Ithaca City of Asylum
Providing refuge for persecuted writers and artists since 2001
Pittsburgh City of Asylum welcomes new writer
Pittsburgh City of Asylum has announced the arrival of Tuhin Das, their newest exiled writer-in-residence. Tuhin is a poet, short story writer, and editor from Bangladesh. Since September of 2015, he has been in hiding due to death threats, a target of fundamentalist groups. You can read more about him on their magazine, Sampsonia Way.
Readings and Performances in Honor of Sabeen Mahmud
Raza Rumi invites you to his event.
Sunday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m
Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, New York.
“Faasla Na Rakhein – Pyar Hone Dein” Let there be no distance – let there be love. A year ago, Pakistan and the global community of activists and dreamers lost Sabeen Mahmud, an incredible artist.
Raza Rumi at Spring Writes
Sunday, May 1
3:00 – 4:00pm
Buffalo Street Books
Raza Ahmad Rumi reads from his memoir in progress and will also read some of his political writings on Pakistan and South Asia. The reading will be followed by a Q &A.
Raza Rumi publishes powerful WorldPost piece
Raza Rumi writes on the need for Pakistan to engage actively in deradicalization. Read more here.
Rumi speaks at SU and CU
Violent extremism in Pakistan, much in the news of late, will be the subject of two talks by ICOA resident writer Raza Rumi next week at two regional universities.
Raza will give a talk on Tuesday, April 5 at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. The talk, titled “The State of Democracy in South Asia,” will take place at 12:30-1:30 pm in 341 Eggers. The talk is sponsored by the South Asia Center at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. More about the talk here.
On Thursday, April 7, Raza will give a talk at Cornell University titled “Pakistan’s Battle Against Violent Extremism.” The talk, under the auspices of the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, will take place from 12:15-1:30 pm in G-08 Uris Hall. More about that talk here.
The board members of ICOA are grateful to Raza for his willingness to engage broadly with many audiences in the region and share his deeply personal and professional perspectives about these timely and difficult issues.
Asylum writer wields pen against sword
The Ithaca Times features Raza Rumi. Click here.
Raza Rumi reading March 30
LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY: BELONGING, UNBELONGING
a reading by Raza Rumi
scholar in residence at Ithaca College’s Honors Program and Ithaca City of Asylum’s featured writer
Author of Delhi by Heart: Impressions of a Pakistani Traveler, Raza Rumi will read from his memoir in progress. The reading will be followed by a Q &A.
6 p.m. Wed. March 30, 2016 Handwerker Gallery
part of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF)
for more info:
ICOA’s Ithaca Out Loud Event Featured on WSKG Radio
In November 2014 Ithaca City of Asylum presented Ithaca Out Loud, a performance in which Ithaca actors read stories by Ithaca authors. WSKG radio was interested in airing the performance, and in January 2016 they selected “Maintenance,” by Jacob White, “an atmospheric and poetic story,” read by actor Masa Gibson.
You can listen to Gibson read “Maintenance” here:
Raza Rumi hosts film premiere
The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival will host its kick-off event with a one-time only screening of the internationally acclaimed hit feature narrative film SHAH (Pakistan, 2015). The screening is Sunday February 21 at 4:30 p.m. at Cinemapolis.
The first 50 people to arrive at the screening will be treated with free admission to this very special international event. SHAH trailer (in Urdu) here. The FLEFF screening will have English subtitles.
Adnan Sarwar, the film’s producer, director, screenwriter, actor, and composer, will be present at the screening. Raza Rumi, City of Asylum Writer in Residence for the Ithaca College Honors Program, will moderate the post-screening discussion.
SHAH is a 2015 Pakistani biographical sports film based on the life of boxer Hussain Shah who won the bronze medal at 1988 Summer Olympics. He was the only boxer in Pakistan’s history to secure an Olympic medal in that sport.
The film stars Adnan Sarwar in the role of Hussain Shah. Sarwar trained for the role of the homeless boxer by undergoing a six month-long boxing training regime, where he lost 10 kilos of body weight to prepare for the role. The film cast also features Kiran Chaudhary, Sardar Baloch, Adeel Raees and Gulab Chandio.
Despite being produced as an independent film on a shoestring budget by a team of five people, SHAH has been hailed as “not only an achievement for Adnan Sarwar but for the whole Pakistani film industry. “ Sarwar was praised by critics for his portrayal of the Lyari born Pakistani boxing legend.
Adnan Sarwar (born in Lahore, Pakistan) is an actor, director, musician, screenwriter, and producer. Sarwar started his music career as a session guitar player for various Pakistani musicians such as The Trip, Mekaal Hasan Band, and Ali Zafar before forming the duo Club Caramel with singer Kiran Chaudhry in 2006. He composed the soundtrack of his debut film SHAH.
The critically acclaimed independent Pakistani feature film SHAH is based on the true story of Olympian boxer Syed Hussain Shah. Hussain Shah started his life as a homeless child on the streets of Karachi and went on to become the 1st South Asian to win an Olympic Medal in Boxing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Soon after his Olympic success, Hussain Shah was forgotten by the people of Pakistan and fell back into the life of poverty where he started his life and ended as a homeless construction worker before being given one last chance for glory. A story of triumph against all odds, SHAH was released to widespread acclaim in Pakistan on Independence Day 2015 becoming one of the biggest cinematic hits of the year.
Sarwar has commented on his acting method: “I lived and breathed boxing. I had to go through functional resistance training and running in the morning and boxing drills in the evening with very little intake of food. It was tough.” The film production took place in Pakistan, United Kingdom and Japan. The production team raised Rs. 2 million, saying “We’ve raised that 2 million and are going to give it to him because that’s a debt we owe him as a nation.” Sarwar has also set up a boxing scholarship for Lyari’s street kids, who are part of the film’s cast.
FLEFF’s 2016 festival kick-off event is also supported by the Honors Program at Ithaca College and the Keshishoglou Center for Global Communications Innovation in the Roy H. Park School of Communications.
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