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Sydney PEN, an affiliate of International PEN, is an association of writers devoted to freedom of expression in Australia and in the world at large. It uses its influence on behalf of writers anywhere who are silenced by persecution, exile or imprisonment .

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Max Barry speaks on RISK

Join bestselling satirical novelist Max Barry as he explains how our attitudes toward risk define and confine us in delivering the second lecture in our 2009 series.

Max Barry on RISK followed by a conversation with The Chaser's Julian Morrow Sydney July 15, and the ABC's Genevieve Jacobs in Canberra July 21.
Max’s lecture will use the mishandling of financial risk in the corporate world as a springboard to a more general discussion about the ways our attitudes towards different kinds of risk define us as people - how risk informs the fundamental decisions we make about our lives. “You can plug a set of numbers into a financial model and get a definitive answer as to whether something is a good risk or not, whereas when it comes to real life, there's no model,” he says.

Max Barry is the author of the novels Syrup (1999, an LA Times Best Book of the year), Jennifer Government (2003, a New York Times Notable Book), and Company (2006, a New York Times bestseller). All are under development for film. He also created the online nation simulation game NationStates (www.nationstates.net), which has been played by over two million people. Max is currently writing Machine Man, a real-time online serial. He is 36 and lives in Melbourne with his wife and daughter.

SYDNEY: 6 for 6.30pm, Wednesday 15 July 2009
Venue: State Library of NSW, Dixson Room, Mitchell wing
Cost: $22, $12 Concession (includes light refreshments 6-6.30pm)
Bookings via the State Library of NSW or call 9273 1770

CANBERRA: 5.30 for 6.00pm, Tuesday 21 July 2009
Venue:The National Library of Australia, Canberra
Tickets: $22/$12 Concession (includes light refreshments 5.30-6.00pm)
Bookings: Manning Clark House on 6295 9433 or director@manningclark.org.au

Sydney PEN commissions three talented Australian writers to each write an essay and deliver a lecture on a big issue facing contemporary Australia. Following the success of the 2007 & 2008 series, this year’s lecture series will feature Malcolm Knox on HONOUR (Sydney April 29, Canberra April 30), Max Barry on RISK (Sydney July 15, Canberra July 21), and Larissa Behrendt on LEGACY (Sydney November 18, Canberra November 24). 

Sydney PEN’s Voices: The  3 Writers Project is presented with the support of the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), in association with Manning Clark House and The National Library of Australia in Canberra, and the State Library of NSW . The essays will be published as a collection by Allen & Unwin in 2010.

Submission to the National Human Rights Consultation

Sydney PEN makes a submission to the National Human Rights Consultation on how to better protect the freedom of expression of writers and readers. Please click here to read our submission.

Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature - Launch & Events

Following the official launch by the Governor General, Quentin Bryce in Sydney on 30 July, Sydney PEN members are warmly invited to attend the celebratory event on Friday 31 July at Gleebooks:

Friday, July 31, 2009 / 6.00 for 6.30pm
Nicholas Jose
Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature
Published by: Allen & Unwin

Venue: gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe
Cost: Free
RSVP: gleebooks - 9660 2333 or Request a place

Further Details / Bookings

Followed by a one-day symposium for the anthology at the State Library on Saturday 1 August ‘Australian Literary Futures’
What is the state of Australian literature in the 21st century? Is it really in crisis? To celebrate the keenly-awaited Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, this symposium takes the temperature of our literary culture. A distinguished panel takes the stand to examine the condition of Australian literature among the reading public, and in schools and universities. Please click here for details

Saturday 1 August 2009, 10.00am – 4.00pm
Dixson Room, State Library of NSW
$25 ($15 for Friends of the State Library, students, members of PEN & ASAL)
Booking essential: 02 9273 1770, or www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/bookings/ or by email: bookings@sl.nsw.gov.au

Coming Soon: Sydney PEN members special offer - Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. To celebrate the publication of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature we will be offering a special discount for members. Keep an eye out for more details next month.

An Appeal by The Long Bow Group

In Memoriam - Tiananmen 1989, Free Speech & its Advocates
Please click here for the Appeal Letter and visit their website for further information.

