Ithaca City of Asylum
Providing refuge for persecuted writers and artists since 2001
Prominent Nicaraguan dissidents to discuss literature, art, and power
Truth, Lies, and Literature: Sergio Ramírez and Pedro X. Molina in Conversation
Sunday, October 15, 2 pm EDT
Via Zoom, register here
Two of Latin America’s most forceful dissident voices will explore the power and limits of fiction and other forms of creative expression in a public conversation on Sunday, October 15, at 2 pm EDT. The online event, organized by Ithaca City of Asylum, is part of a series of talks called “Truth, Lies, and Literature.” There is no admission but advance registration is required.
Sergio Ramírez Mercado (born 1942) is Nicaragua’s best-known living writer. He has produced novels, short stories, and journalism and has won many international awards, including the Cervantes Prize, the highest honor in the world of Spanish literature. He was also a key figure in the 1979 revolution that toppled the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. He served as vice president under the Sandinista government from 1985 to 1990 before splitting with the group and becoming a leading voice of opposition from the left. He was forced into exile in 2021 and was stripped of his citizenship in February 2023. He now lives in Spain.
Ramírez will be joined in conversation by Pedro X. Molina, an internationally acclaimed political cartoonist who fled Nicaragua in 2018 and settled in Ithaca with the help of Ithaca City of Asylum. Molina has won a host of prestigious awards for his cartooning and his promotion of human rights, including the 2023 Vaclav Havel Award for Creative Dissent. He continues to contribute six cartoons and one strip per week to the online Nicaraguan news outlet Confidencial, and his work is published regularly in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.
Philip Lorenz, an associate professor of literature at Cornell, will moderate. The event is made possible by funds from the Statewide Community Regrants program from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, and from Tompkins County, administered by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.
Video now available for conversation with Andrey Kurkov
“Truth, Lies, and Literature: Andrey Kurkov in Conversation” on August 12, 2023 featured the well-known Ukrainian author in dialogue with Boris Dralyuk, translator of his most recent novels. The two writers discussed the current situation in Ukraine and talked about the role of journalism and literature in Ukraine. Among the highlights was Kurkov’s announcement that, 18 months after the Russian invasion, he has finally returned to writing fiction. The video is now available here.
Andrey Kurkov in conversation August 12
Truth, Lies, and Literature: Andrey Kurkov in Conversation
Saturday, August 12, 10 am EDT
Via Zoom, registration required
What can fiction do that journalism can’t? And when is literature not enough? Ithaca City of Asylum presents a conversation with Ukrainian author and human rights advocate Andrey Kurkov. Kurkov, who will Zoom in from Kyiv, will speak with writer, editor, and translator Boris Dralyuk, whose translation of Kurkov’s latest novel, Grey Bees, won the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award for Translated Fiction.
Andrey Kurkov is one of Ukraine’s best-known novelists. The author of more than 20 books, he is based in Kyiv, where he is currently writing a war diary in English and working on a variety of fiction projects. Grey Bees, which was first published in 2018, tells the story of a retired mine safety inspector turned beekeeper living in the “gray zone” between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian positions after the 2014 war.
“Truth, Lies, and Literature: Andrey Kurkov in Conversation” is part of the 2023 Ithaca is Books festival. The event is organized by Ithaca City of Asylum, co-presented by Story House Ithaca, and made possible in part with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants program from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, and from Tompkins County, administered by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.
The event is free but registration is required. Register here.
Pedro Molina wins Havel human rights prize
Pedro X. Molina, who came to Ithaca as a guest of Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) in 2018 and has lived in the area ever since, will receive the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday, June 14.
The prize, established in 2012 by the Human Rights Foundation, honors “those who unmask the lie of dictatorship through art.” It is named for the late Czech poet, playwright, and philosopher who led his country’s successful revolt against Soviet rule in the 1970s and 80s.
Molina is a popular political cartoonist in his native Nicaragua and an energetic critic of the dictatorship there. He fled with his family on Christmas Day in 2018 after the offices of Confidencial, the online news outlet where he published his cartoons, were ransacked and occupied during a crackdown on dissent.
Working with the International Cities of Refuge Network, ICOA arranged for his travel to Ithaca and his positions as an international writer in residence at Ithaca College and an Artist Protection Fund fellow in residence at the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program at Cornell. ICOA also provided Molina and his family with financial, legal, logistical, and social support.
