Kundiman (nonprofit organization)

Kundiman is a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing generations of writers and readers of Asian American literature[1]. The organization offers an annual writing retreat, readings, workshops, a mentorship program[2], and a poetry prize, and aims to provide "a safe yet rigorous space where Asian American poets can explore, through art, the unique challenges that face the new and ever changing diaspora."[3] Kundiman was co-founded in 2004[4] by Asian American poets Sarah Gambito and Joseph O. Legaspi,[5] and has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Philippine American Writers, PAWA, and individuals.[6]

Not to be confused with the Filipino musical genre Kundiman.
Kundiman Booth at AWP 2018

Kundiman and Fordham University have formed an affiliation in which Kundiman will "enhance the outreach of Fordham’s English Department," and Fordham hosts the annual Kundiman Poetry Retreat on Fordham's Rose Hill campus beginning in 2010, and host Kundiman-sponsored readings and events at the Lincoln Center Campus. Fordham also provided a total of $60,000 over three years in financial support for Kundiman's programs.[7][8]

The organization’s name refers to a style of Filipino love song that served as veiled patriotism during colonial times.[9] Kundiman Fellows have published in The Virginia Quarterly Review,The Colorado Review, Pleiades, Black Warrior Review and Crab Orchard Review."[10] There have been over 285 books published by Kundiman fellows.[11]

Honors given by Kundiman include The Kundiman Poetry Prize, for a book by an Asian American poet at any stage in their career.[12] The winning manuscript is published by Tupelo Press,[13] and according to Kundiman, "is the only poetry prize dedicated to Asian American poets in the country."[14][15][16]

In light of "systemic bias"[17] within the Wikipedia community, Kundiman hosts Wikipedia Edit-A-Thons in order to address the lack of visibility of Asian American writers and accuracy about their work. Kyle Lucia Wu, the programs and communications manager at Kundiman, said the idea of creating a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon came to her when she saw that there were, at the time, only 240 names listed on Wikipedia's page for Asian American writers[18].

Kundiman Retreat

The Kundiman Retreat was started in 2004 by Sarah Gambito and Joseph O. Legaspi. The inaugural Retreat was hosted at the University of Virginia in 2004.[19] It now takes place at Fordham University.[20] Poet Duy Doan said of the Kundiman Retreat: "I would never be able to overemphasize the positive impact that the Kundiman retreats have had on me—writing, musing, connecting with other Asian–Pacific Islander American writers, being taken in by a richly talented and generous community."[21] Poet Chen Chen said that the Kundiman Retreat was "really magical and opened up my eyes to what was possible in the Asian American literary community."[22]


The Kundiman retreat has received support from the National Endowment of the Arts.[23] Starting in 2015, the retreat was opened up to fiction writers as well as poets.[24]

Kundiman fellows include:

