Latest News

Who we are

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 .

Read our latest E-newsletter. 
Read the latest Sydney PEN Magazine. 
Read the latest International PEN Magazine

JOIN PEN: Membership makes a difference

Take action today and become a PEN supporter. If you use Facebook or Twitter, please join our group “Sydney PEN” or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/sydneypen  to spread the word.

FRANK MOORHOUSE TO BOYCOTT CHINA WRITERS’ TOUR

Acclaimed Australian novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, Frank Moorhouse is boycotting a major writers’ tour of China in protest against the recent gaoling of the Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo. Please click here to read the Media Release 29 January 2010.

Watch this space: a new Sydney PEN website on its way!

We are currently constructing a brand new website for Sydney PEN, designed by Inventive Labs and due to go live shortly. Thanks for your patience while we work on creating an accessible and interactive site for members and the public.

International PEN Centres mourn the death of PEN Haiti President, Georges Andrade, and Writers In Exile member, Clara Györgyey

Sydney PEN joins the PEN community around the world in sending our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Georges Andrade and his wife Mireille Neptune in the devastating Haiti earthquake. Andrade translated Shi Tao’s "June" into Haitian Creole for the PEN Poem Relay, which archived a recording of this translation. A moving tribute by Andrade's colleague and friend, International PEN President John Ralston Saul, can be found here at The Globe and Mail.
Clara Györgyey, of Writers in Exile PEN Centre, died in hospital on Thursday January 14th. She is remembered worldwide as an author and translator, and by the International PEN community for her tireless work for freedom of expression.

LIU XIAOBO JAILED FOR 11 YEARS

Sydney PEN is shocked and dismayed by the sentencing of dissident Chinese writer and academic Liu Xiaobo to 11 years imprisonment on charges of "subverting state power". The trial was held on December 23, 2009 in Beijing, following Liu's detention late last year. The trial concluded without providing a verdict until Friday, December 25. Liu was detained shortly before the publication of Charter 08, a petition which he co-wrote and which was signed by numerous Chinese intellectuals and writers in December 2008 calling for political reforms including an end to the Communist Party's single-party rule.
> More

Seasonal greetings to writers in prison

Whether or not you are a regular letter writer in PEN’s campaigns, please consider sending a seasonal greeting to writers in the Asia Pacific region who need some hope. Click here for Gaby Naher’s instructions to card writers. Download the case list and addresses for writers here.

Sydney PEN wishes its members a safe, calm summer and New Year.

Please note that our office will be closed from 21 December 2009 and reopen 4 January 2010.

International Day of the Imprisoned Writer - Global Report

Sydney PEN commemorated November 15th, the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer with the final lecture in the Voices: 3 Writers series, delivered by Professor Larissa Behrendt. Audience members in Sydney and Canberra rushed to sign our letters demanding for the release of Nurmuhemmet Yasin and Father Nguyen Van Ly, creating an impressive postal campaign. Find out what other PEN centres around the world did to mark the occasion - download International PEN's summary here.

Cultural Diversity Arts

Stay in touch with the Institute of Cultural Diversity's Arts page, featuring news and links on free expression and human rights within the Australian arts: click here.

ALNF Indigenous Literacy Campaign

Sydney PEN supports the aims of the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation's Hands Across the National Indigenous Literacy Appeal - you can join its campaign by visiting http://www.alnf.org/appeal/

16 Azar 1388 - Iranian Student Day Rally

Join the annual commemoration of the 1953 violent repression of students in Iran, on December 7th. Click here for details.

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.