Ithaca City of Asylum
Providing refuge for persecuted writers and artists since 2001
Category: Uncategorized
European Court of Human Rights Vindicates Kakabadze
On October 2, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) awarded monetary recompense to Irakli Kakabadze, former Ithaca City of Asylum writer in residence, and others who filed suit against the Republic of Georgia after being detained during a demonstration in…
Read MoreWhen They Came for Us: Freedom to Write in Sri Lanka
“… when you are compelled to leave your … family, your work, your country, and your life as you knew it, that’s when you realize you cannot give up. You have to do more, you have to speak louder, write…
Read MoreICOA’s Fifth Writer-in-residence: Sonali Samarasinghe
Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) is proud to announce that its writer-in-residence for 2012–14 is the human rights activist and award-winning journalist Sonali Samarasinghe. While practicing law in Sri Lanka, Samarasinghe worked as an editor and journalist focusing on government corruption…
Read MoreNew Officers for ICOA’s Board
Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) has elected four new officers for its board of directors. For the 2012-2013 year Dan Renfrow will serve as chair of the board, with Bridget Meeds as vice chair, Kathleen Gemmell as secretary, and David…
Read MoreICOA Participated in Arcades Project’s “The Poem of Display”
ICOA participated in the Arcades Project on Friday, May 4, in the Historic McCormick-Cowdry House at 408 E. State Street in downtown Ithaca. The biannual Arcades Project is a curated event featuring artists, designers, and independent presses. The event coincided…
Read MoreICOA Board Member Publishes Book About South Africa
ICOA Board member Catherine Taylor has a new book being published on May 1. Taylor’s book, entitled Apart, grew out of Taylor’s memories of visiting her family in South Africa as a child and her later curiosity about her (white)…
Read MoreICOA Celebrates the Life and Work of Polish Poet, Czeslaw Milosz
Ithaca City of Asylum recently co-sponsored two events characterized as “Memories of Milosz” to celebrate the life and work of the Nobel Prize winning poet, Czeslaw Milosz. Milosz lived for many years in the United States while he was in…
Read MoreNew Video Offers Portraits of ICOA Writers
In September 2008, Shaun Poust, then a freshman at Ithaca College, volunteered to help out with ICOA’s Voices of Freedom event, which that year welcomed the group’s new writer-in-residence, Irakli Kakabadze. Something about the work of ICOA and Irakli Kakabadze’s…
Read MoreFar From Home
Both Sarah Mkhonza (Swaziland), ICOA’s resident writer from 2006-08, and Irakli Kakabadze (Republic of Georgia), our resident writer from 2008-2011, participated in the December 8 book launch for Far From Home, an anthology of poetry by some of Ithaca’s resident…
Read MoreCelebrating with Center for Transformative Action
On Oct. 23, ICOA joined other partners in helping to celebrate the Center for Transformative Action’s 40th anniversary. The event, which took place at the Greater Ithaca Activies Center, included a talk by Anke Wessels, executive director of CTA, and…
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