While living in Ithaca, Molina has continued to send a daily cartoon to Confidencial and frequently publishes in US media. Last year, his wife took a position as a teacher in the Ithaca city schools and the family decided to put down roots in the community.
“Pedro is a courageous advocate for human rights and free expression, and it is wonderful to know that his voice carries to his home country and beyond,” said ICOA board chair Gail Holst-Warhaft. “He is also a fine human being, and we’re thrilled that he and his family have decided to settle here in Ithaca.”
Among Molina’s many honors is a 2021 Gabo Prize for Excellence, one of the most prestigious journalism awards in Latin America. He also won a 2019 Maria Moors Cabot Award from Columbia Journalism School for “career excellence and coverage of the Western Hemisphere that furthers inter-American understanding.”
The Cabot Award committee called him “one of Nicaragua’s sharpest observers” and wrote that “Molina uses his pen and wit to take aim not only at the repressive government of President Daniel Ortega, but also at human rights abuses throughout the Americas and the world.”
In 2018, he won the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award from Cartoonists Rights Network International and an Excellence in Journalism award from the Inter American Press Association.
Spring tidings (and good news!)
You may have read recent reports about the rising number of attacks on writers, artists, and journalists around the world. But here in Ithaca, spring has brought some good news, too.
ICOA’s current resident, the Russian dissident writer Dmitry Bykov, arrived here with his wife, Katya, and young son in early 2022, just days before Russia invaded Ukraine. Dmitry had been poisoned, harassed, and banned from teaching or appearing on TV or radio in Russia. He came to us with a fellowship from the Open Society University Network; we have contributed to his rent and provided practical and social support. During his time here, he has served as a visiting critic at Cornell’s Einaudi Center, written a biography of Volodymir Zelensky, taught online classes, and traveled the world giving lectures.
We are pleased to announce that Dmitry has accepted a teaching position at the University of Rochester and that he and his family will be moving there this fall.
We also have exciting news from our previous resident, Pedro X. Molina. Pedro, his wife, and their two sons arrived here in December 2018 from Nicaragua, where Pedro provided political cartoons to a newspaper opposed to the dictatorship. With ICOA’s support, he secured a two-year residency at Ithaca College, then spent a year as an Artist Protection Fund fellow at the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program at Cornell. Since then, he has continued to send home daily cartoons, give talks and workshops, produce instructional videos, win international awards, and publish in major news outlets around the globe. Last fall, his wife got a job teaching Spanish in the Ithaca City School District and the family decided to put down roots here. This month, they’re making a down payment on a house. To top it all off, Pedro has just joined the ICOA advisory board. (So have Philip Lorenz and Jason Freitag — welcome all!)
Dmitry, Pedro, and our fellow advisory board member Raza Rumi (ICOA resident from 2015 to 2017, now director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College) continue a two-decade tradition of ICOA guests not just finding temporary refuge in Ithaca, but making real progress in their personal, professional, and creative lives. Crucially, they have all remained active in the cultural and political life of their home countries. We are delighted for them and proud of the role that we, as a community, have played in their success.
The good news doesn’t stop there. This month, with help from a grant from Cornell’s Migrations Global Grand Challenge, we launched a national effort to provide basic career development guidance for writers, artists, journalists, scholars, and human rights defenders living in exile across the United States. ICOA advisory board member Jonathan Miller is the project coordinator.
All over the world, people of conscience are being persecuted for speaking their minds. We in Ithaca can be proud of what we have done over the last 22 years to make sure that at least some of their voices are not silenced.
Remembering Russell Banks
The novelist Russell Banks died on January 7, 2023. The following remembrance was written by Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum Pittsburgh.
Many know Russell Banks as one of America’s very greatest novelists.
But he also led the startup of City of Asylum in the United States and in Pittsburgh. And he helped us in Pittsburgh almost to the day he died. He had planned to come here in November 2022 for a reading to launch his new novel, The Magic Kingdom.
Without Russell Banks, there would be no City of Asylum in Pittsburgh. When he became the third President of the International Parliament of Writers, Russell resolved to expand the City of Asylum movement into the U.S. And he did this almost single-handedly.
Russell’s dedication to our mission was deep, and he had a good feel for the pragmatics ….as well as superhuman patience that I didn’t expect. Over time, I learned that it really wasn’t patience: He was simply interested in people, all people, deeply.
