This past week City of Asylum/Pittsburgh founder Henry Reese attended, as an observer, the fifth General Assembly of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) in Frankfurt, Germany. ICORN is an association of cities and regions around the world dedicated to preserving freedom of expression where it is endangered. The ICORN General Assembly provides an update on organizations and projects featuring international freedom of expression.
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Each week we will feature an article, a cause, an event, or an organization that is as equally dedicated to celebrating freedom of expression and supporting persecuted poets and novelists worldwide. This article is an excerpt from Lucy Popescu’s Silenced Voices.
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This photo captures a few Haitian school children smiling and laughing outside of their school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Shot 30 years ago, this photo helps illustrate the lives of the Haitian people before the devastating earthquake that rocked the nation. Life in Haiti has never been easy, but with the addition of this catastrophe the already fragile nation has a lot of work to do.
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This week we’ll take a look at 408 Sampsonia Way, known as House Poem. Painted by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s first writer in residence Huang Xiang, this house features an anthology of his poetry helping to illustrate how Xiang has the right to write freely in the United States.
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In January of 2010, Pittsburgh experienced a record snowfall. City of Aslyum/Pittsburgh writer Khet Mar remembers how the snow inspired memories of her childhood.
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Sampsonia Way —a narrow alley on the North Side of Pittsburgh—has become a bustling avenue traversed by writers from all over the world. Croatia, Cuba, Macedonia—just to mention a few—have been represented here.
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An interview with Oliver Lake —the well-known composer, saxophonist, flautist, and bandleader. Featured at the City of Asylum/ PIttsburgh 2008 Jazz Poetry Concert, Oliver Lake has been flowing through the ears of Pittsburgh listeners ever since.
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