Freedom to Create Gala
featuring South African Poet Laureate Mongane Wally Serote
On October 9, 2026, we celebrate City of Asylum’s annual fundraising event, the 2026 Freedom to Create Gala. Together, we will gather to honor an international writer who shares our mission to protect and celebrate creative freedom of expression. Previous honorees include Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka, and Anne Carson.
This year, we are thrilled to welcome winner of the Noma Award for publishing in Africa, South African poet and novelist Mongane Walley Serote as our keynote speaker.
As always, funds from the Freedom to Create Gala support housing for the City of Asylum Writers-in-Residence (and their families) who call Pittsburgh’s North Side home. It also helps support our FREE year-long public programming that enriches the lives of thousands of our neighbors.
This year’s gala will feature a silent auction, live music, and dinner accompanied by wine from our in-house restaurant, Cucina Alfabeto.
About Mongane Wally Serote
Exiled South African poet and novelist Mongane Wally Serote grew up under apartheid in Sophiatown, now a white suburb of Johannesburg. Politically active, he was held without trial in solitary confinement for nine months under the regime’s Terrorism Act. Serote was barred from reentering South Africa in the late 1970s after earning an MFA at Columbia University while on a Fulbright scholarship. He lived in Botswana before settling in London. One of the Soweto “township” poets, Serote writes poems that speak directly to social activism and resistance. His numerous poetry collections include Yakhal’inkomo (The Cry of Cattle at the Slaughterhouse, 1972), No Baby Must Weep (1975), Third World Express (1992), and History Is the Home Address (2004). His novels include To Every Birth Its Blood (1981) and Revelations (2011). Serote’s honors include the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize, and the Chilean government’s Pablo Neruda Award. He has also served as a member of the South African Parliament.
Sponsorship Opportunities
This year, we are once again offering various sponsorship packages for gala attendees.
Throughout the year, City of Asylum hosts over 120 free public arts and culture programs. It has always been a key part of our model to keep these programs accessible, so that no one is barred from the arts due to cost. The Freedom to Create Gala is our largest annual fundraising event, and therefore, our only event with a ticket price.
Can’t attend?
Consider a donation instead.
