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 2014, writer and art historian Shruti Belliappa founded Hanuman Editions, reimagining the Hanuman Books legacy. She co-edits the project with writer Joshua Rothes. As of 2023, new authors like McKenzie Wark, Vivek Narayanan, Bora Chung, Enrique Vila-Matas and Raymond Pettibon are being added to the original series and some original titles are being reissued, like Eileen Myles' Bread and Water and Cookie Mueller's Garden of Ashes.[3]