  • Aria Aber
  • George Abraham
  • Jessica Abughattas
  • Helene Achanzar
  • Vidhu Aggarwal
  • Nawaaz Ahmed
  • Neil Aitken
  • Jordan Alam
  • Jaylee Alde
  • Kimberly Alidio
  • Anna Alves
  • Cynthia Arrieu-King
  • Lisa Ascalon
  • Fatimah Asghar
  • Paul Asta
  • Marie Avetria
  • Hossannah Asuncion
  • Sayuri Ayers
  • Cristiana Baik
  • Jason Bayani
  • Tamiko Beyer
  • Kevin Bi
  • Stephen Bor
  • F. Douglas Brown
  • Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
  • Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello
  • Ina Cariño
  • Bethany Carson
  • Rammel Chan
  • Wo Chan
  • Michelle Chan Brown
  • Elysha Chang
  • K-Ming Chang
  • Bonnie Chau
  • Cathy Linh Che
  • Andy Chen
  • Chen Chen
  • Ching-In Chen
  • Evan Chen
  • Karissa Chen
  • Yujane Chen
  • Jennifer S. Cheng
  • Suman Chhabra
  • Rohan Chhetri
  • Kazumi Chin
  • Arhm Choi
  • Franny Choi
  • Lindsay Choi
  • Serena Chopra
  • Catherine Con
  • Rachelle Cruz
  • Monica Datta
  • Jay Deshpande
  • Duy Doan
  • J.T. Dulani
  • Renee Dwyer
  • Joan Dy
  • Marlon Esguerra
  • Hazem Fahmy
  • Tarfia Faizullah
  • Jennifer Crystal Fang-Chien
  • Alicia Fuhrman
  • Moeko Fujii
  • Pik-Shuen Fung
  • Shamala Gallagher
  • Melody Gee
  • William Giles
  • Jan-Henry Gray
  • Rachel Gray
  • Cynthia Gunadi
  • Karen Gu
  • Kathryn Hargett
  • Samiah Haque
  • April Naoko Heck
  • Carolyn Ho
  • Jean Ho
  • Tiffanie Hoang
  • Dan Hong
  • Christine Hou
  • Vanessa Huang
  • Vt Hung
  • Eveyln Ibarra
  • Zahir Janmohamed
  • Laura Jew
  • Meng Jin
  • Hanae Jonas
  • Janine Joseph
  • Subhashini Kaligotla
  • Min Kang
  • Yuzun Kang
  • W. Todd Kaneko
  • Sarah Kay
  • Mark L. Keats
  • Rathanak Keo
  • Adrian Khactu
  • Swati Khurana
  • Eddie Kim
  • Mary Kim
  • Yume Kim
  • Benjamin Naka-Hasebe Kingsley
  • E.J. Koh
  • Jee Leong Koh
  • Gowri Koneswaran
  • Hyejung Kook
  • Susanna Kwan
  • Sam Lai
  • Amy Lam
  • Chi Lam
  • Kien Lam
  • Alvin Lau
  • Dan Lau
  • Iris Law
  • Esther Lee
  • Grace Jahng Lee
  • Lisa Lee
  • Juno Lee
  • Katherine J. Lee
  • May Lee-Yang
  • Eugenia Leigh
  • Christopher James Llego
  • Henry Wei Leung
  • Muriel Leung
  • Lillian Li
  • Jane Lin
  • Michelle Lin
  • Willie Lin
  • Kenji C. Liu
  • Angie Sijun Lou
  • Phayvanh Luekhamhan
  • Jennifer Lue
  • Janice Luo
  • Rona Luo
  • Ngoc Luu
  • Shireen Madon
  • Mia Ayumi Malhotra
  • Sally Wen Mao
  • Aurora Masum-Javed
  • Noel Pabillo Mariano
  • Kamala Puligandla
  • Lo Kwa Me-en
  • Amy Meng
  • Edmond Menchavez
  • Andie Millares
  • Alison Minami
  • Shayok Misha Chowdhury
  • Feliz Lucia Molina
  • Rajiv Mohabir
  • Ansley Moon
  • Timothy Moore
  • Sonia Mukherji
  • Sahar Muradi
  • Heather Nagami
  • Mika Nagasaki
  • Shankar Narayan
  • Jeevan Narney
  • Mai Nardone
  • Vani Natarajan
  • Danny T. Nguyen
  • Diana Khoi Nguyen
  • Hieu Minh Nguyen
  • Joshua Nguyen
  • Nhu Xuan Nguyen
  • Tiana Nobile
  • Linda Oh
  • Matthew Olzmann
  • Monica Ong Reed
  • Troy Osaki
  • Janine Oshiro
  • Rumit Pancholi
  • Alison Roh Park
  • Diana Park
  • Soham Patel
  • Amisha Patel
  • Michelle Peñaloza
  • Angela Peñaredondo
  • Ploi Pirapokin
  • Bel Poblador
  • Jai Arun Ravine
  • Rachna Reddy
  • Bushra Rehman
  • Pepe Remolona
  • Margaret Rhee
  • Jake Ricafrente
  • Jess Rizkallah
  • Mg Roberts
  • Melissa Roxas
  • Viplav Saini
  • Brynn Saito
  • Chris Santiago
  • Janice Lobo Sapigao
  • Jasmine Sawers
  • Nicky Sa-eun Schildkraut
  • Annesha Sengupta
  • Nay Saysourinho
  • Leah Shlachter
  • Purvi Shah
  • Sejal Shah
  • Sadia Shepard
  • William Shih
  • Candy Shue
  • Terisa Siagatonu
  • Leah Silvieus
  • Melissa R. Sipin
  • Angela So
  • Monica Sok
  • Jaz Sufi
  • Sharon Suzuki-Martinez
  • Shruti Swamy
  • Megan Tabaque
  • Rana Tahir
  • Lucy Tan
  • Inez Tan
  • Kenny Tanemura
  • Elizabeth Tran
  • Nghiem Tran
  • Paul Tran
  • Annie Trinh
  • Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
  • Kristine Uyeda
  • MT Vallarta
  • Mai Der Vang
  • Yael Villafranca
  • R.A. Villanueva
  • Ocean Vuong
  • Elaine Wang
  • Doreen Wang
  • Jackie Wang
  • Ronaldo Wilson
  • Annie Won
  • Angela Veronica Wong
  • Gein Wong
  • Jane Wong
  • Ryan Lee Wong
  • Shelley Wong
  • Yim Tan Wong
  • Jenny Xie[25]
  • Emily Yamauchi
  • George Yamazawa, Jr.
  • Andre Yang
  • Seema Yasmin
  • Debbie Yee
  • Sandra Yee
  • Young Eun Yook
  • Katherine Hyoejin Yoon
  • Timothy Yu
  • Jessica Yuan


