Category: Uncategorized


Arthur Groys offers shadow puppet workshop for kids

Light & Shadow Puppet Workshop with Arthur GroysSaturday, May 2, 2026, 2 – 4 pmTompkins County Public LibraryBorg Warner West RoomFor kids 7 & upRegister now to save your spot Ithaca City of Asylum artist-in-residence Arthur Groys will lead a…

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Molina & Lehmann kick off Imagine! series

Imagine! Pedro X. Molina and Johannes LehmannTuesday, April 28, 6:30 p.m.BorgWarner Room West, Tompkins County Public LibraryFree and open to the public Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro X. Molina (winner of the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, finalist for the 2026…

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Imagine! series celebrates ICOA’s 25th anniversary

Celebrate Ithaca’s 25th anniversary as a refuge for threatened writers and artists with this series of dialogues exploring the power of imagination as a public good. Twenty-five years ago, a group of local writers declared Ithaca a place where threatened…

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Voices of Freedom: Pedro X. Molina on milestones of Latin American democracy

A Voices of Freedom celebration, hosted by Ithaca City of AsylumThursday, December 4, at 5:45 p.m. BorgWarner Room of the Tompkins County Public Library101 E. Green St., Ithaca 14850 Free and open to the public • Refreshments will be served…

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ICOA mourns passing of its first resident artist, Chinese poet Yi Ping

Yi Ping (24 July 1952 – 30 December 2024) Yi Ping –– poet, essayist, teacher, and cultural critic –– died of cancer on December 30, 2024, after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife Lin Zhou and son…

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ICOA welcomes Arthur Groys

Ithaca City of Asylum welcomes Russian filmmaker, director, and writer Arthur Groys as its ninth resident writer. He is an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at Ithaca College and ICOA.

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Video now available for conversation with Andrey Kurkov

“Truth, Lies, and Literature: Andrey Kurkov in Conversation” featured the well-known Ukrainian author in dialogue with Boris Dralyuk, translator of his most recent novels.

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The Forbidden Future: ICOA presents panel at Spring Writes festival

Russian dissident poet, novelist, and satirist Dmitry Bykov says societies need writers to help them imagine the future, but “the future is the most forbidden topic in my country.” On May 13, he joined Mark Lipovetsky, director of graduate studies at Columbia University’s Department of Slavic Languages, for a wide-ranging discussion on “The Forbidden Future: Literature and Journalism in Today’s Russia.” Barbara Adams moderated.

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For dissident writer, the fight for Russia’s future is personal

In a profile in the Cornell Chronicle, Dmitry Bykov describes his interests and goals and discusses the personal and professional challenges he has faced as a prominent critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

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ICOA welcomes artist-in-residence Dmitry Bykov

Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) is pleased to welcome Russian poet, satirist, literary critic, novelist, and media personality Dmitry Bykov as its eighth artist-in-residence. Bykov is one of Russia’s best-known public intellectuals and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. He is based at Cornell’s Institute for European Studies and supported by a fellowship from the Open Society University Network.

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