Henry Reese
Co-Founder, City of Asylum
2022
Henry Reese is a co-founder of City of Asylum, which provides sanctuary in Pittsburgh to writers exiled under threat of persecution. He served as volunteer director from 2004 until 2018, during which time the organization’s mission expanded to includes numerous literary-based programs and place-based economic and community development through the arts. City of Asylum is the world’s largest safe haven in the world for endangered writers and artists. It is also the U.S. hub for the International Cities of Refuge Network and is actively expanding the network of cities in the U.S.
From 1974-2002, Henry was a co-founder and principal in Reese Brothers and Communications & Commerce. He is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and did graduate work at SUNY Buffalo in English literature and cognitive linguistics.
At the Summit
The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.
