Category: Uncategorized


Visual Art on Banned Books

ICOA is pleased to invite you to an art show at the Tompkins County Public Library, featuring art based on Banned Books. The exhibition is available until December 20, 2013 and contains work by two Ithaca City of Asylum board…

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Using Fiction for Social Change

Exiled Venezuelan Author Reads from Dystopian Novel for Voices of Freedom 2013 Venezuelan political critic and renowned author Israel Centeno read from his novel La Torre Invertida, (translated as The Tower Overturned) as the highlight of Ithaca City of Asylum’s…

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Samarasinghe Gives Commencement Address

Sonali Samarasinghe, Ithaca City of Asylum’s resident writer, was selected to give the commencement address at The Ellis School in Pittsburgh on June 6, 2013. The Ellis School is Pittsburgh’s only independent school dedicated to the education of girls and…

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Calls Beyond Our Hearing and Murder, She Rode

Holly Menino, ICOA board member, produced two books recently, with very different audiences. The first, Calls Beyond Our Hearing: Unlocking the Secrets of Animal Voices was published last April and is a fascinating exploration of animals, their voices, and their survival. Recovering from…

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ICOA at Spring Writes 2013

ICOA writer-in-residence, Sonali Samarasinghe and novelist Edward Hower, a longtime ICOA board member, were featured speakers at “Writing to Create Change,” a reading and panel discussion that is part of Ithaca’s Spring Writes Festival. The event took place on Saturday,…

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Samarasinghe’s Class Hosts UNESCO Human Rights Chair

Ithaca City of Asylum’s writer-in-residence, Sonali Samarasinghe, has maintained a lively teaching schedule in her capacity as Visiting Scholar in Residence in Ithaca College’s Honors Program.  Her course Human Rights Litigation has brought a number of guest speakers to the…

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Festival Film Features ICOA Writer-in-Residence

Silenced Voices: Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile, was a presentation of Ithaca College’s Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) this year. The documentary features Sonali Samarasinghe and her experiences with the Sri Lankan government’s repression of the media. Samarasinghe is ICOA’s writer-in-residence…

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Samarasinghe Featured at Pittsburgh Event

Sonali Samarsinghe, ICOA’s resident writer, was the featured speaker at an event hosted by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, Wednesday, March 6. Samarasinghe gave a reading from her work and, after this presentation, she conducted a two-day residency at the Ellis School,…

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Telling Truths in Arusha

Ithaca College screened Telling Truths in Arusha, a powerful documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Beate Arnestad, on February 11, 2013, at 7 p.m. in Textor 103. A discussion with filmmaker Beate Arnestad and prosecutor Brian Wallace, moderated by politics professor Dr. Peyi…

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The Fierce Urgency of Now: Samarasinghe is Keynote Speaker

Sonali Samarasinghe provided the keynote speech for Ithaca’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Celebration on January 21, 2013. During her talk she spoke about how she had to flee her native Sri Lanka with only a few belongings, one of which…

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