ICORN

La Maison Rousseau et Littérature accueille des écrivain·e·s persécuté·e·s grâce à l’adhésion de la Ville de Genève à ICORN, Réseau international de villes refuges.

Genève, ville refuge

Le Réseau international des villes refuges (ICORN) est une organisation de villes et de régions qui offrent un abri temporaire aux écrivain·e·s, artistes et journalistes sous le coup de persécutions, par le biais de résidences.

La Ville de Genève, le centre Pen suisse romand et la Maison Rousseau et Littérature ont préparé pendant plus de dix ans l’adhésion au Réseau ICORN, qui s’est concrétisée en décembre 2023. En juin 2024, la première résidente est accueillie en nos murs.

« Les plus grands scélérats trouvent un refuge ; il n’y a que votre ami qui n’en trouve point. […] Que la nature est lente à me tirer d’affaire ! Je ne sais ce que je deviendrai ; mais en quelque lieu que j’aille terminer ma misère, souvenez-vous de votre ami. »
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lettre à Monsieur M., 9 mars 1765

Condamné à Paris, à Genève, à Berne, à La Haye, dénoncé pour l’abandon de ses enfants dans une affreuse brochure anonyme, excommunié à Môtiers, sa maison lapidée, chassé de son refuge à l’île Saint-Pierre, ses écrits interdits de publication et de lectures en public : le Citoyen de Genève approuverait sans doute que sa maison natale devienne un refuge d’écrivain·e·s en recherche de liberté et de sécurité.

Résidence 2026

Aslı Ceren Aslan was born in Istanbul/Turkey in 1990 and graduated from the Mathematics Department of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Between 2014 and 2021, she worked in various roles as a reporter, editor, and editor-in-chief at the Yeni Demokrat Kadın newspaper and Özgür Gelecek newspaper in Turkey. Due to her journalistic activities, she was detained at Urfa No. 2 Closed Prison between 2017 and 2019. She received a scholarship from GeoAIR, an arts organisation based in Georgia, to conduct research on the LGBTQ community and gender inequality in the region. She lived in Tbilisi from October 2021 to July 2022 and wrote articles on these topics. In 2022, she was accepted into the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN), an organisation for journalists, writers and artists facing political threats. From July 2022 to July 2024, she worked as a writer-in-residence in the municipality of Växjö, Sweden.

Aslan’s first book, We Are Each Other’s Remedy (Birbirimizin Çaresiyiz), was published in Turkey by SRC Publishing House and in Sweden by Trolltrumma Publishing in November 2023, translated into Swedish as ‘Bara vi själva kan rädda varandra’.

In 2024, she received the Växjö Pride award for her work on LGBTQ issues in Turkey and Sweden. In 2025, Aslan was awarded the Viktor Rydberg prize by the Smålands Akademi for her work in the fields of human rights, democracy, and freedom of thought and expression.

Aslı Ceren Aslan continues to live in Växjö and participates as a speaker in panels, seminars, and conferences on freedom of thought, expression, and the press.

Photo credit : © Lina Alriksson

Saiful Baten Tito is an ICORN (International Cities of Refuge Network) resident artist. He arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden, in May 2023. He is a writer, investigative journalist, filmmaker, and human rights activist.

His most recent book, Bishphora (The Boil), exposes the harrowing realities of sexual abuse, physical violence, and killings of children within religious institutions in Bangladesh. Written as a research-based novel, the book draws on documented facts and lived experiences to confront deeply rooted systems of abuse.

Following its publication, Tito became the target of violent threats from religious fundamentalist groups. Fatwas were issued calling for his murder. Under pressure from these groups, the Bangladeshi government banned the book and placed him under intense surveillance. Facing imminent danger, he was forced to flee the country and seek refuge in neighboring India, where he lived in exile for two years.

In May 2023, upon the invitation of ICORN, he was granted refuge in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. Since then, he has continued his literary and cinematic work in safety, focusing on themes of freedom of expression, human rights, and social justice.

In February 2026, Tito was invited by Maison Rousseau et Littérature (MRL) to undertake a residency in Geneva—one of the world’s most historically and culturally significant cities. He expresses his sincere gratitude to MRL for this opportunity and for their generosity and support.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau has long been one of Tito’s most admired philosophers. During his stay in Geneva, he hopes to deepen his engagement with Rousseau’s life and ideas. Alongside his writing, he plans to pursue photography and explore the city’s museums and historic churches, spaces where history, art, and memory converge.

He also looks forward to meeting fellow writers and artists in Geneva and engaging in meaningful cultural exchange. He is confident that his time in Geneva will remain one of the most profound and memorable chapters of his life.