Contents Opening message featuring Andrey KurkovUpcoming event(s): Patron’s Lecture featuring Kylie Moore-GilbertEmergency headline: Ukraine-Russia conflictAustralian writers in prison: Yang Hengjun and Julian AssangeOceania focus: Hany Babu (India) and Zaw Lin Htut (Burma)Notable women writers and journalists Opening message COVID starts its third year of chaos. Combat continues in Ukraine and Russia. Australia’s east coast flooded.ContinueContinue reading “March 2022 newsletter”
Category Archives: General
Free Hany Babu
‘21 February each year was International Mother Language Day. PEN International joins worldwide observations of International Mother Language Day, which celebrates the importance of linguistic diversity around world’ The idea for such a day originated from Bangladesh, which won its independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a long struggle in which the linguistic rights ofContinueContinue reading “Free Hany Babu”
A Letter to Đoan Trang Phạm
At our recent Human Rights Day event, PEN Perth Member Frances An read a touching letter to journalist Đoan Trang Phạm. PEN Perth is proud to publish the letter here, written and translated by Frances An.
Nobel Peace Prize 2021
Maria Ressa shares this year’s Nobel Peace Prize with fellow journalist, Dimitri Muratov from Russia. Ressa, notably, is the first Filipino Nobel Laureate.
Securing Writers’ Rights
As in previous years, PEN International held pre-conference discussions for its main committees, including the Writers for Peace Committee and the Linguistic Rights Committee, which I was able to attend via Zoom, albeit at an unusual hour as the conference ran on London time.
Report on the PEN International World Congress 2021
The Centenary World Congress of PEN was held via Zoom from 20-24 September, with the four Committee meetings held in the previous week. The Congress held some fascinating panel discussions on issues related to freedom of expression with participants such as Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie, as well as talks by John Ralston Saul, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ma Thida and others.
PEN Perth Statement on AFP Raids
As an organisation committed to defending responsible freedom of expression and protecting a free press, PEN Perth is deeply concerned about today’s Australian Federal Police raids on the ABC’s Sydney headquarters over a series of articles published in 2017 called ‘The Afghan Files’, as well as the raids on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst’s Canberra homeContinueContinue reading “PEN Perth Statement on AFP Raids”