Our Fellowships

We offer two safe haven fellowships, one for writers and one for visual artists. We are renovating a building on an urban farm to permanently house our fellows. By 2025, we are projected to be the second-largest hosting institution for exiled writers and artists in the world.

City of Asylum/Detroit Abby Kraftowitz Artist-In-Exile Dieu-Nalio Chery

Dieu-Nalio Chery’s photo essays can be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Haitian Times. In 2019, he received the Robert Capa Award for "best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage” for his bold coverage of the political crisis in Haiti. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Chery was born in Haiti and started working in his uncle's photo studio in Port-au-Prince when he was 20. After witnessing the devastating earthquake in 2010 and its aftermath, he observed how authorities treated the victims and decided to pursue a career in photojournalism.

For eleven years, Chery worked for the Associated Press, documenting the pain and beauty of his people’s struggles. Many of his images have become iconic records of Haiti in the 21st century. Chery has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, Best of Photojournalism, and The Magnum Foundation’s Photography and Human Rights Fellowship.

In 2019, Chery was shot in the jaw by pro-government senator Ralph Fethiere. In 2021, after covering anti-government protests, the Associated Press pulled him off the assignment due to threats from pro-government forces. The same year, the G9 and Fantom 509 gangs put a hit on his family, including his young daughters, due to his work.

Now in exile at City of Asylum/Detroit, he has shifted his focus to celebrate the cultural practices and hard-won livelihoods of Haitians in diaspora, particularly in the Midwest. His new work covers topics such as Vodou rituals in the US, Haitian chefs, small business owners, and equestrian therapists.

Chery is more than a photographer; he's a courageous storyteller who delves into social, political, and natural calamities to offer the world a nuanced portrait of his homeland. His work has demonstrated a willingness to risk his life to tell stories that matter, stories that illustrate the spirit of resilience and the nature of belonging.

Moved by the urgency of his situation along with his stunning and moving work, we have partnered with Magnum Foundation and The Artistic Freedom Initiative to bring him, his wife and three children to Detroit.

Abby Kraftowitz Fellowship

This fellowship is awarded to a visual artist who is forced to leave their home country because of the politics of their creative work. Abby Kraftowitz was a photographer whose work highlighted both the strength and vulnerability of the human spirit. She connected profoundly with her subjects, who were women and LGBTQ+ families facing trauma, addiction, eating disorders, and end-of-life illness. When she passed away at the age of 33, City of Asylum/Detroit decided to continue her legacy by creating a fellowship in her name. Interested artists, please apply to the International Cities of Refuge Network or the Artist Protection Fund, and specify your preference to be hosted by City of Asylum/Detroit in your application.

Learn more about Abby Kraftowitz.

Credit: Geoffrey Berliner

Credit: Geoffrey Berliner

“I have learned and dismantled all the words in order to draw from them a single word: Home.” 

— Mahmoud Darwish, who was imprisoned and exiled for reading his poetry

City of Asylum/Detroit Writer-In-Exile Pwaangulongii Dauod

Pwaangulongii Dauod is a Nigerian writer whose essay, “Africa’s Future Has No Space for Stupid Black Men” (Granta), sparked a national conversation about queer issues in Nigeria and led to threats to his life. He is an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at Wayne State University’s Department of English and City of Asylum/Detroit. His writing has appeared in Granta, LitHub, Johannesburg Review of Books, and elsewhere. He studied with celebrated authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Binyavanga Wainaina and holds an MFA from University of Virginia. He is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, an O’Brien Fellowship at the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, and a Gerald Kraak Award. He was a finalist for the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Manuscript Prize and Woke Africa Magazine named him One of the Best African Writers of the New Generation. 

Writer-In-Exile Fellowship

Any writer who, in their country of permanent residence, is threatened or persecuted for expressing their opinions or ideas is invited to apply to the International Cities of Refuge Network or the Artist Protection Fund. You may specify your preference to be hosted by City of Asylum/Detroit in your application. City of Asylum is not a refugee organization; we do not have the resources to immediately remove a writer from a threatening situation, and we have no authority or influence with government organizations. Therefore it is extremely important that all applicants continue to pursue every option for safety. Visual artists, please apply for the Abby Kraftowitz Fellowship.