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.
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On April 27, novelist Tommy Wieringa visited Sampsonia Way to give a reading with Sofi Oksanen and Christos Tsoilkas. The event was sponsored by City of Aslyum/Pittsburgh in partnership with PEN/America.
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Tashi Rabten is one of two Tibetan students arrested by the Chinese government from the Tibet Autonomous Region. As the editior of Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain), a banned literary magazine, he wrote on the suppression of the March 2008 protests in Lhasa and surrounding regions. Sydney PEN is calling for Tashi’s immediate release from Chinese custody.
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A year ago, when Sampsonia Way asked the writer Er Tai Gao to write about China twenty years after Tiananmen Square, he was more than willing to offer his reflection in Three Thoughts on Tiananmen Square.
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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.
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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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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 detective stories there’s no birds sing. Joy is forbidden, temptation the sign of the devil, illicit, enthralling, a siren not a song. Joy is the accomplice of crime. Solving a crime, no matter how chaotic …
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As a Chinese citizen, I cannot publish in China. But I can freely “promote Chinese culture” in the U.S., engage in cultural exchanges, and speak from the lectern at American universities I am deeply impressed by …
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Sampsonia Way's companion guide to City of Asylum’s Exiled Voice of China and Tibet literary event, featuring standout pieces from its three year coverage of exiled and persecuted writers. READ
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