After a busy winter of editing and designing, negotiating rights to photos and interviews, Nick Virgilio: A Life in Haiku is now available.
The book is a treasure trove of 100 uncollected and unpublished haiku plus a sampling of about 30 old favorites. Edited and introduced by Raffael de Gruttola, the book also contains a lengthy interview with Nick on WHYY radio, two essays by him about the craft of haiku, an afterword by Kathleen O’Toole, a moving tribute by Father Michael Doyle, photos and facsimile pages of the original manuscripts.
We will be holding two “official” book launches in April in Camden, N.J., where Nick lived most of his life. The first will be at The Robeson Library of Rutgers University on Friday, April 27, at noon; it will feature an exhibition of Nick’s papers, book art, haiku journals and remarks by the publisher, editor and curator as well as a short reading of poems.
The second “official” launch will be on Sunday, April 29, at 2 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, where there will be a community reading and remarks by Monsignor Michael Doyle, Rick Black, Raffael de Gruttola, Henry Brann and others. More details to come soon…
Thanks and appreciation to everyone involved for a job well done. Now if only someone would re-publish his first collection….