Keiji Minato was born in Osaka in 1973. He has published a book of poetry, 硝子 の眼／布の皮膚 (Glass Eye / Cloth Skin) (草原詩社, 2003), and as a scholar of literatures in English has written essays, mainly about Australian literature, for national Japanese magazines like すばる (Subaru) and 英 語青 年 (Eigo Seinen). He is one of the three members of the Kyoto-based experimental poetry group, the Experimental Language Factory. Visit his website, Travelling Forms, or check out the recently-formed Japan International Poetry Society website.

David G. Lanoue was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1954. He is a professor of English at Xavier University in New Orleans and has published a translation, Cup-of-Tea Poems: Selected Haiku of Kobayashi Issa; a critical book, Pure Land Haiku: The Art of Priest Issa; and two “haiku novels”: Haiku Guy and Laughing Buddha. He is a former director of the World Haiku Association and co-founder of the New Orleans Haiku Society. David maintains the Haiku of Kobayashi Issa website.