For City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s upcoming Exiled Voices of China Tibet event, Sampsonia Way has curated standout pieces from our coverage of exiled and persecuted writers.

Writer Rewa Zeinati discusses censorship, Western misunderstanding of Middle Eastern literature, and the role of female writers in an oppressed society.

Lebanon-based poet Mazen Zahreddine discusses why he doesn’t think in terms of nationality, publishing his works illegally, and working with Poeticians.

Zena el Khalil discusses how her poems in the anthology try to defy the status quo in order to push Middle Eastern literature into the global spotlight.

Poet Frank Dullaghan discusses writing from the perspective of a woman, topics banned in Dubai and the idea of self-censorship.