Kundiman Fellowship for Palm Beach Poetry Festival

This is the sixth year a Kundiman Fellowship at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be offered. Our 17th annual festival is scheduled for January 18-23, 2021 and will be held online this year. Workshop faculty poets include David Baker, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Traci Brimhall, Eduardo C. Corral, Vievee Francis, Kevin Prufer, Martha Rhodes and Tim Seibles; our Special Guest Poet, Gregory Orr, will perform with The Parkington Sisters; and Poet At Large is Brian Turner.

The fellowship covers full workshop tuition which includes admission to all festival events. The $25 application fee is waived for fellowship applicants. Tuition value is $895.00 plus the application fee of $25, a total of $920. This year, we will not cover lodging due to the virtual presentation of the festival. Total fellowship value is approximately $1,000.00.

Applications for a Kundiman fellowship are open now until December 1, 2020. Apply here.

Welcome Home: A Kundiman Virtual Fundraiser Recap

Kundiman would like to send a big, heartfelt thanks to all of you who make our community a beacon of care and support to emerging Asian American writers and lovers of Asian American literature.

On October 21st, we were treated to a special evening hosted by Kundiman fellow, Seema Yasmin, and we are so happy that we were able to include so many more community members near and far through this unique virtual platform.

Thanks to all who took part in our event by attending the program, sending gifts, and bidding on the magnificent items offered through our online auction. Thank you for being present. Thank you for witnessing the warm welcome from Kundiman's Executive Director, Cathy Linh Che; such fabulous readings by Ken Leung, Ali Ewoldt, Courtney Reed, Daniel K Isaac, Vinny Chhibber, and Aparna Nancherla; heartwarming remarks from our co-founders Joseph and Sarah; and a lovely chat between Ligaya Mishan and Angela Dimayuga.

From Vinny’s remarks about being seen to Ali and Courtney’s messages of acceptance and hope, there were so many moments that stuck with me throughout the evening. However, the words that summarize the evening to me were by Aparna Nancherla.

In her closing remarks, Aparna reflected on her own experience coming up as a performer saying that "we're not alone, and we don't all have the same stories, regardless of what the culture at large has tried to do by flattening our identities. I think it's the power to tell these wide range of experiences and share them with each other that makes arts and literature so cathartic and heart expanding."

With your help we were able to raise $36,084.00 of our $34,000.00 goal and we couldn't have done it without your help. There's still time to make your contribution in honor of this heartwarming event through our donation page here.

Thank you so much for co-creating spaces our community deserves. We look forward to seeing you all soon, virtually or otherwise.

Applications Closing for the Asian American Feminist Writing Workshop!

Applications for our new Asian American Feminist Writing Workshop close on Sunday, November 1st, 2020 at 11:59 PM ET!

This program, developed in collaboration with the Asian American Feminist Collective, will include workshops, small group writing sessions, and culminate in the creation of a brand-new zine. Classes will focus on exploring the history of Asian American feminism as well as essential writings by feminists of color. This program will run from February 2021–May 2021. Apply here!

Announcing our Asian American Feminist Writing Workshop

We're very excited to announce our new Asian American Feminist Writing Workshop, developed in collaboration with the Asian American Feminist Collective. Applications open today, October 1st, and close November 1st, 2020.

This program will include workshops, small group writing sessions, and culminate in the creation of a brand-new zine. Classes will focus on exploring the history of Asian American feminism as well as essential writings by feminists of color. This program will run from February 2021–May 2021. More program information and details here!

Welcome Home: A Kundiman Virtual Fundraiser

It brings us great joy to introduce to you all Welcome Home: A Kundiman Virtual Fundraiser on Wednesday, October 21st, 8pm ET/5pm PT through Zoom. For this event, Asian American actors from the stage and screen will share their favorite selections of Asian American literature.

Proudly hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist, a medical analyst for CNN, doctor, and Kundiman fellow, Seema Yasmin will treat you to an evening of inspiring readings by special guests Vinny Chhibber from The Red Line produced by Ava Duvernay & Greg Berlanti, Ali Ewoldt the first Asian American Christine in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Daniel K. Isaac who plays Ben Kim in Showtime's Billions, Ken Leung best known for his roles in the films Rush Hour, Keeping the Faith, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Aparna Nancherla a series regular in Comedy Central’s Corporate and has reprised her role in season 3 of HBO’s Crashing, and Courtney Reed originated the role of ‘Princess Jasmine’ in Disney’s smash Broadway hit Aladdin, a chat and recipe share with superstar chef Angela Dimayuga and acclaimed food writer Ligaya Mishan, an online literary, art, and jewelry auction, and uplifting words from Kundiman’s co-founders, Sarah Gambito and Joseph Legaspi.

All proceeds from the event will support free readings, writing workshops, a community building retreat, in-depth mentorship, and other virtual offerings that raise Asian American voices everywhere.

Purchase your tickets here. If you can't attend, we would appreciate a contribution in honor of the event.

Announcing Kundiman's Poetry Coalition Fellow

We are excited to introduce the newest member of Kundiman’s staff –– Steven Duong, our new Poetry Coalition Fellow! Steven Duong is a Vietnamese American writer and artist from San Diego. His poems have appeared in The Margins, The Massachusetts Review, AGNI, Passages North, Pleiades, and elsewhere. As a 2019 Thomas J. Watson Fellow, he traveled to Malawi, China, Thailand, and Vietnam, conducting his global writing project, "Freshwater Fish and the Poetry of Containment." A 2020 Djanikian Scholar in Poetry for The Adroit Journal, he currently serves as a guest editor at Palette Poetry.

On May 22, 2020, the Poetry Coalition launched the Poetry Coalition Fellowship program, a three-year pilot program that will offer paid fellowship positions to five fellows per year (a total of fifteen fellows) who will each assist a different Poetry Coalition organization for twenty hours per week over the course of a forty-week period. The five organizations hosting the inaugural Poetry Coalition Fellows beginning September 15, 2020 are CantoMundo, Cave Canem, Kundiman, Mizna, and Split This Rock.

One Poem Festival: A Protest Reading in Support of Black Lives

On August 18, 2020, the founding members of the Poetry Coalition, a national alliance of more than 25 organizations dedicated to working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture, presented a live broadcast ONE POEM: A Protest Reading in Support of Black Lives via Crowdcast. You can watch the full reading here.

Please consider giving to organizations and efforts working against racial injustice, including those recommended by the founding members of the Poetry Coalition here.

The poets featured in One Poem: A Protest Reading in Support of Black Lives were Prisca Afantchao, Sojourner Ahebee, Kazim Ali, Kimberly Blaeser, Jericho Brown, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Meera Dasgupta, Kwame Dawes, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Safia Elhillo, Martín Espada, Sesshu Foster, Kimberly Jae, Raina J. León, Mwatabu Okantah, Arsimmer McCoy, Alberto Ríos, Terisa Siagatonu, Matthew Thompson, Emma Trelles, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Monica Youn, and avery r. young.

Bookshop.org Reading Lists

We're on Bookshop.org! Now whenever you purchase a book off one of our Bookshop.org reading lists, 10% of proceeds go to Kundiman.

Some reading lists we've compiled are: Kundiman Summer 2020 Faculty, Poetry & Protest Workshop with Purvi Shah, Black & Asian Feminist Solidarities. 20 Books to Read for Pride Month, and 10 Books to Read for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Click here to explore our Bookshop.org page.