City of Asylum

City of Asylum builds a just community by protecting and celebrating freedom of creative expression.

We provide sanctuary to endangered writers and artists, so that they can continue to create and their voices are not silenced.

We offer a broad range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs in a community setting to build social equity through cultural exchange.

And by transforming blighted properties into homes for our programs, we anchor neighborhood economic development.

Our History

City of Asylum was founded in 2004 by Northside residents Diane Samuels and Henry Reese. Our first writer, Huang Xiang, arrived in Pittsburgh in 2004.