Printed in elegant, stapled editions, the inaugural chapbook series of Lost & Found appeared in Spring 2010 to great acclaim, garnering reviews from international publications such as The London Review of Books. The books became part of the permanent collections of foremost libraries throughout the country, and available at fine bookstores such as St. Marks Bookshop in New York and City Lights in San Francisco.
Throughout 2010, we hosted public events under the auspices of Lost & Found to further open this important work up to the public. In February, photographer Nikki Johnson, filmmaker and artist Camille Billops, and professors James Hatch (CUNY) and C. Daniel Dawson (NYU and Columbia) discussed legacies of the Black Arts Movement, starting with the case of the late Raven Chanticleer, who founded and made the sculptures for his Harlem African-American Wax and History Museum. The event was moderated by David Henderson, poet, author and one of the founders of the Umbra Arts Movement – and a Lost & Found Visiting Fellow.
In March, poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña and filmmakers Melanie La Rosa, and Henry Ferrini discussed films that bring into cinematic focus the untold histories of a radical literary era in an event titled Beats and Beyond: Documenting the Poets of the 60’s. That same month, The Graduate Center’s Ammiel Alcalay joined the poet, political activist and publisher Margaret Randall in conversation about her own political activism and the journal El Corno Emplumado / The Plumed Horn (1962-1969), featuring the work of major poets from the United States, Canada and Latin America in English, Spanish and Portuguese, then on the cutting edge of innovative writing and now an archival treasure.
In October 2010, in preparation for the launch of the Series II of Lost & Found, the iconic poet and activist Diane di Prima visited The Graduate Center for a rare New York City appearance and read to a standing room-only auditorium of over 300. She was our second Lost & Found Visiting Fellow. A few days later, poet and biographer Jan Heller Levi, biographer Blanche Cook, and Graduate Center students and Lost & Found editors Stefania Heim and Rowena Kennedy-Epstein spoke at The Century Club as part of a tribute to poet and activist Muriel Rukeyser. They read from Rukeyser’s work, and discussed their research and engagement with her opus. Diane di Prima made a guest appearance and shared her thoughts on and memories of Rukeyser.
In March 2011, we hosted our Annual Chapbook Festival, a celebration of the chapbook as a work of art and as a medium for alternative and emerging writers and publishers. The festival featured a two-day bookfair with chapbook publishers from around the country, workshops, a reading of prize-winning Chapbook Fellows, and a roundtable and launch of Lost & Found Series II featuring Ammiel Alcalay, celebrated poet Anne Waldman, scholar and publisher of Granary Books Steve Clay, and Megan Mangum, the designer of Lost & Found chapbooks. Series II is now available through Small Press Distribution.
Fall 2011 brought us a visit by a new Lost & Found Visiting Fellow, poet David Meltzer. He was joined in conversation by Ammiel Alcalay and renowned saxophonist/clarinetist Marty Ehrlich. With excitement we are preparing for the publication of Series III of Lost & Found in Spring 2012, when we’ll also be visited by poets Joanne Kyger and Michael Rumaker.
