Support Asian American Literature
As we enter Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, I am volunteering to raise funds for an organization that has been pivotal to my work and identity as an AAPI writer and artist. Kundiman was started in 2004 by poets in search of a space that would serve, nurture, and empower generations of writers and readers of Asian American literature. Kundiman was guided in its early days by the founders of Cave Canem: A Home for Black Poetry and since then has continued to flourish in size and scope.
The arts is not an easy space for marginalized people to navigate. Growing up, I did not even know that Asian American writers existed. I have attended MFA programs, literary conferences, and readings that were alienating and violent, that made me feel mute and broken. Kundiman is a revolutionary literary home I never even imagined—a place where my belonging is assumed rather than questioned, where my desire to speak is celebrated rather than something for which I have to fight. Kundiman has emboldened my voice, my work, and my sense of self moving through the world. The poems, stories, and essays that Kundiman fellows are creating are the ones I have waited my whole life to read.
Asian American voices and stories have always been important; in a moment when AAPI are being targeted with violent hate, the need for a space like Kundiman feels particularly urgent. Join me in supporting Asian American voices and stories by making a recurring gift of any amount within your means.