March 8: Kundiman & Verlaine ft. Bethany Carlson, W. Todd Kaneko, & Monica Ong

March 8: Kundiman & Verlaine ft. Bethany Carlson, W. Todd Kaneko, & Monica Ong

Join us for a night of words & libation with readings by: BETHANY CARLSON, W. TODD KANEKO, & MONICA ONG

Happy hour: 4-5pm
Open mic: 4:30-5pm
Feature Reading: 5pm
$5 suggested donation

RSVP on Facebook!

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Bethany Carlson is an MDiv candidate at Yale University and holds an MFA from Indiana University. She is interested in how lyricism enhances sacred liturgy, invites eschatological imagination, and transcends a Christological understanding of narrative time. Bethany is a Kundiman Fellow and a member of The Lilly Graduate Fellows Program in Humanities & the Arts.

W. Todd Kaneko is the author of The Dead Wrestler Elegies (Curbside Splendor, 2014). His poems, essays and stories can be seen in Bellingham Review, Los Angeles Review, The Normal School, The Collagist, Blackbird, Third Coast, Song of the Owashtanong: Grand Rapids Poetry in the 21st Century, Bring the Noise: The Best Pop Culture Essays from Barrelhouse Magazine and many other journals and anthologies. A recipient of fellowships from Kundiman and the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, he lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing at Grand Valley State University.

Monica Ong is a visual artist and poet whose hybrid image-poems juxtapose diagram and diary. She completed her MFA in Digital Media at the Rhode Island School of Design and is also a Kundiman poetry fellow. Her work has been published in several journals including the Lantern Review, Drunken Boat, Glassworks Magazine, Loaded Bicycle, Tidal Basin Review, and the Seneca Review. She has also been exhibiting artwork for over a decade nationally and internationally. Ms. Ong’s debut collection, Silent Anatomies, was selected by poet Joy Harjo as winner of the Kore Press First Book Award. Silent Anatomies will be released in March 2015.

Kundiman Forever Recurring Donor Drive

WE DID IT!

We raised over $15,485 in annual funds during our Kundiman Forever campaign, which ended Lunar New Year 2015.

A heartfelt thank you to the following 116 donors during this drive:

Anonymous Donor / Anonymous Donor / Anonymous Donor / Nawaaz Ahmed / Neil Aitken / Kimberly Alidio / Gina Apostol / Sonia Arora / Marissa Aroy / Fatimah Asghar / Hossannah Asuncion / Cristiana Baik / JoAnn Balingit / Rick Barot / Jason Bayani / Neville Bendiola / Tamiko Beyer / Jeffrey Boyle / Marci Calabretta / Jung Har Chae / Wo Chan / Michelle Chan Brown / Constance Chan / Elzie Chan-Englender / Jennifer Chang / Cathy Linh Che / Karissa Chen / Lisa Chen / Eduardo C. Corral / Bruce Covey / Rachelle Cruz / Lawrence Minh-Bui Davis / Oliver de la Paz / Duy Ba Doan / Melanie Elvena / Anjelica Enaje / Marlon Esguerra / Tarfia Faizullah / Clara Fang / Rebecca Gambito / Sarah Gambito / Mary Glassanos / Eugene Gloria / Nathaniel Go / Rachel Gray / April Naoko Heck / Lee Herrick / Paul Hlava / Ashaki Jackson / Janine Joseph / Kristiana Kahakauwila / W. Todd Kaneko / Mark Keats / Mike Keo / Swati Khurana / Eddie Kim / Dan Lau / Esther Lee / Joseph O. Legaspi / Muriel Leung / Jane Lin / Patti Lynn / Mia Malhotra / Donna Mark / Laren McClung / Feliz Lucia Molina / Ansley Moon / Vikas Menon / Saretta Morgan / David Mura / Kristin Naca / Heather Nagami / Michael Nardone / Jyothi Natarajan / Aimee Nezhukumatathil / Hieu Minh Nguyen / Tiana Nobile / Benita Novena / Matthew O'Donnell / Matthew Olzmann / Janine Oshiro / Monica Ong / Jonathan Padua / Soo Mi Park / Chandrika Patel / Soham Patel / Dustin Parsons / Michelle Peñaloza / Michelle Naka Pierce / Narayan Raj / Paisley Rekdal / David Rohlfing / Lee Ann Roripaugh / Mg Roberts / Christine Rodgers / Brynn Saito / Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut / Leah Schlacter / Solmaz Sharif / Sujata Shekar / Chad Shomura / Ricco Siasoco / Melissa Sipin / David Song / Lara Stapleton / Sharon Suzuki–Martinez / Nghiem Tran / Oliver Triunfo / Jennifer Tseng / Kristine Uyeda / R.A. Villanueva / David Weinzimmer / Shelley Wong / Jenny Xie / Debbie Yee / Margarita Zilberman / Maria Zurbano

As a fellow, I am so grateful for your support in building Kundiman from the ground up. Kundiman gave me a first book prize; a community across America; book tour buddies; life advice when I most needed direction. I cherish this community and love it with all my heart.

