Featuring: April Naoko Heck, Eugenia Leigh, Zohra Saed, and Purvi Shah
True Reformer, Board Room
1200 U Street NW, Washington, DC
For communities facing the aftermath of 9/11, poetry of witness is vital. In this roundtable, Kundiman poets examine how poetry rooted in Asian American community oral history can further social justice as well as community healing and transformation. The poets will share their work interviewing community members and producing poetry as part of Kundiman’s innovative 9/11 public arts project,Together We Are New York. This roundtable not only provides voices from poets within marginalized communities–Asian American, South Asian, and Muslim–but also demonstrates how poetry can be relevant to community members who may not even read poetry. This session provides a valuable lens for making poetry relevant through investigating how writing can engage history, community needs, and social justice.
This is a Split This Rock Poetry Festival event. You must be registered to attend.
Saturday, March 24th
9:30 - 11 am
True Reformer Building, Auditorium
1200 U Street NW, Washington, DC
publicwelfare.org
Inspired by the collaboration and mentorship between Cave Canem (an organization which promotes African American poetry) and Kundiman (an organization which promotes Asian American poetry), this reading features poets hailing from these communities which will showcase the history of solidarity amongst diverse communities. Kazim Ali, Ching-In Chen, Rio Cortez, Rachelle Cruz, Monica A. Hand, Alan King, Natasha Marin, Soham Patel, and Kevin Simmonds will begin by reading work by ancestor poets who are considered outside of their self-identified community/-ities. Following this, they will share their own work which highlights this kind of productive hybrid fertilization, including inspiration taken from various literary and other creative arts forms such as the zuihitsu, neo-benshi and the theatrical jazz aesthetic. This reading highlights the cultivation and growth which arises from the exchange between African American and Asian American poets.
This is a Split This Rock Poetry Festival event. You must be registered to attend.
For more information, please check out the Split This Rock website here: http://www.splitthisrock.org/festival2012/festival2012.html
Including Together We Are New York: A Polyphonic Performance of Poetry and Audio Clips
Featured poets: Marlon Esguerra, April Naoko Heck, Eugenia Leigh, Zohra Saed, and Purvi Shah
Tuesday, March 13, 6-8 p.m.
Roosevelt House
47-49 E. 65th St. (Between Park & Madison)
Manhattan, NY
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, BUT SEATING IS LIMITED
PLEASE RSVP TO 212.396.7946
For more details and program information, go to Kavad.
]]>Experiments in Individual Solace and Collective Safety: Five Days of Crafting Poetry at the Kundiman Writers’ Retreat
(Sarah Gambito, Cathy Linh Che, Myung Mi Kim, Patrick Rosal, Prageeta Sharma)
Lake Ontario, Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor
Kundiman fosters Asian American poets to find their voices by probing culture and aesthetics during its retreat. Kundiman faculty and fellows will discuss innovative pedagogical approaches in workshops, mentorship sessions, readings, and poetry clinics to enable poetic development and community-building. We will explore topics like: How should one teach to a cohort with different aesthetic interests and levels of workshop experience? What compact lessons work for poets just meeting each other?