NEW YORK, NY (November 9, 2009)—Kundiman, Inc. is pleased to announce a partnership
agreement with Fordham University that will enhance the outreach of Fordham’s English
Department and provide a new home in New York City for Kundiman’s seminal work to
support the development of the next generation of outstanding Asian American poets.
As a result of this agreement, the Kundiman Poetry Retreat will be held on Fordham’s Rose Hill
campus beginning in 2010 and Kundiman-sponsored readings and events will be held at the
Lincoln Center Campus. Fordham will provide a total of $60,000 over three years in financial
support for Kundiman’s programs.
Kundiman was founded in 2004 by poets Sarah Gambito and Joseph O. Legaspi to provide
opportunities for Asian American poets to perfect their skills through education and
performance and to promote Asian American literature as an undeniable part of American
letters.
The annual poetry retreat has provided 68 emerging poets with a distinguished faculty and
writing environment. Its public readings bring the work of emerging and established Asian
American poets and writers to new audiences. Through presentations at conferences, faculty
and fellows raise the visibility of diverse literary voices. The Kundiman Poetry Prize, in
partnership with Alice James Press, is the only poetry prize dedicated to Asian American poets
in the country. Kavad, an oral history project based on the stories and poetry of first and
second generation Asian American immigrants, captures an critical cultural legacy.
Through the stature of its faculty and the growing evidence of publication, writing awards and
acceptance to MFA programs by its fellows, Kundiman is regarded as one of the most important
poetry workshops for people of color in the country.
Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering exceptional education
distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to approximately 14,700 students in its four undergraduate
colleges and its six graduate and professional schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx
and Manhattan. Fordham’s English Department is a central part of the University's intellectual
life, with an undergraduate major and minors and graduate degree programs including the
literature M.A., M.A. with a writing concentration, and a fully funded Ph.D. Fordham’s Lincoln
Center Campus is home to Poets Out Loud, which has fostered the appreciation, creation, and
study of poetry since its inception in 1992.