Through the international refuge network ICORN, writers, musicians and other artists who live under persecution or threats, for example, get an opportunity to come to a city in another country to engage in their art form for a limited period of time.

- It is often creative people who end up in a vulnerable situation when the regime becomes tougher, says Sanna Schiller, development manager at the City of Gothenburg.

Gothenburg, the first sanctuary in Sweden

Gothenburg was the first municipality in Sweden to join the model for today's international sanctuary network, ICORN, in 1996.

It has now been 25 years since then and the ninth shelter author, Ahmad Azzam from Syria, is now in Gothenburg.

He has chosen to be public, while other sanctuary artists have lived more in secret with a protected identity.

Nobel laureates were sanctuary writers

One of the most famous authors who had a refuge in Gothenburg is Svetlana Alexeyevich, who was in Gothenburg 2006-2008 and later received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Internationally, about 70 municipalities and regions are included in the network, of which 24 are in Sweden.