Recent News

  • The Kundiman Asian American Poetry Reading at Kaleidoscope at The University of Virginia on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 7:00 PM. Readers include:  Bei Dao, Tan Lin and Aimee Nezhukumatathil and the 2008 Kundiman Fellows. FREE.
  • Kundiman at AWP's 2008 Conference, NYC
  • Celebration Song, Circle Song: Kundiman Looks Back at its First Five Years. Thursday, January 31, 2008, 10:30 - 11:45 am, Conference Room K
    Sheraton, Lower Level, Executive Conference Center     (Oliver de la Paz, David Mura, Jon Pineda, Purvi Shah, Tamiko Beyer, Sarah Gambito) Kundiman, a not-for-profit organization committed to the discovery and cultivation of emerging Asian-American poets, is celebrating its fifth year of existence. During this panel, founders, faculty, and fellows discuss what it takes to build a community of minority writers, how writers of color can begin to empower themselves and change the landscape of what is "expected" of Asian-American writers, and how the Kundiman community continues beyond the retreat space.
  • Broadening the Circle: How Cave Canem and Kundiman Became Family. Saturday, February 2, 2008, 3:00 - 4:15 pm, Conference Room D
    Sheraton, Lower Level, Executive Conference Center     (Oliver de la Paz, Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, Tim Seibles, Sarah Gambito, Joseph Legaspi) What happens when one not-for-profit arts organization mentors another not-for-profit arts organization? Hear founders and faculty members of both Cave Canem and Kundiman discuss the ins and outs of creating an arts retreat dedicated to the teaching and mentoring of African American and Asian American writers. Not only will Cave Canem and Kundiman discuss the origins of their formulation and the relationship between the two writing communities, but they will also discuss the issues of ethnicity in the workshop environment, what it means to be in a community of writers of color, the challenges those communities face, and the diversity of writing and writers within.
  • Kundiman is also featuring a table at the AWP Bookfair, Hilton Hotel, Americas Hall I, 3rd Floor, Table 220.
  • Ching-In Chen's book The Heart's Traffic will be published through the Arktoi Books, an imprint of Red Hen Press and is slated for publication in 2009.
  • Neil Aitken's book The Lost Country of Sight won the 2007 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and will be published by Anhinga Press in Fall 2008.
  • Joseph O. Legaspi's book Imago is now available from Cavankerry Press. Find it here.
  • Oliver de la Paz's second book, Furious Lullaby, is now available from Southern Illinois University. Find it here.
  • Jennifer Chang's book, The History of Anonymity, is now available from The University of Georgia. Find it here.
  • Jon Pineda's second book, The Translator's Diary is now available from New Issues Poetry and Prose. Find it here.
  • Aimee Nezhukumatathil's second book, At the Drive-In Volcano is now available from Tupelo Press. Find it here.
  • Sarah Gambito's second book, Delivered, is forthcoming Winter 2009 from Persea Books.
  • Rick Barot's second book, Want, is now available from Sarabande books. Find it here.

Chi Lam & Jon Pineda in Workshop


It was easy to follow the impassioned leads of the Kundiman organizers and to be open to the vulnerable moments the retreat to which the retreat led us. Additionally, the visiting faculty synthesized seamlessly to what the Kundiman staff established.

Having just graduated from an MFA program a month before the retreat, I already had two years of intensive schooling on the mechanics of "writing" and "revising" poetry. However, the retreat not only offered workshops that improved my writing skills, but also offered a safe space to deeply probe the complicated experiences of being a writer of color. The pursuit of writing literature can be a lonely place for one whose words have a
complicated, politicized relationship to the paper they place their words upon. I have come across very few opportunities that have allowed me, without resistance or discouragement, to explore the larger implications of racial/ethnic identity; Kundiman are not only creators but conduits and advocates of that safe space.

--Hossanah Asuncion