Partner with Kundiman for Our End of Year Campaign

Despite the rise in anti-Asian discrimination and violence, Kundiman continues to nurture Asian American artistry and imagination. The core of our mission is well captured by the following quote from Ocean Vuong:

When you dare to be a writer as an Asian American, when you dare to have your own agency, be prepared to be inconceivable. Because we need you, and we are ready for you.

Kundiman creates spaces that make personal and artistic courage possible. At a time when staying close to home is still the best option, Kundiman’s ten regional groups have fostered connections within local communities and across the country. We had a 500% increase in regional group sign ups compared to last year, demonstrating the enormous need for local writing communities.

In 2022, we hope to increase our funding for regional groups to empower more writers of color to pursue their visions. We will host 18 online craft classes and workshops for writers of color across the world, and we are eagerly anticipating the return of our in-person retreat.

Join our cause and help us raise $40,000 by the end of the year. A donation of $100 provides two scholarships to our one-day craft classes. A donation of $500 provides a scholarship to a six-week workshop for a writer of color. A donation of $2000 supports events in one of our 10 regional groups for an entire year.

The first 75 people who donate $100 or more to our End of Year Campaign will be offered a special, limited edition Ocean Vuong tote that reads "Prepare to be Inconceivable."

Help welcome more Asian American writers into our communities, where we continue to claim our collective agency. Help sustain us with an end of year gift. Together, let’s create a world that celebrates Asian American voices.

The Asian American Feminist Collective Zine, "To Us and Ours" is now available!

We’re pleased to announce that “To Us and Ours" Zine is now available to download. This collection of writing emerges from the 2021 Asian American Feminist Writing Workshop, hosted by Kundiman and the Asian American Feminist Collective.

This workshop fostered a space for writers to explore how the unique histories and themes of Asian American feminism influence their own work. This zine and workshop is an extension of Kundiman’s vision to continually empower Asian American writers in building community, while also highlighting the importance of uplifting feminist histories that are traditionally marginalized.

Please visit this website to download “To Us and Ours.” To learn more about the AAFC workshop, visit our archive or watch our final workshop reading.

Pre-order Rohan Chhetri's Kundiman Poetry Prize-winning Book!

We are pleased to announce that Lost, Hurt, or in Transit Beautiful by Rohan Chhetri is now available for pre-order! This stunning collection won the 2018 Kundiman Poetry Prize and will be released by Tupelo Press in September 2021. This prize honors exceptional work by Asian American poets and was selected by the artistic staff of Kundiman and the editors of Tupelo Press.

As described by Tupelo Press’s Editor-in-Chief Kristina Marie Darling in the Judge’s Citation, “In Rohan Chhetri’s Lost, Hurt, or in Transit Beautiful,​ inherited literary forms— the ode, the lyric, and pristine tercets— are juxtaposed with gorgeously fractured and stylistically daring hybrid pieces. The end result is a work in which poetic technique is brought to bear on lingering questions of identity, artistic tradition, and the cruelty implicit in language itself.”

Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic, said that this collection, “…has pain and it has discovery. It has wonder. It has the spell of a story and the effortlessness of a song.”

Pre-order your copy here!