Journalist and memoirist Raza Rumi and writer and filmmaker Austin Bunn engaged in a lively conversation about their lives, their creative work, and “the power of imagination as a public good” at the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca on October 2, 2026. The event was part of the series “IMAGINE! Dialogues on the Power of Imagination as a Public Good” in celebration of Ithaca City of Asylum’s 25th anniversary.

The series pairs former ICOA writers- and artists-in-residence with people in Ithaca working in different creative fields.

Raza Rumi was ICOA’s guest writer from 2015 to 2017. A well-known journalist and economist in Pakistan, he was forced to flee after barely surviving an assassination attempt in 2014. While in Ithaca, he taught at Ithaca College and Cornell University and went on to direct the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College. He now teaches at Hunter College in New York City.

Austin Bunn, a professor at Cornell, is an award-winning screenwriter, writer, and filmmaker. Jonathan Miller is a former print and radio journalist who serves as co-director of Story House Ithaca and vice chair of the advisory board of Ithaca City of Asylum.