Lamb, Elizabeth Searle

Elizabeth Searle was born on January 22nd, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. She received a Bachelor of Arts (music major) 1939, and an additional Bachelor of Arts (harp major) 1940 from the University of Kansas. She played with the Kansas City Philharmonic as 2nd harpist 1940-1941. She married F. Bruce Lamb, a tropical forester, on December 11th, 1941 in Port of Spain, Trinidad where they lived for two years before Bruce's career took them to the Amazon. After World War II they lived in various locations in Puerto Rico, Central and South America. Brief periods back in the United States did not allow Lamb to pursue her music career and she began to write and publish materials: inspirational, musical, juvenile, travel and eventually poetry.

Taking up residence in New York City in 1961, Lamb learned of haiku and began to study, read and write in the form. To date, her haiku have appeared in virtually all of the haiku magazines, and in newspapers and poetry publications here and abroad. She became a charter member of the Haiku Society of America in 1968, and served as president in 1971 and in various other offices in later years. She acted as chairman of the first HSA awards committee, and as judge for the Henderson Memorial Contest. She participated in the First International Haiku Fesitval in Philadelphia and at the Glassboro Festival which celebrated the publication of The Haiku Anthology. On Bruce's retirement, the Lambs moved to Topeka, Kansas in 1975 and finally settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1977. Lamb edited the HSA quarterly, Frogpond, 1984-1990; 1994.

As Founding Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives at the California State Library 1996, Lamb donated books, articles and other materials which have provided a foundation for the growing collection. A pioneer in the North American haiku movement, she was affectionately given the title of "First Lady of American Haiku" by Father Raymond Roseliep, an eminent poet. Her numerous awards include various Harold Henderson Awards (1st 1978), HSA Biennial Book awards (1979, 1983, 1985/86), and Mainichi Daily News best of issue (1988).