Kat Lehmann is a Connecticut-based haiku poet and scientist who finds awe in the way minute details hold the grandiose. She lives with her family at the edge of a fairy forest filled with mountain laurel, moss, and tall trees growing around boulders. What first inspired her to write was the self-discovery of endured hardship and loss. She found poetry as a way to write between the words and explore systems of dynamic balance while journeying through pain and wonder.

Kat’s haiku has been recognized in numerous awards, including The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Award, the Haiku Society of America Harold G. Henderson Haiku Award, Japan’s Basho-an Award, ITO EN Oi Ocha Shinhaiku, Yamadera Basho Museum, NHK Haiku Masters, and Mainichi Best of Haiku.

The Journal of Poetry Therapy (2017) wrote of her first book: “Moon Full of Moons offers rich material for poetry therapy.” Her bestselling book Small Stones from the River (29 Trees, 2017), has been used for yoga class meditation and high school writing prompts. Her third book, Stumbling Toward Happiness: Haibun and Hybrid Poems (29 Trees, 2019), shares her notes of self-exploration using a poetry form called haibun, which creates a conversation between haiku and prose.

Kat continues to explore the storytelling possibilities of haibun, as well as variations of single- and multi-haiku forms. One such multi-ku form she crafted, called sudo-ku, weaves several thematically related haiku to express a unified poem.

In addition to writing, Kat began a Ripples of Kindness project in 2017 in which signed copies of her book Small Stones from the River are left in public spaces for people to find. Ripples of Kindness has grown into an international project, with her poetry books gifted in 17 US states and 14 countries. She says, “We can all put something good into the world, just by doing it.”

Kat shares her writing on Twitter and Instagram at @SongsOfKat with books available at
https://www.amazon.com/Kat-Lehmann/e/B00U2PNZ5U