About

Hello, my name is Xenia. I was born in The Netherlands and live in the Scottish Highlands with my husband and our forever-fostered whippet.

Over the last twenty years I developed my skills as an artist, writer and photographer along with a strong interest in meditation and Japanese poetry forms. Since my early fifties I especially enjoy writing haiku, haibun and tanka in Dutch and English honouring an ancient tradition inspired by Saigyõ, Bashõ, Chiyo-Ni, Ryokan and Issa.

I am a member of Haiku Kring Nederland (Dutch Haiku Association), the Society of Authors, the Haiku Society of America, the Tanka Society of America, a patron of Poetry Ireland and am deeply honoured to feature in Krzysztof Kokot’s selection of European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors in 2021 and 2022.

My poems have been published in international print and online journals, video journals and anthologies and feature in two full-length collections.

My first book, Sharing Our Horizon, was published in 2018 in aid of animal rehoming charities. The poems and photographs reflect the rhythm of the seasons and the fluctuations of the weather within those seasons.

My second collection, Between Heather and Grass, was published in 2019 in aid of Children with Cancer UK and Dogs Trust.

I am currently working on my third collection of poems and photographs, the proceeds of which will be used to continue the support of charities close to my heart.

Whippet Wisdom was born in March 2016. It was meant to be a simple place to record the walks with our adopted dogs in images and words, an organic place to develop my writing and photography.

It quickly became so much more. I found a very supportive and creative community, a place to connect with poets, photographers, and writers from around the world. In April 2018 I started my second blog, Tranature, to find a home for all my nature, flower and wildlife photographs and share the many poems they inspire.