On November 21, 2004, when I introduced Russell to make the keynote speech at our Pittsburgh opening day ceremony, I spoke about his books as being a place where character, commitment, and social justice collide….and implicitly ask the question, “What would you do?”
Russell answered the question in his own life with a clear-eyed and beautiful grace.
Henry Reese
Co-founder, City of Asylum Pittsburgh
Exiled writers complete solidarity tour
Four writers whose work has been suppressed and whose lives have been threatened spent Banned Books Week on a three-city solidarity tour that included public presentations, meetings with students, social events, and other activities.
“DISSIDENCE: Exiled Writers on Resistance and Risk” featured Algerian novelist Anouar Rahmani, Nigerian essayist Pwaangulongii Dauod, Russian poet Dmitry Bykov, and Nicaraguan political cartoonist Pedro X. Molina. Each was forced to flee his home country under threat of violence and censorship and each found safe haven in a City of Asylum in the United States. Learn more about the writers here.
Rahmani is writer-in-residence with City of Asylum Pittsburgh and Dauod fills the same role with City of Asylum Detroit. Bykov is currently the guest writer with Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) and Molina was ICOA’s artist-in-residence from 2018–2021. The tour was jointly organized by the three Cities of Asylum and supported by a grant from Cornell University’s Migrations Global Grand Challenge and the Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures Initiative.
An estimated 60 people attended the “DISSIDENCE” event at Trinosophes in Detroit on Friday, September 16. On Monday, September 19, 157 people attended a presentation at Alphabet City in Pittsburgh, with 72 participating in person and the rest joining online. A total of 132 people attended three presentations in Ithaca, including one at Ithaca College on Thursday, September 22; another at Cornell University on Friday, September 23; and a third that evening at the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA).
The CSMA event was also a celebration of ICOA’s 20th anniversary, delayed one year by the COVID pandemic. Current board chair Gail Holst-Warhaft, co-founder Bridget Meeds, and Rachel Beatty Riedl, director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell, all gave brief remarks.
The Detroit-based quarterly literary journal Three Fold published a ““dossier” featuring the four writers’ work in its Fall 2022 issue. The Ithaca Times and Cornell Chronicle published articles about the tour.
ICOA condemns Rushdie attack
The board of Ithaca City of Asylum, a local organization that has been giving shelter to endangered writers for twenty years, joins with many authors and human rights advocates worldwide in condemning the brutal attack on novelist Salman Rushdie in Chautauqua, New York, on August 12th.
Targeted by extremists for many years after publication of his novel, The Satanic Verses, Rushdie has frequently spoken out for the need to protect the right of free expression for all artists. He is a past president of PEN America, the writers’ advocacy organization, and has publicly organized campaigns to protect poets, essayists, novelists and journalists everywhere. For us at Ithaca City of Asylum, he has been an inspiration for our efforts to give shelter to writers in danger. His is a courageous voice for freedom, and such vital voices must never be silenced.
We would like to express our solidarity with PEN in its efforts to give shelter and support to endangered writers, and with the other North American Cities of Asylum in Pittsburgh and Detroit. The director of the Pittsburgh organization, Henry Reese, was the moderator of Rushdie’s talk at Chautauqua and was also injured in the attack. To Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese we offer our heartfelt support and wishes for a complete recovery.
Gail Holst-Warhaft
On behalf of the Board of Ithaca City of Asylum
Sept. 23: DISSIDENCE: Exiled writers on resistance and risk
Solidarity tour brings City of Asylum writers to Ithaca
Panel and reception Friday, September 23, 7 p.m.
Community School of Music and Arts, 330 E. State St., Ithaca
No registration required. Free and open to the public (donation requested)
By Jonathan Miller, member, ICOA board
The brutal stabbing of author Salman Rushdie on August 12 shocked readers, writers, and defenders of free speech everywhere. Yet around the world, writers, journalists, visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, actors, and other creative people are censored, harassed, imprisoned, or killed for speaking their minds or exercising their imaginations.
Four writers who have faced these dangers first-hand will share their experiences in “DISSIDENCE: Exiled Writers on Resistance and Risk,” a reading and reception on Friday, September 23 at 7 p.m in Martha Hamblin Hall at the Community School of Music and Arts in Ithaca.
