Hanuman Books
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hanuman Books (named after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman) was originally a 50 book series of very small books, formatted to resemble Indian prayer books. In 1986 Hanuman Books was founded and published by American art critic Raymond Foye and artist Francesco Clemente in New York City. The original series ran from 1986 to 1993[1] out of the Chelsea Hotel.
The series concentrated on avant-garde cultural values of the 1980s and included Dada writings, Beat poetry, Naropa Institute poets, Andy Warhol's Factory scene, San Francisco's North Beach literary scene and members of New York's art and literary scene, such as Patti Smith. Radical French authors, such as Jean Genet, Henri Michaux, René Daumal and Francis Picabia were mixed with Lower East Side writers like William Burroughs, Nick Zedd and Gary Indiana.
The series has since acquired a cult following[2] and in 2023 writer, art historian and theorist Shruti Belliappa and writer Joshua Rothes began a publishing project reimagining the Hanuman Books legacy. New authors are being added to the original series and some original authors's books are being reissued, like Cookie Mueller's Garden of Ashes.[3]