Sydney PEN Voices 2009 Series Announced

Sydney PEN commissions three talented Australian writers to each write an essay and deliver a lecture on a big issue facing contemporary Australia. Following the success of the 2007 & 2008 series, we are pleased to announce that this year’s lecture series will feature Malcolm Knox on HONOUR (Sydney April 29, Canberra April 30), Max Barry on RISK (Sydney July 15, Canberra July 21), and Larissa Behrendt on LEGACY (Sydney November 18, Canberra November 24). 

Join Walkley award-winning journalist and novelist Malcolm Knox (Jamaica, Scattered, Secrets of the Jury Room, A Private Man) for a provocative exploration of honour in contemporary life. The lecture will pose questions about the incentive for behaving with honour towards others. Why not lie and cheat? Why, post-God and post-modernity, should one act with integrity? How can we move towards a rejuvenated code in an age when honour seems obsolete? The lecture will be followed in Sydney on April 29 by a conversation with Lucinda Holdforth, author of Why Manners Matter: The Case for Civilised Behaviour in a Barbarous World, and in Canberra on April 30 by ABC Radio morning broadcaster, Alex Sloan.
Bookings now open!

THAILAND 21 February: Harry Nicolaides Granted a Royal Pardon

Harry Nicolaides arrived home after being granted a royal pardon and released from jail. This has been a well co-ordinated campaign, in which we liased closely with Melbourne PEN, International PEN, and the family and through them with the lawyer, and an innocent man is free. There are many questions that need to be asked as to why it came to this, and why Harry became a pawn in Thai politics. But today is a time for celebration and to say thank you to all those who wrote, emailed and lobbied the Australian government and media on Harry’s behalf. These actions contributed greatly to this outcome. Action does produce results. Forde Nicolaides has asked that we pass on his family’s thanks for all that has been done on his brother’s behalf.

THAILAND 19 January: 3 year sentence for Harry Nicolaides
As many of you are aware, Harry Nicolaides was sentenced to 3 years prison for 'lese majeste', the so-called crime of insulting the Thai monarchy. We have been in touch and working with Forde Nicolaides (Harry’s brother) for the past two months. Forde has been coordinating the campaign to support and free Harry. In the wake of his sentence, we have asked Forde how PEN members can best help Harry be released from prison. 

A tribute to Harold Pinter

We have all lost a unique playwright today. One of those who will never be replaced. His work and his personality made him one of the most important voices in the literary world during the last part of the 20th century, and his uncorruptible and courageous attitude in the field of art as well as the political world unites all of us who believe in true humanitarian values. His close relationship with PEN made him a pillar and an unreplacable supporter in our struggle for freedom of expression and literary values.
   Harold Pinter will be mourned by PEN writers from all corners of our globe.
Eugene Schoulgin , International Secretary , International PEN 24 December 2008
PEN members who would like to add their memories and tributes to this page can do so by emailing emily.bromfield@internationalpen.org.uk

Dorothy Porter - A Celebration

The Australian arts community is mourning the sudden loss of one its true originals, the writer and poet Dorothy Porter, who died 9 December in Melbourne, aged 54, from complications from breast cancer. Click here for the full SMH article.

David Malouf wins inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award

 David Malouf won the $110,000 Australia-Asia Literary Award, the richest in the region, for The Complete Stories.    Chair of the Australia-Asia Literary Award judging panel Nury Vittachi said: “The Complete Stories is a rich feast of subtle tales which sum up the intense joys and sadnesses that fill even the most ordinary lives - we were all moved by this fine collection.” Mr Malouf said he was honoured to have his work singled out and valued in this way. Further information on the awards is available at http://www.dca.wa.gov.au/aala  or http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/pba.html
   David Malouf is a member of Sydney PEN's writer's advisory panel. He says, 'As a writer who has the freedom to write without fear or constraint and for whom silence is a choice, I would feel ashamed if I did not speak up for a writer anywhere on whom silence is enforced with all the terrible machinery of the state.'

Sydney PEN, one of 145 PEN centres in 104 countries, won the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Community Award in 2004 for its work with writers in detention. Sydney PEN conducts campaigns and holds events supporting literature and defending freedom of expression.