Friday, January 18, 2013

The Sampsonia Way Columns

As a Fulbright scholar in Pittsburgh, currently researching a book, I am being hosted by an institution known as 'City of Asylum, Pittsburgh.' This is an amazing institution set up with the primary objective of giving sanctuary to writers under peril in their own countries.

I have had the good fortune of being hosted by them twice for residencies. The first time was in 2007 when I was invited for the International Writers Program, organized by the University of Iowa. I came to Pittsburgh for a short residency at that time and I think I was the first writer to be hosted by City of Asylum who was under no peril in his own country.

My hosts have been good enough to accommodate me for the second time I am in the city to research a book on the impact of globalization on the steel cities of Pittsburgh in the US and Jamshedpur in India on a Fulbright grant. They have also given me an opportunity to write for their online magazine 'Sampsonia Way.'

Sampsonia Way is a unique magazine that publishes columns by writers from all over the world, including Egypt, China, Tibet,Venezuela, El Salvador, Pakistan, Burma, Ethiopia and Cuba. The distinct flavor of these columns is that they all in some way or the other highlight, Freedom of Expression.

It is a great opportunity to do columns for this magazine and I am providing links to the pieces I have written so far, below. They are out every fortnight so please look out for them in www.sampsoniaway.org. The columns by the writers from other countries are really interesting because they tell us as much about the writers as about the countries they come from.

Happy Reading!









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