Cities of Refuge North America aids persecuted writers around the globe by cultivating safe havens for them in North America, spaces where they may practice their craft freely, unfettered by censorship and political repression. Our work assists writers worldwide while enriching both communities and the literary landscape in North America.

Writing is still a perilous act in many places throughout the world. Between January and June 2006, 19 writers were murdered, 33 had received death threats and 142 were imprisoned, according to International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee.

Cities of Refuge North America is comprised of writers who have come together to help other writers in need. Today, original founders Russell Banks, Salman Rushdie and Wole Soyinka serve on the Executive Board, along with Carolyn Forché, Caryl Phillips, Michael Ondaatje, Derek Walcott, Dionne Brand and Jayne Cortez. Our steadfast Advisory Board members include Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, and William Kennedy, among many others.

Writers persecuted worldwide regularly seek our help, and several who have been vetted by the Executive Board are awaiting placement. Click here to see how you can help.

Cities of Refuge North America is an outgrowth of the International Parliament of Writers, formally established in Paris in 1994 by Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, Jacques Derrida and Vaclav Havel, among others, in response to the assassination of writers in Algeria. It was after the assassination of 39-year old writer Tahar Djaout that an appeal was first launched. Within days, in July 1993, at the initiative of Carrefour des littératures in Strasbourg, France, 300 writers worldwide signed a petition in support of the creation of a network of cities that would provide refuge for writers under threat. Months later, on February 14th, the fifth anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the organization established an executive branch and elected Salman Rushdie its first President.

The dissolution of the International Parliament of Writers (IPW) produced two organizations in its place, one in North America and one in Europe. In 2003, Russell Banks, the last President of the IPW, along with Salman Rushdie and former IPW President Wole Soyinka, established Cities of Refuge North America, formerly called the North American Network of Cities of Asylum (NANCA). ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network, is based in Stavanger, Norway and has organized over twenty cities of asylum, or refuge, across Europe.

The first North American city to offer refuge to a writer through this organization was Las Vegas, Nevada, followed quickly by Ithaca, New York, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cities of Refuge North America is committed to expansion of the city network, and believes that in each City in North America a grassroots effort is essential to ensure the longevity of the program. Each prospective city will be evaluated in this light, and upon acceptance we will do our utmost to match a persecuted writer with a city willing to host and support that writer.

Nine writers under threat in their countries of origin have found safe haven within the North American network, and today are safely practicing their craft: Ertai Gao and Huang Xiang from China, Syl Cheney-Coker from Sierra Leone, Fernando Garavito from Colombia, Horacio Castellanos Moya from El Salvador, Sarah Mkhonza from Swaziland, Reza Daneshvar and Moniro Ravanipour from Iran, and most recently, Irakli Kakabadze from the Republic of Georgia.