Born on March 18, 1924 in Southey, Saskatchewan into a large family, Winona Louise Baker moved to B.C. in 1930. Living in Nanaimo, she raised four children with her husband Art. A Haiku specialist, she received the top global prize in a 1989 World Haiku Contest in honour of Matsuo Basho's 300th anniversary. After self-publishing with Red Cedar Press, she released Moss-Hung Trees book with Gabriola's Reflections Press. It takes its title from her prize-winning haiku. In 1994 the Romanian Haiku Society gave her a Commemorative Medal and in 1997 an Award of Excellence for her paper presented at a Symposium on Basho in Bucharest. The Croatian Haiku Association also presented her with an award in 1997. Winona Baker's work is in more than 70 hc/pb anthologies in North America, New Zealand, Japan and Europe; including The Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac (Kodanshu International 97- 621 poets from 52 countries writing in 25 languages); and has been translated into Japanese, French, Greek, Croatian, Romanian, Yugoslavian. She has haiku in The Book of Hope an international anthology published to raise funds for children in Afghanistan 2002. Her work is archived in the Haiku Museum, Tokyo; Basho Museum, Yamagata; Haiku Mu in CA and the Haiku Collection in Fraser-Hickson Library Montreal.

Winona Baker died in Nanaimo on October 23, 2020.

BOOKS:

Clouds Empty Themselves (Red Cedar Press, 1987) - Island haiku
Not So Scarlet A Woman (Red Cedar Press, 1987)
Moss Hung Trees: Haiku of the West Coast (Reflections Press, 1992)
Beyond The Lighthouse (Oolichan Books, 1992)
Even a Stone Breathes (Oolichan Books, 2000)
Flesh in the Inkwell: poems from a writer's life (Leaf Press, 2010) $18.00 978-1-926655-09-3

AWARDS:
- Even a Stone Breathes - Haiku and Senryu 2000 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year supplement section on Canadian Literature

- Beyond the Lighthouse- on poetry editor Michael Budeja's list of 10 Read and Recommended books of poetry for 1994 (Writers' Digest Column)

- Moss Hung Trees awarded Fundatia Nipponica Societatea Romana De Haiku Commemorative Medal and Award of Excellence (Romania

- Clouds Empty Themselves-Island Haiku recommended for adult new readers and literacy co-ordinators International Literacy Year 1990.

- Not So Scarlet A Woman- light and humorous poems recommended for adult new readers and literacy providers by the Provincial Literacy materials Committee 1992

POETRY AWARDS

-HOSHI-TO-MORI INTERNATIONAL TANKA CONTEST, first prize English Div. 2001
-Japanese Foreign Minister's Scroll, Grand Prize World Haiku Festival World Haiku Contest, 1989 best foreign language
-Trophy World Haiku Festival Oku no Hosomichi 300 Anniversary Committee haiku in English 1989
-Shikishi, calligraphy by Akiro Mizuno of haiku by master haijin Toto Kaneko for her haiku in English 1986
-Expo 86 Japan Pavilion Book Prize from Japan Airlines -Certificate of Merit for tanka Nihon Kajin World Tanka Club 2000
-World Haiku Festival 2000 Contest 3RD PRIZE 2000
- Fundatia Nipponica Societatea Romana De Haiku Award of Excellence for a paper presented at the Symposium on Matsuo Basho Bucharest 1997
-Fundatia Nipponica Societatea Romana De Haiku Commemorative Medal for her book Moss Hung Trees 1997
-Croatian Haiku Association Award 1997



(Above) Winona Louise baker, circa late 1940s.

[BCBW 2022] "Poetry"