Tompkins County Public Library and Ithaca City of Asylum will
present “Voices of Freedom,” featuring Venezuelan political critic
and renowned author Israel Centeno, September 29 at 2 p.m. in the Library’s
BorgWarner Community Room.
Centeno will read in English from his novel “La Torre Invertida” (translated as “The Tower Overturned”), which is about the unraveling of a city where dystopia becomes its citizens' harsh reality.
Centeno is an author of poetry, short stories, and novels and is regarded as one of the most important Venezuelan literary figures of the past fifty years. He has won numerous awards, including the Federico Garcia Lorca Award in Spain and the National Council of Culture Award in Venezuela in 1991. Born in 1958 in Caracas, Venezuela, he is currently living in the United States as an exile from his native country. Centeno has been the writer-in-residence at the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh since 2011. Displaced under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, he has recently published his tenth book—and first in English--“Bamboo City.”
As part of the “Voices of Freedom” program, Ithaca City of Asylum’s resident writer, Sonali Samarasinghe, exiled from Sri Lanka and presently an international visiting scholar at Ithaca College, will read a brief excerpt from her memoir-in-progress, and Pablo Cohen, head of the classical guitar program and a faculty member in the Latin American Studies program at Ithaca College, will perform regional music.
“Voices of Freedom” is an annual event of Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) and is presented this year in partnership with the Tompkins County Public Library as part of Banned Books/Freedom to Read Week. This event is made possible with grant support from the Community Arts Partnership. Additional funding is provided by Poets & Writers, Inc., with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Co-sponsors include Amnesty International Group 73 Ithaca, and Cornell University’s Carl L. Becker House, Department of Romance Studies, Latin American Studies Program, Rose Goldsen Lecture Series Fund, and the Society for the Humanities.
ICOA is part of a worldwide network of cities of asylum, supporting writers whose works are suppressed, whose lives are threatened, whose cultures are vanishing, and whose languages are endangered. ICOA is a project of the Center for Transformative Action, a non-profit organization affiliated with Cornell University, and works in partnership with Cornell, Ithaca College, and Wells College. For more information about ICOA, http://ithacacityofasylum.com.
For more information about this event, contact Bridget Meeds, ICOA board chair, at (607) 220-7984 or bridget.meeds@gmail.com.
Centeno will read in English from his novel “La Torre Invertida” (translated as “The Tower Overturned”), which is about the unraveling of a city where dystopia becomes its citizens' harsh reality.
Centeno is an author of poetry, short stories, and novels and is regarded as one of the most important Venezuelan literary figures of the past fifty years. He has won numerous awards, including the Federico Garcia Lorca Award in Spain and the National Council of Culture Award in Venezuela in 1991. Born in 1958 in Caracas, Venezuela, he is currently living in the United States as an exile from his native country. Centeno has been the writer-in-residence at the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh since 2011. Displaced under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, he has recently published his tenth book—and first in English--“Bamboo City.”
As part of the “Voices of Freedom” program, Ithaca City of Asylum’s resident writer, Sonali Samarasinghe, exiled from Sri Lanka and presently an international visiting scholar at Ithaca College, will read a brief excerpt from her memoir-in-progress, and Pablo Cohen, head of the classical guitar program and a faculty member in the Latin American Studies program at Ithaca College, will perform regional music.
“Voices of Freedom” is an annual event of Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA) and is presented this year in partnership with the Tompkins County Public Library as part of Banned Books/Freedom to Read Week. This event is made possible with grant support from the Community Arts Partnership. Additional funding is provided by Poets & Writers, Inc., with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Co-sponsors include Amnesty International Group 73 Ithaca, and Cornell University’s Carl L. Becker House, Department of Romance Studies, Latin American Studies Program, Rose Goldsen Lecture Series Fund, and the Society for the Humanities.
ICOA is part of a worldwide network of cities of asylum, supporting writers whose works are suppressed, whose lives are threatened, whose cultures are vanishing, and whose languages are endangered. ICOA is a project of the Center for Transformative Action, a non-profit organization affiliated with Cornell University, and works in partnership with Cornell, Ithaca College, and Wells College. For more information about ICOA, http://ithacacityofasylum.com.
For more information about this event, contact Bridget Meeds, ICOA board chair, at (607) 220-7984 or bridget.meeds@gmail.com.
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