“My exile began long ago, before I left Venezuela.” Author Israel Centeno – former City of Asylum Pittsburgh exiled writer-in-residence – on how the extreme political polarization and violence that swept through the country in recent years has torn apart relationships and his beloved Caracas.
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A collection of photojournalism depicting the everyday lives of Belarusians has led the Belarus Government to withdraw the publishing license of the largest non-state publishing house, Łohvinaŭ. The International Publishers Association is calling on Belarus to revoke the decision and protect the freedom to publish.
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Independent Chinese PEN Center president Tienchi Martin-Liao discusses the contrasting treatment received by imprisoned Chinese dissidents and shares the personal accounts of Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, human rights activist and lawyer Teng Biao, and the writer and blogger Ran Yunfei.
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For the last four years, Monterey Street in Pittsburgh’s Mexican War Streets neighborhood has become a stage for “I Don’t Know What I’d Do If I Couldn’t Speak My Mind,” an open day-long poetry event showcasing dozens of writers. We speak to event organizer Adel Fougnies.
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Egyptian writer and Sampsonia Way columnist Hamdy El-Gazzar shares his notes from a recent stay at City of Asylum/Pittsburgh earlier this month. In this account, he stumbles upon the fun-filled art project Randyland, which is just around the corner from COAP writers’ residences.
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Independent Chinese PEN Center president Tienchi Martin-Liao discusses the importance of the Tiananmen Square Massacre twenty-four years later, why China should not wait for a savior, and her work with imprisoned writer Liu Xiaobo.
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The Village Indian tells author Abbas Khider’s own story of exile. With elements of both tragedy and comedy, the following excerpt – Chapter 6: The Miracles – details the many “miracles” that allow Khider’s fictional protagonist, Rasul Hamid, to flee from Iraq to Germany.
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