The event will also celebrate Ithaca City of Asylum’s 20th anniversary of protecting and supporting writers at risk. Longtime ICOA board member Barbara Adams will moderate. No registration is required. Please leave large bags at home. Admission is free but a donation is requested.
The featured writers are Russian poet and polymath Dmitry Bykov, who nearly died in a poisoning, then was banned from teaching or appearing on state media; Nigerian essayist Pwaangulongii Dauod, who received death threats for writing about queer culture in his home country; Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro X. Molina, who was forced to flee after his journalist colleagues were jailed or killed and his newspaper’s offices were occupied; and Algerian novelist Anouar Rahmani, who was threatened with imprisonment for writing about human rights.
The writers will also speak at Ithaca College on Thursday, September 22 at 5:30 p.m. (details here) and at Cornell on Friday, September 23 at noon (details here). Their visit is part of a three-city tour organized by City of Asylum programs in Ithaca, Pittsburgh, and Detroit and timed to coincide with Banned Books Week.
The tour is supported by a grant from Cornell University’s Migrations Global Grand Challenge and the Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures Initiative. The Migrations Initiative, part of Global Cornell, studies the movement of all living things through an interdisciplinary, multispecies lens, with a special focus on themes of racism, dispossession, and migration.
About the writers
Dmitry Bykov (Ithaca City of Asylum) is one of Russia’s best-known public intellectuals. He spent five days in a coma after falling ill during a speaking tour in 2019. An independent investigation blamed Russian security forces for poisoning him with the nerve agent Novichok. In addition to prohibiting him from teaching at the university level, the government has also barred him from appearing on state radio or TV. The author of more than 80 books, Bykov is currently a fellow of the Open Society University Network and a visiting critic at the Institute for European Studies, part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell.
Pwaangulongii Dauod (City of Asylum Detroit) is a novelist, essayist, and memoirist from Nigeria. His 2016 essay in Granta, “Africa’s Future Has No Space for Stupid Black Men,” sparked a national conversation about queer issues in Nigeria and provoked threats to his life. Woke Africa Magazine named him one of the “Best African Writers of the New Generation.” He is currently an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at Wayne State University.
Pedro X. Molina (Ithaca City of Asylum) is a political cartoonist who fled Nicaragua during a crackdown on dissent in 2018. He was an International Writer in Residence at Ithaca College and was an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at the Einaudi Center’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program at Cornell. Among his many honors is a 2021 Gabo Award, a 2019 Maria Moors Cabot Award from Columbia Journalism School, and the 2018 Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award from Cartoonists Rights Network International.
Anouar Rahmani (City of Asylum Pittsburgh) is a novelist, journalist, and human rights defender from Algeria. He has faced legal harassment for his advocacy for individual freedom, environmental rights, and the rights of minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ people. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards. He is currently an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at Carnegie Mellon University.
About Cities of Asylum
The Cities of Asylum movement was born in the 1990s, after a group of writers led by Salman Rushdie formed the International Parliament of Writers and convinced governments in several European cities to provide one to two years of support for endangered writers. These “Cities of Asylum” pledged to protect not only the physical safety of writers, but also freedom of speech and publication.
Today, more than 75 cities around the world belong to the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN). In the US, City of Asylum organizations in Pittsburgh, Ithaca, Detroit, and other communities help threatened writers find jobs, housing, and legal services, and advocate for human rights and freedom of expression.
The Forbidden Future: ICOA presents panel at Spring Writes festival
The Forbidden Future: Literature and Journalism in Today’s Russia
Friday, May 13, 7:15–8:15 p.m. EDT
Via Zoom.
UPDATE: This event occurred as scheduled on May 13, 2022. We will post a video when it becomes available.
Russian dissident poet, novelist, and satirist Dmitry Bykov says societies need writers to help them imagine the future. But he says “the future is the most forbidden topic” in his country. Journalists, artists, and social critics are censored, silenced, and (in his case) poisoned for daring to envision a future that doesn’t simply recapitulate the past.
Join Bykov, a visiting fellow at Cornell’s Institute for European Studies and Ithaca City of Asylum’s current writer-in-residence, in a spirited conversation with literary scholar Mark Lipovetsky, director of graduate studies at Columbia University’s Department of Slavic Languages. The moderator is ICOA board member and Ithaca College associate professor of writing Barbara Adams.
This event is part of the Spring Writes Literary Festival. Learn more at SpringWrites.org.
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