feet) above sea level, and some 20 km (12 miles) east of Perugia. St. Francis of Assisi (Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226) was born here. He is the patron saint of Italy and the founder of the Franciscan order. The town's most important place therefore is the thirteenth century Basilica di San Francesco, housing St. Francis' sacred relics and frescoes depicting his life. Besides, there are seven main churches worth visiting. The town is good for walking through its winding medieval lanes and visiting shrines. The surrounding Umbrian valleys and hills are also beautiful places to see, walk, paint or write haiku.
World Haiku Festival 2010 In Nagasaki, which started last April and will continue until March this year as a year-long programme, is a unique event just as each World Haiku Festival in different countries has been a unique event, each different from any other.
World Haiku Festival 2011 In Assisi will also be unique, and RADICALLY different from the past Festivals in one aspect, the method of its organisation:
1) Each participant will effectively be an organising member ("self-service" or buffet style);
2) Each interested person must join a specially created forum by sending a blank e-mail to:
(In principle, WHF2011 will not be discussed anywhere else but this specific forum.)
3) Each would-be participant must personally book his or her hotel directly and announce the details of the secured booking on WHCwhf2011Assisi forum immediately, which will effectively constitute his or her formal registration. The hotel booking should be done immediately as hotels in Assisi, like other tourist centres and cities in Italy, will get fully booked up very quickly. Three hotels are chosen to be designated as the Festival hotels, offering a discount if you tell them you are 'a haiku poet participating World Haiku Festival 2011 In Assisi'. The details of them are given at the end of this announcement. It is recommended that you will try these first. Failing that, you can find a hotel of your choice on the Internet very easily but hurry...;
4) Each participant must bring him/herself to his/her hotel and turn up during the afternoon of the first day at one of the designated hotels (most likely to be Hotel San Francesco) and mingle with other participants freely until we all meet up together for dinner (each booking the table and paying his or her own bill. There will be no group booking) at a restaurant to be decided. During the dinner we discuss and finalise what we want to do for the evening and for the second day. This process will be repeated at the dinner of the second day.
5) Each participant, after registration (above), can, if he/she wants, offer on WHCwhf2011Assisi to present a paper or workshop or any other session activity beforehand . He or she must, however, be committed to the presentation once it is accepted and cannot cancel it after that and its presentation will be finally confirmed at the dinners described above. No hotel meeting rooms will be used for cost reasons, unless enough participants agree to finance it (cost split evenly by all participants). Otherwise, hotel lounge, dinner tables, hotel rooms, roof-tops and/or open-air places will be used as appropriate;
6) Any themes of the Festival can be suggested by would-be and actual participants either beforehand on the WHCwhf2011Assisi or on the spot in Assisi, which should include our suggested themes: "Animals", the "Fioretti" ("Little Flowers") and "Poverty" (all association with St. Francis) and "Haiku and Classicism".
7) As each participant will be an organiser, there will be no conference fees chargeable. However, any donations would be gratefully received to cover minor costs.
8) The Pope plans to visit Assisi for a common prayer event sometime in October. No exact dates are known as yet, owing to security reasons. This means that the hotels in Assisi will be in so much more demand in October and immediate booking is so much more important.
* * *
The Three Festival Designated Hotels:
Hotel S. Francesco ***: http://www.hotelsanfrancescoassisi.it/ENG/index.htm
via S. Francesco, 48 (right in front of the St. Francis' Basilica; with an excellent restaurant)
e-mail: info@hotelsanfrancescoassisi.it
Tel: 0039 075 812 281
Price: discount 10% (it is imperative to quote "a haiku poet participating World Haiku Festival 2011 In Assisi" when making the hotel booking)
Single room: EUR 90; Double room: EUR 145 (without view); EUR 165 (with view on the Basilica) (with private facilities, breakfast included)
Hotel S. Giacomo **: http://www.hotelsangiacomoassisi.it/
via S. Giacomo, 6 (St. Francis' basilica is right around the corner; has its own restaurant, another restaurant opposite the hotel, looking simple and tasting delicious)
info@hotelsangiacomoassisi.it
Price: a special tariff (see below) has been obtained; please, remember, it is imperative to quote "a haiku poet participating World Haiku Festival 2011 In Assisi" when making the hotel booking
Single room: EUR 52; Double room: EUR 80 (private facilities; breakfast included)
Hotel Posta **: http://www.hotelpostaassisi.it
via S. Paolo 11 (10 minutes walk to St. Francis, has a good restaurant)
info@hotelpostaassisi.it
Price: a special tariff (see below) has been obtained; please, remember, it is imperative to quote "a haiku poet participating World Haiku Festival 2011 In Assisi" when making the hotel booking
Single room: EUR 49; Double room EUR 74 (private facilities, breakfast included)
PLEASE NOTE: All prices are intended per room per night. Again, in order to obtain a special price, it is imperative to quote "a haiku poet participating World Haiku Festival 2011 In Assisi" when making the hotel booking.
With best wishes and see you in Assisi in October,
Susumu Takiguchi
Chairman
The World Haiku Club