City of Asylum / Pittsburgh, Sampsonia Way provide haven for arts

Sometimes it isn’t enough to protect the idea of freedom of expression. City of… Sometimes it isn’t enough to protect the idea of freedom of expression. City of Asylum/Pittsburgh and the Sampsonia Way project protect those who do the expressing — writers in exile.

The Sampsonia Way project provides individuals unable to write in their native countries because of oppressive political regimes with a stipend, medical benefits, assistance in transitioning to a life in the U.S. and a house on Sampsonia Way in the North Side. The street, located near the Mattress Factory, has lent its name to both an online magazine and the ongoing project of aiding endangered wordsmiths.

Since the program’s inception in 2004, three exiled writers have participated in the residency program: Huang Xiang from China, Horacio Castellanos Moya from El Salvador and Khet Mar from Burma.

More than 100 other writers, poets and musicians from 20 countries have been involved with other Sampsonia Way community programs and fundraisers.

Xiang became the first participant in City of Asylum/Pittsburgh’s exiled writer-residency program in the summer of 2004. He covered the facade of his residency house with Chinese calligraphies of his poetry to create a work called “House Poem,” both to celebrate his freedom to write and to thank Pittsburgh for providing him with sanctuary so he could continue his work.

The response from the community was so positive that City of Asylum/Pittsburgh has established several more text-adorned residences on Sampsonia Way, creating a venue for community events celebrating the freedom of expression.

Henry Reese, co-founder of the Sampsonia Way project’s parent organization, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, said, “Sampsonia Way has become a very welcoming place for the community. It represents many of the values I’d say we all cherish. It’s the embodiment of what we can all do as individuals.”

The writers in residence and their local peers participate in readings, concerts and interactive workshops for the community.

Reese said, “The North Side community is very much in transition. Our programs build a bridge between people from different races, backgrounds and socioeconomic situations. It’s a meeting ground for people who wouldn’t normally interact with each other. Participation in the community has become integral to what we do. The community itself is the site of our residencies.”

The writers are free to relocate elsewhere at the end of their Pittsburgh residency, but Reese said he hopes the roots they establish in the Pittsburgh community will inspire them to stay in the Steel City and continue to enrich Pittsburgh’s literary scene.

Just as the pavement of Sampsonia Way provides physical shelter for the exiled writers, Sampsonia Way, the Web magazine, aims to provide shelter for their writing and to garner awareness for their plight.

“The magazine became an offshoot of [the exiled writers program] to extend that mission into the larger world and at the same time bring the world to us on Sampsonia Way,” Reese said.

Full issues of the Sampsonia Way magazine are published online every two months, with other updates and articles added to the website daily.

Reese said the goal of the magazine is to increase public awareness of the situations in countries that threaten freedom of speech. The magazine’s content is primarily editorials examining political situations endangering free speech, but Reese said the magazine is “still finding its way” and might expand to include other forms of writing.

The magazine features writers in the program and their peers around the country, as well as writers from around the world with the intent to articulate their mission and gain exposure for endangered writers on a global scale, as well as a local one.

Pittsburgh’s universities have played an important role in Sampsonia Way’s success.

Reese said Pitt has been “just terrific” and was honored in 2005 with the Protecting Endangered Voices Award in recognition of the University’s support for the program.

Exiled writers have taught creative writing courses and participated in readings at Pitt, and the Pitt Arts program has also brought undergraduate students to Sampsonia Way events.

Sampsonia Way’s next big event will be a free jazz concert and poetry reading on Sept. 11. More than 700 people are expected to fill the 20-feet-wide alley for an evening of music and readings from around the world, followed by a dance party fundraising event.

Another program, Writers in the Garden, will go on that afternoon and involve a walking tour of the neighborhood with stops in private gardens for poetry readings.

Reese said he hopes to build a literary center near Sampsonia Way featuring a book store, reading space and café within the next year.