“Collage” by Israel Centeno

On September 16, jazz greats Hamiet Bluiett and Roger Humphries performed an evening of jazz at City of Asylum. Between sets, the musicians collaborated with poet Israel Centeno–a writer-in-residence at City of Asylum–for this jazz and poetry interlude.

Israel Centeno (Venezuela) is a writer-in-residence at City of Asylum, having arrived in 2011. He is the author of poetry, short stories, and ten novels and is regarded as one of the most important Venezuelan literary figures of the past fifty years. He has won numerous awards, including the Federico Garcia Lorca Award in Spain and the National Council of Culture Award in Venezuela in 1991. Known as a literary innovator, his work deals with urban dystopias and controversial themes.