Love,

Cathy Linh Che

Kundiman Fellow, Poetry Prize Winner, & Managing Director

Kundiman Poetry Prize Has a New Publisher

Press Release Contact: info@kundiman.org

The Kundiman Poetry Prize has a new publisher

New York, NY—Kundiman, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American writing, has partnered with Tupelo Press as the new book publisher of The Kundiman Poetry Prize.

Tupelo Press, which published their first five titles in 2001, is a literary press devoted to discovering and publishing works of poetry, literary fiction, and creative nonfiction by emerging and established writers. An ideal partner for Kundiman, Tupelo Press not only publishes aesthetically pleasing books, but they place high regard on excellent writing and diversity, seeking works with “a blend of language, imagination, distinctiveness, and craft.”

Now in its 6th year, the Kundiman Poetry Prize ensures the annual publication of a book by an Asian American poet. The award is open to self-identified Asian American poets at any stage in their careers. Winner also receives $1,000.

Full-length manuscript entries are accepted through the online entry system from February 1 to March 15, 2015. For complete entry guidelines, please visit: http://kundiman.org/prize/

November 16: Kundiman & Verlaine ft. Jay Deshpande, Sandra Lim, & Jee Leong Koh w/ translator Keisuke Tsubono

Kundiman & Verlaine ft. Jay Deshpande, Sandra Lim, & Jee Leong Koh w/ translator Keisuke Tsubono

Join us for a night of words & libation with readings by:

JAY DESHPANDE, SANDRA LIM, & JEE LEONG KOH w/ translator KEISUKE TSUBONO 

Open bar: 4-5pm
Open mic: 4:30-5pm
Feature Reading: 5pm
$5 suggested donation

RSVP on Facebook!

** This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. through public funds from the New York State Council of the Arts in partnership with the City Council with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. *

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Jay Deshpande’s poems have appeared in Narrative, Sixth Finch, Atlas Review, Handsome, Forklift, Ohio and elsewhere. He is the author of Love the Stranger, forthcoming from YesYes Books in 2015. He has studied poetry at Columbia University and served as poetry editor of AGNI. He lives in Brooklyn. You can find him @jdeshpan and at jaydeshpande.com.

Sandra Lim is the author of The Wilderness (W.W. Norton, 2014), selected by Louise Glück for the Barnard Women Poets Prize, and a previous collection of poetry, Loveliest Grotesque (Kore Press, 2006). A 2015 Pushcart Prize winner, she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Getty Research Institute. Lim was born in Seoul, Korea and educated at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and lives in Cambridge, MA.

Jee Leong Koh is the author of four books of poems, including Seven Studies for a Self Portrait (Bench Press). His latest collection The Pillow Book (Math Paper Press) has been translated into Japanese by Keisuke Tsubono, and published in an illustrated bilingual edition by Awai Books. It is shortlisted for the 2014 Singapore Literature Prize. Jee is the co-chair of the inaugural Singapore Literature Festival in NYC, and the curator of the arts website Singapore Poetry (http://singaporepoetry.com/). He has a new book of poems forthcoming from Carcanet Press (UK) in July 2015. 

Keisuke Tsubono is a translator, writer, editor, and scholar of American literature. He is also a co-founder of Awai Books, Ph.D student in contemporary literary studies at the University of Tokyo, and Fulbright visiting student researcher at New York University (2014-2015).

Kundiman at the Brooklyn Book Festival

Kundiman at the Brooklyn Book Festival, Sunday, September 21st, from 10am-6pm

Kundiman will be sharing a table with Late Night Library at the Brooklyn Book Festival, the largest free literary event in NYC. We will be at TABLE 318, selling books and shirts, giving away stickers and tattoos. Stop by, purchase something, and say hello! Can't wait to see you there!

Directions to festival location:

By car from Manhattan: Coming over the Brooklyn Bridge, stay straight on Adams Street. Turn right on Joralemon Street.  

By car from New Jersey and Staten Island: Verrazano Bridge to 278West. Take Exit 27/Atlantic Avenue and turn onto Atlantic Avenue. Turn left on Boerum Place. Turn left on Joralemon Street.  Turn right into first parking lot to unload.

Public Transportation: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Borough Hall; R to Court Street; A, C, F to Jay Street/MetroTech

September 7: Kundiman & Verlaine Reading Series featuring Franny Choi, Sahra Vang Nguyen, Chris Tran, & Paul Tran

September 7: Kundiman & Verlaine Reading Series featuring Franny Choi, Sahra Vang Nguyen, Chris Tran, & Paul Tran

Join us for a night of words & libation with readings by:

FRANNY CHOI, SAHRA VANG NGUYEN, CHRIS TRAN, & PAUL TRAN

Open bar: 4-5pm
Open mic: 4:30-5pm
Feature Reading: 5pm
$5 suggested donation

** This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. **

Franny Choi is a poet, teaching artist, and author of Floating, Brilliant, Gone (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014). Her poems and stories have appeared in Poetry, PANK, Folio, Solstice, Fringe, Apogee, and others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she has been a finalist at the three largest adult poetry slams in the country. She is a VONA Fellow and a member of the Dark Noise Collective. Through Project V.O.I.C.E. and the Providence Poetry Slam, Franny teaches creative writing in her local community and in classrooms across the country.

