Gade Tsering, a Tibetan blogger, writer, and poet, was one of the most recent contributors to High Peaks Pure Earth because of his outspoken voice in all his writings. He runs a widely popular Chinese language blog called Tibet, or After the Last Sky. Tsering aims to spread awareness about issues going on throughout the Tibetan region through his poetry
Read more...
Zaw Thet Htwe is a Burmese sports journalist. In 2008, Htwe was working with Burmese comedian Maung Thura -also known as Zargana- to deliver aid and support to the victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2, 2008. While working as humanitarians for the Burmese people, Htwe and Zargana were placed under arrest by the Junta government.
Read more...
Here on Sampsonia Way, City of Asylum writer-in-residence Khet Mar and her family marked the 65th birthday of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by drawing and painting portraits of her. Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest due to her political involvement in the National League for Democracy in Burma. Following the publication of this post, she was release from house arrest in November 2010.
Read more...
Following the May 2010 release of Saw Wei, a Burmese poet imprisoned for two and a half years after “inducing crime against public tranquility,” Sampsonia Way writer Brian Honigman reflects on other Burmese authors imprisoned for their work.
Read more...
Moniro Ravanipour is an Iranian author and writer-in-residence at the City of Asylum Las Vegas. Ravanipour was detained and interrogated by the Iranian government after a reading of one of her eight published books. In this video interview, Ravanipour discusses Iranian censorship, the political situation, and their effects on her writing.
Read more...
Irakli Kakabadze was the writer-in-residence at the Ithaca City of Asylum for the past two years. Hailing from the Caucasus nation of Georgia, Kakabadze suffered persecution at the hands of the government because of the opinions he expressed through his writings and protesting. We corresponded with Kakabadze via email to see what project he is currently working on and to learn about his experiences with City of Asylum.
Read more...
This piece highlights the merger between City of Asylum and Iowa University’s International Writers Program. This video discussion highlights how governments react to creative poetry and creative writing in their countries.
Read more...
