Annual General Meeting 2024
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2024
Time: 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM AWST
Location: Centre for Stories (100 Aberdeen Street Northbridge, WA 6003)
Welcome to the PEN Perth Annual General Meeting 2024!
Join us at the Centre for Stories for a meeting to discuss achievements over the last year, updates on our incarcerated adoptees, and a chance to connect with fellow members and non-members. This in-person event is the perfect opportunity to voice your opinions, share your ideas, and help shape the future of PEN Perth.
Don’t miss out on this exciting gathering of like-minded individuals passionate about freedom of expression. See you there!
Immediately afterwards, we have the Reading Secular India event.
Event: Reading Secular India
This event ‘Reading secular India’ aims to reaffirm the idea of a secular, democratic, and modern India through the voices of iconic poets.
Date: Saturday, July 27
Time: 3:30 – 4:30pm
Location: Centre For Stories
On 15 August 1947, India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, articulated the hopes of a new-born nation: ‘All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India.’
Under the current PM Narendra Modi, the rise of extremist Hindutva ideology threatens to tarnish this vision.
This event, ‘Reading secular India’, aims to reaffirm the idea of a secular, democratic, and modern India through the voices of iconic poets from diverse regions of India.
Participants, all based in Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar, are:
Lakshmi Kanchi is an emerging Indian-Australian poet, dedicated to making poetry accessible. She is the author of Lakesong, published by the Centre for Stories (WA) in collaboration with Red River Press (New Delhi). Lakshmi won the 2023 Ros Spencer Poetry Prize and the 2021 Pocketry Prize for Unpublished Poets, and was the inaugural Poet-in-Residence at The Wetlands Centre (2022-23).
Asha Rajan is a South Indian-Australian writer, whose work addresses issues of culture, connection, inclusion, feminism, and parenthood. She is committed to demonstrating deep love and respect for First Nations People and her cultural history.
Rashida Murphy is founder of The Writers’ Collective. She is a national and international award-winning author of both prose and poetry. She is also a cultural historian and a respected mentor who believes in creating opportunities for emerging writers.
Krishna Sen, FAHA, Chair of PEN Perth, will moderate the event. Krishna is Bengali by language and culture. She is Professor Emerita in the School of Humanities and Fellow of the Public Policy Institute, The University of Western Australia.
Readings will be in several Indian languages including English, Urdu, Kannada, Malayalam, and possibly Gujrati and Bangla.
Other news
Committee member Frances An will be stepping down to continue other work roles after the submission of her PhD thesis at the end of this month. We are always looking for more hands to help with tasks such as social media, newsletter and keeping afloat of news relating to freedom of expression. Please join here (https://penperth.com/join/).
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