Sahra Vang Nguyen is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She has served as the Director of the Writing Success Program at the University of California, Los Angeles where she helped undergraduate students develop their critical thinking, self-confidence and agency through the writing process. Her writing primarily explores themes of identity, race in America, the Vietnamese American experience and the power of human potential. Sahra has self-published an e-book titled, "One Ounce Gold," and she has been published in the print anthology, "Pho For Life." She has toured Universities across the country speaking, performing poetry and facilitating workshops aimed to empower and inspire audiences. In Fall 2013, Sahra was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in a celebration of Asian American artists. More recently, Sahra created a web series about NYC entrepreneurs called, "Maker's Lane," which is co-presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

Chris Tran is an emerging Vietnamese American writer, photographer & media maker from Oklahoma City, OK. He's performed with Sarah Kaye & Hieu Minh Nguyen and was a semifinalist at the 2014 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI). His work interrogates new constructions of race, sexuality & nostalgia. A sophomore at Brown University, Chris constantly yearns for southern fried cooking.

Paul Tran is an Asian American activist, historian & spoken word poet from Providence, RI. He's won "Best Poet" and "Pushing the Art Forward" at the national college poetry slam and fellowships from Kundiman, Coca Cola, the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. His work combines oral history and performance to reimagine the violences inherited from the Vietnam War. Paul is also the cofounder of Gravediggers, a workshop for emerging writers of color, and coaches the 2014 Providence youth slam team heading to Brave New Voices.

Congrats to Wo Chan, 2014 Lambda Literary Fellow

Congrats, dear Wo! Visit here for more information about the 2014 Lambda Literary Fellows.

July 22: Kundiman at Word for Word Poetry

 

Word for Word Poetry welcomes Kundiman for a summer night of contemporary Asian American poetry in the park!

FEATURING Michelle Chan Brown, Cathy Linh Che, Eugenia Leigh, Sally Wen Mao, & Patrick Rosal 

7:00pm – 8:30pm | Bryant Park Reading Room

* This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. *

Bios:

MICHELLE CHAN BROWN’s Double Agent was the winner of the 2011 Kore First Book Award, judged by Bhanu Kapil. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Blackbird, Cimarron Review, Linebreak, The Missouri Review, Quarterly West, Sycamore Review, Witness, and others.

CATHY LINH CHE is the author of Split (Alice James, 2014), winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize. A Vietnamese American poet from Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA, she received her BA from Reed College and her MFA from New York University. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from Poets & Writers, The Fine Arts Work Center at Provincetown, Kundiman, Hedgebrook, Poets House, The Asian American Literary Review, The Center for Book Arts, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace Residency, and a Jerome Foundation Travel Grant.

EUGENIA LEIGH is the author of a full-length collection of poetry, Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014), which was a finalist for both the National Poetry Series and the Yale Series of Younger Poets. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including PANK Magazine, North American Review, The Collagist, and the Best New Poets 2010 anthology.

SALLY WEN MAO is a Chinese American poet. She earned a BA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from Cornell University. Mao is the recipient of fellowships from Kundiman and the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets as well as the 2010 RHINO Poetry Editors’ Prize. Her first book, Mad Honey Symposium, appears from Alice James Books in 2014.

PATRICK ROSAL is the author of three full-length poetry collections. His most recent, Boneshepherds (2011), was named a small press highlight by the National Book Critics Circle and a notable book by the Academy of American Poets. His other two books are My American Kundiman (2006), and Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive (2003). His collections have been honored with the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award, Global Filipino Literary Award and the Asian American Writers Workshop Members' Choice Award. In 2009, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines. He is co-founding editor of Some Call It Ballin', a literary sports quarterly. 

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Facebook Event

RAIN INFORMATION:
In case of rain, events are held under a tent at the Reading Room. In case of severe weather, please check bryantpark.org for the indoor location.

Congratulations to Janine Joseph, winner of the 2014 Kundiman Poetry Prize for her manuscript "Driving Without a License"

Congratulations to Janine Joseph, winner of the 2014 Kundiman Poetry Prize. The Alice James Books Board along with members of the Kundiman artistic staff selected her manuscript Driving Without a License. Along with book publication, Janine will also receive $1,000.

Janine Joseph holds an MFA from New York University and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Her poems have appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Best New Poets, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Journal, and elsewhere. A recipient of a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship, an Inprint/Barthelme Fellowship in Poetry, and an Academy of American Poets prize, she is an Assistant Professor of English at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.

The 2014 Kundiman Poetry Prize finalists were: Purge by Michelle Chan Brown, Recombinant by Ching-In Chen, Love the Stranger by Jay Deshpande, quiet of chorus by Vanessa Huang, seconds of needless animal terror by Esther Lee, Cutlish by Rajiv Mohabir, The Space Between by Alison Roh Park, Tula by Chris Santiago, and Overpour by Jane Wong.

Congratulations to the winner and finalists!