On 22 May, 2014, during the annual convention of the International Cities of Refuge Network in Ljubljana, the President of the Villa Decius Association, Dr. Danuta Glondys, was selected a new member of the network’s management board. This prestigious circle also includes representatives of other cities belonging to ICORN: Peter Ripken (Frankfurt), Leikny Haga Indergaard (Bergen), Jasmina Arambasic (Ljubljana), Annika Strömberg (Uppsala), Chris Gribble (Norwich).
ICORN is an organisation gathering cities which offer refuge to persecuted writers. The organisation aims to provide bookmen, whose work has been the reason for their persecution, with safe life and working conditions. More than 40 cities are members of ICORN. Kraków became a member of the network in 2011, as the first city of Central and Eastern Europe. So far, it has welcomed three writers: Maria Amelie – a female writer of Russian origin who was deported from Norway after describing experience of an illegal immigrant; Kareem Amer – an Egyptian blogger sentenced to four years of prison for criticising the Hosni Mubarak’s government; and Mostafa Zamaninija – an Iranian writer persecuted in his country. In May, 2014, a Belarusian dissident, civil activist, literary critic and translator – Lavon Barščeŭski.