Kundiman Faculty includes:


See also

References
  1. "What is Kundiman?". Kundiman. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  2. "Mentorship Lab". Kundiman. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  3. "Kundiman > Mission". Archived from the original on 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  4. "What is Kundiman?". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  5. Kundiman > Recent News > Press Release > Kundiman, Inc & Fordham University announce Partnership Agreement >
  6. "Kundiman > Sponsors". Archived from the original on 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  7. Kundiman > Recent News > Press Release > Kundiman, Inc & Fordham University announce Partnership Agreement >
  8. Sassi, Janet (16 June 2010). "Fordham Joins Kundiman to Bring Renowned Poets to Campus". Fordham Newsroom.
  9. University of Virginia > News > July 30, 2004 > First National Retreat For Asian-American Poets To Be Held At U.Va. Aug. 4-8
  10. Asian-American Poetry > Saturday, March 28, 2009 > Kundiman - Letter from Executive Director Sarah Gambito
  11. "fellowpublicationslist". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  12. "Prize". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  13. "Prize". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  14. Kundiman > Recent News Archived 2009-05-07 at the Wayback Machine
  15. Poets & Writers > G&A: The Contest Blog > Alice James Books and Kundiman Present Book Prize for Asian American Poets > July 14, 2009
  16. Kundiman > Recent News > Press Release > Kundiman, Inc & Fordham University announce Partnership Agreement >
  17. Ho, Karen K. "If an Asian American author doesn't have a Wikipedia page, do they exist?". The Outline. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  18. Ho, Karen K. "If an Asian American author doesn't have a Wikipedia page, do they exist?". The Outline. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  19. "What is Kundiman?". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  20. "Retreat". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  21. "Where Big Books Are Born: Duy Doan on the Kundiman Retreat". Poets & Writers. 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  22. "Writing the Families We Want: An Interview with Chen Chen". Asian American Writers' Workshop. 2017-12-19. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  23. "2018 N.E.A Grants recipients" (PDF).
  24. Wong, Ryan Lee (10 February 2015). "Kundiman Expands to Fiction". Poets & Writers. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  25. "Fellows". Kundiman. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
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