I'm George Nelson, a haiku poet and illustrator from Napier, New Zealand, most based in Tokyo, Japan.

 

I first wrote haiku to relieve boredom in Japanese class in Tokyo in 2015. Initially my words were meant for hip-hop lyrics, but I soon realised I was destined to be a poet not a rapper. I started to habitually express what I felt, saw, heard and learned in life in the traditional Japanese 5-7-5.

 

Enjoying expressing myself in words soon led to expression through illustration, with a particular love of the interface between words and pictures. This is where the books, and the party, really began.

Key works:

 

The Techno Kiwi - picture book, printed in Tokyo, 2019

ジョージの病ホリ- third book of haiku, printed in Tokyo, 2019

ジョージのジェットコースター- second book of haiku, printed in Tokyo, 2019

ジョージのジャパン  - first book of haiku (2nd ed), printed in Tokyo, 2019

我在這裡寫的詩 - first book of Chinese poetry, printed in Osaka 2017

ジョージの俳句集 - first book of haiku, printed in Taipei, 2017

初めまして、ジョージやで - picture book, printed in Taipei, 2017

 

 

Key events:

 

Tokyo

Taipei Art Book Fair - Songshan Cultural Park, Taipei, 2019

Setouchi Art Book Fair - Tamano Park, Takamatsu, 2019

Happy Hakata Haiku Joji, solo exhibition - Albus Gallery, Fukuoka, 2019

Tokyo Art Book Fair - Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, 2019

Pecha Kucha talk - Plus Tokyo, Tokyo, 2017

Tokyo Art Book Fair - Terada Warehouse, Tokyo, 2017

埼京線ありがとうね , first exhibition - Design Festa Gallery, Tokyo, 2016