City of Asylum (2020)

Freedom to Create Keynote 

with Salman Rushdie and Russell Banks

Sunday, November 1
5:00 pm

Every year we gather for a public forum celebrating freedom of expression by honoring an international writer who has overcome efforts to silence them. This year, our event featured renowned authors and founders of the Cities of Asylum movement Salman Rushdie and Russell Banks.

We are happy to now make that event accessible to everyone. The virtual presentation starts with a conversation between Rushdie and Banks about the Cities of Asylum movement and their experiences promoting free expression and combatting censorship for writers and artists around the world. This is followed by Rushdie reading from his most recent novel, Quichotte. The evening will wrap up with the world premiere of a new composition written by saxophonist Oliver Lake to a text from Rushdie’s Quichotte in honor of the occasion and performed by the Flux string quartet.