New York, NY and San Francisco, CA (ACCESSWIRE) 9/23/2013 5:45:00 AM - The world's first interactive and "living" e-book of haiku has been created and published by a coast-to-coast creative team determined to have readers "tap the poet within each of us" and share their work with each other, worldwide. The e-Book is a joint e-publishing project by NYC-based publishing service provider Vook (http://vook.com/), California-based technology innovator Democrasoft (http://www.democrasoft.com/) and bi-coastal writer Steve Villano (and his production company, Social Vision Productions (http://www.socialvisionproductions.com/).
"We, Haiku" (WeHaiku.net) is a collection of 200 contemporary Haiku by writer Steve Villano with illustrations by artist Alycia Lang. It combines the social connectivity of modern technology with the haiku form making it possible for readers to actively participate in the book itself.
Using a unique interactive e-book device known as the "WeJIT"created by Democrasoftreaders can connect directly to each other via the e-book and upload their own Haiku to the ebook, where the most popular contributions are continually featured. More than a dozen e-books have previously been published with "WeJITS," showcasing a variety of subjects and reader interactions (the first such "WeJIT-enhanced" ebook, 11 Days in May, by J.D. Messinger, won the Publishing Innovation Award for Non-fiction for 2013).
"We, Haiku" is the first poetry book to employ the embedded, interactive WeJIT technology and the first such e-book to allow the readers themselves to upload their own poems within the book" said Richard Lang, creator of the WeJIT and Democrasoft's CEO.
"E-books are rapidly evolving. We are excited to be working with forward-thinking companies like Vook and visionary authors like Steve Villano on such a worthwhile project - to introduce new generations of readersand writersto the historic genre of Haiku poetry. This book is fun as well as a great teaching tool."
Vook's Vice-President of Business Development, Matt Cavnar is equally enthusiastic about the endeavor: "We love it when authors find new ways to bring poetry to readers and explore the e-book medium with interesting design decisions and interactive technology like WeJITs."
"We took a beautiful, centuries-old art form and collaborated to make this elegant, economic example of expression accessible for whole new generations of readers," said Villano, the author of "We, Haiku." "We wanted readers and writers to have a simple and direct way of tapping the poet within themselves; connecting to the thread of art, which has stitched together life through the ages."