Background
Jane Reichhold was born in 1937 in Lima, Ohio. She studied art and journalism at Bluffton
College, Ohio; Ohio University; Fresno State University, California; and San Francisco
State University. Jane is the mother of three children. She has written free-lance
articles and poetry since 1963 which have been published in the United States, Canada,
England, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Romania and Croatia. In 1971, Jane moved to
Hamburg, Germany where she practiced sculpture and became the first American woman artist
accepted into Deutsche Kunstlerbund. She married Werner Reichhold in Germany and they
returned to the United States permanently in 1987. Jane began writing and publishing
haiku in 1979. She had been a leader of the Haiku Writers of Gualala Arts and publisher
of its monthly "Haiku sharing" for seven years. In 1987, she founded AHA Books, a major
publisher of haiku. Jane published "Mirrors -international haiku forum" from 1988-1995
and inaugurated the Tanka Splendor Awards in 1989. She was the editor of "Geppo" from
1991-1994 and also edited the "Poet tree" feature in "Coast Magazine". Since 1993, she
has been co-editor (with Werner) of "Lynx". In 1995, she began a new venture with
AHA!POETRY available on the internet, via website:
http://www.ahapoetry.com/. Jane is a member of the Haiku
Society of America, the Haiku Poets of Northern California, Haiku Canada, Haiku
International, Tokyo, the German Haiku Society; and the Poetry Society of Japan. She has
twice won the Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Tokyo and three times the Haiku Society
of America Book Award. Other haiku awards include a second place in the 1987 Japan Air
Lines Contest and winning the Itoen Tea Company Award in 1992. Jane and Werner Reichhold
were honored by the Emperor and Empress of Japan with an invitation to attend the New
Year's Poetry Reading at the Imperial Court, January 14, 1998.