Poland’s Gdańsk joins International Cities of Refuge Network
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
01.09.2017 13:50
The Polish Baltic city of Gdańsk has joined the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) and is ready to offer temporary residence to an as-yet-unspecified foreign writer who suffers from persecution in his or her homeland.
Photo: bykst/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons.jpg
The executive director of ICORN, Helge Lunde, told a press conference in Gdańsk he believed that the Polish city would play a significant role in the struggle for international solidarity and freedom of speech.
He said that ICORN’s mission is to provide “extended but temporary assistance whereby after a year or two in a given city a writer either returns to his home country, or, if it is not possible, moves to another city affiliated in the network.”
Gdańsk has said it is ready to host a persecuted writer for a year, starting in 2018, providing accommodation and a financial grant. The city will select the writer from a shortlist of five candidates submitted by ICORN.
Gdańsk is the third Polish city to join the network, after Kraków and Wrocław in the country’s south. Wrocław is playing host to a young Iraqi poet named Abdul-Nasser, who specialises in spoken poetry, delivering his verse to his own musical accompaniment.
Founded in 2005, the International Cities of Refuge Network brings together more than 60 cities, which have so far hosted almost 200 persecuted writers and artists. (mk/gs/pk)