City of Asylum

Henry Reese and Diane Samuels, founders of City of Asylum

After Pittsburgh couple Henry Reese and Diane Samuels heard Salman Rushdie mention the more-than-50-city International Cities of Refuge Networking in Europe, they sought and received approval to create a new node in their own city.[10][3][11] The couple bought a former crack house on Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh's North Side.[12] They joined the nearby Mattress Factory and Randyland to fight post-industrial blight in the Mexican War Streets area.[13]

The organization was originally funded by donations from friends, an outlier among asylum programs which are typically under universities and other institutions.[10] The original money raised was spent to provide housing, medical benefits, and a living stipend for a writer.[14]

The organization’s first author resident was Huang Xiang, a Chinese poet who had been sentenced to death in China for his participation in the Democracy Wall Movement.[12][15] He and his wife Zhang Ling were granted asylum in the United States through City of Asylum.[16]

On August 12, 2022, Reese was preparing to interview Rushdie on stage in New York when an attacker stabbed the author. During the attack, Reese received facial lacerations and a black eye.[17] He later said, "Don’t be intimidated, if anything you should be re-energized by what we have just been through...You can't give into being silenced."[18]

At least 10 writers-in-exile have stayed for more than a year in City of Asylum apartments, while another 20 international artist-in-residence writers have stayed one to three months.[9]

City of Asylum's houses provides residences to writers in exile.

Huang Xuang wanted to carve a poem into a mountain, but took Samuels' suggestion that he paint the poems on his house. The building became known as House Poem, and people have slipped their own poems into the mail slot.[10][19] Other writers followed suit; as of 2021, five City of Asylum houses on Sampsonia Way have murals.

In 2015, City of Asylum acquired a former Masonic Hall from the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and launched a $12.2 million renovation.[8] The project received $8 million in tax credits and additional funding from local foundations.[9] Dubbed Alphabet City, the building now houses administrative offices, the City of Asylum bookstore, and a restaurant. All events held at the space are free.[20]

City of Asylum Books, a separate entity from the non-profit organization, specializes in international and translated literature.[21]

The first restaurant to open in the renovated Alphabet City was Casellula, a cheese and wine cafe with a strict no-tipping policy.[22] The restaurant closed in late 2017, weeks after staff aired grievances on "Tipped Off", a restaurant industry blog.[23] From 2018 to 2020, the restaurant space housed Brugge on North, a branch of Pittsburgh restaurants Point Brugge and Park Brugge.[24][25] The current restaurant is called 40 North.[26]

Jazz Poetry was the first event put on by City of Asylum in 2005. It was a collaboration between Huang Xiang and jazz musician Oliver Lake. City of Asylum continued to host Jazz Poetry annually. In 2016, the format changed from a single concert to a full month of concerts.[27]

River of Words is a public art installation by exiled Venezuelan writer and artist resident Israel Centeno.[28] The installation involved a choice of 100 words, all relevant to Pittsburgh, of which Mexican War Street neighbors were invited to display on the wall, door, or window of their houses.[10][29] The representation of the words were designed by Venezuelan artists Carolina Arnal and Gisela Romero.[30]

The City of Asylum publishes a magazine called Sampsonia Way which has publishes English translations of exiled writers. The publication's goal is to fight censorship and celebrate free expression in literature.[10]