Ion Codrescu, a Romanian writer and artist, has been publishing poems, essays, and articles since 1992 (in 18 countries and 13 languages). He received a degree from the Fine Arts Academy in Bucharest, and in 2007 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Visual Arts at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Romania. His thesis on haiga painting is entitled "Relationships Between Image and Text in Japanese and Western Haiga."

Among his accomplishments are nine published books, including the winner of the Merit Book Award of the Haiku Society of America, for Oaspete strain / A Foreign Guest (Ex Ponto Press, Romania, 1999), a travel journal in haiku, rengay, renku and haibun, based on Ion's journey through the United States in the late 1990s. His latest book, Haiku-Haiga: Creative Activities for Students (Ex Ponto Press, Constantza, Romania 2004), and others are available from the author: ioncodrescu@yahoo.com

Ion is a member of the Romanian Writers' Association; the Haiku Society of America; Haiku International Association; Renku Association of Japan; and several other national or international haiku organizations, including the World Haiku Association; and the World Haiku Club.

His paintings are in private art collections and public museums in a variety of countries. His images may be seen on his website: Ion Codrescu Gallery [http://nc-haiku.org/galleries/codrescu/gallery2_0.htm]

His Keynote Speech for the World Haiku Festival 2000, London-Oxford Conference, "Rules of Form and Freedom of Spirit in Haiku," can be found in the World Haiku Review at: http://www.worldhaikureview.org/1-3/whcessay_codrescu1.shtml A more complete biography is found on the tempslibres/free times web site at: http://www.tempslibres.org/sites/ion/en/Ionpage.html