Israel Centeno of Venezuela, Yaghoub Yadali of Iran and Khet Mar of Burma have found asylum in Pittsburgh. Now their words have, too.
Books by the three writers, all translated into English through City of Asylum, are for sale in the Alphabet City bookstore, 40 W. North Ave., North Side. The bookstore, which opened in January, shares the first floor of City of Asylum’s new headquarters with Casellula, a cheese-centered restaurant.
“It was really critical to get them published,” said Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum Pittsburgh with his wife, artist Diane Samuels. “They had lost their identity as writers. This restores their identity.”
Since 2004, the couple have welcomed nearly 20 international writers for one- to three-month visits and six exiled writers for stays averaging 3½ years in apartments and row houses owned by the nonprofit. City of Asylum attempts to translate one major creative work from each of the writers. They are available along with 8,000 other books in a former Masonic Hall whose three floors and basement have been renovated at a cost of nearly $11 million.
Lesley Rains, who runs the bookstore, selects the volumes displayed in unique movable bookcases that can be stacked side by side to accommodate up to 200 people for concerts and readings.
Books by exiled writers who have lived on the North Side include: “Conspiracy” by Mr. Centeno, “Rituals of Restlessness” by Mr. Yadali, “Night Birds and Other Stories” by Ms. Mar, “A Lifetime Is a Promise to Keep” by Chinese poet Huang Xiang and “Revulsion” by Salvadoran novelist and journalist Horacio Castellanos Moya. The last is the only one whose translation was not commissioned by City of Asylum (http:/cityofasylum.org/ or 412-435-1110).
The store’s inventory includes books by local writers, Nobel Prize-winning authors and tomes from The New York Review of Books and Library of America. All of the plays of Pulitzer Prize winner and Hill District native August Wilson are for sale, as are new cookbooks, history, travel, philosophy, poetry and children’s books. A variety of gently used books are available and the store plans to have free books, too.
In this shop, even the sides of the book shelves tell a story. On them are life-sized photos of the home library of poet Toi Derriocotte, co-founder of Cave Canem and a City of Asylum board member. When the shelves are pushed together, the images merge to offer a view of her entire library.
Other unique elements include hand-painted letters of world alphabets on windows and other parts of the building, and a basement meeting room with dramatically lit, century-old stone walls. It can be rented for public gatherings or private get-togethers.
The bookstore’s ceiling also tells a tale. Ms. Samuels, an artist, came up with the design and invited community members to hand-stamp each of nearly 300 acoustical tiles on the 10- to- 13-foot ceilings. With four or five working at a time, 20 people spent two weeks completing the project.
Kevin Kirkland: kkirkland@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1978.
First Published: February 27, 2017, 6:41 p.m.
