CARO LLEWELLYN, CEO OF THE WHEELER CENTRE IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, WORKED CLOSELY WITH EXILED WRITER SALMAN RUSHDIE WHEN SHE SERVED AS DIRECTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF PEN WORLD VOICES IN NEW YORK. SHE IS TAKING THE REINS OF THE CITY OF ASYLUM IN JANUARY. | COURTESY CARO LLEWELLYN

The City of Asylum has found its new executive director on the other side of the world.

Caro Llewellyn, CEO of the renowned Wheeler Centre in Melbourne, Australia, will assume the post Jan. 2. A sanctuary for endangered writers and artists, the North Side organization has been without a permanent director since Feb. 1, when Andrés Franco stepped down after serving just two years.

Melbourne was designated a UNESCO City of Literature in 2008, which led to the establishment of the Wheeler Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas to support writers, readers and thinkers. The aim, according to its website, is to “provide a home and important focal point for the conversations that matter to Victoria, and indeed, Australia.”

“If we had to imagine a dream executive director for City of Asylum, it would be Caro,” City of Asylum co-founder Henry Reese said in a statement.

Llewellyn, who grew up in southern Australia and became the Wheeler CEO in 2020, resigned when her three-year contract ended in July, saying she wanted to focus on writing and other creative endeavors. Author of the memoir “Diving into Glass,” she has served as director and artistic director of PEN World Voices in New York (where she worked with “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie for nearly five years) and was the executive producer for the yearlong centennial celebrations of The New York Public Library and for a similar yearlong series of events for the New York Review of Books.

Llewellyn, who has multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease of the central nervous system, also is a leading advocate for disability rights in the arts.

“I can’t think of a more important moment to be working to support writers from around the world in exile,” said Llewellyn, also in a statement. “And I am thrilled to be returning to the human rights and freedom of expression work that I did alongside Salman Rushdie at the PEN World Voices Festival. I can’t wait to join the City of Asylum team as we embark on our next decade of ground-breaking work.” 

She is moving to Pittsburgh from Australia.

Franco, a native of Colombia, became City of Asylum’s executive director in October 2020. During his tenure, he witnessed the brutal attack on Rushdie in August 2022 on a stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Rushdie lost the sight in one eye and the use of one hand in the attack.

Rushdie founded the City of Asylum movement to protect endangered writers and inspired the 2004 launch of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum.

ANDRÉS FRANCO, FORMER CITY OF ASYLUM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | COURTESY CITY OF ASYLUM

In a personal letter to the organization’s supporters upon his resignation, Franco wrote, “Nothing had prepared me — a foreign-born artist — emotionally for the experience of being in charge of the world’s largest sanctuary for exiled writers, at a time when our freedoms are under attack. The Aug. 12 [2022] attempt on Salman Rushdie’s life shook all of us at City of Asylum to the core. It also made us more resolute in our commitment to protecting freedom of creative expression.”

In other developments, City of Asylum has selected two new board members: David Finegold, former president of Chatham University; and Janet Sarbaugh, former vice president for Creativity Programs at The Heinz Endowments. She had led support of the cultural arts at the foundation since 1993.