Mehrangiz Eminpour

senseless Death of an artist in iran

“Mehrangiz was a painter and the mother of my children, Arash and Bahar. Mehrangiz was the beauty of my children’s lives. The war between two reactionary and warmongering governments, two days ago, took away the beauty of their lives.” Iranian writer Reza Khandan Mahabadi.

shielding citizens or silencing dissent in sri lanka

When Sri Lanka’s Parliament hurried the Online Safety Act (OSA) through committee and certified it on 1 February 2024, ministers hailed the statute as a firewall against cyber-fraud, child exploitation, and “false statements.” Yet to many journalists, lawyers,
and digital-rights advocates, the Act has always looked less like a shield than a silencer, one now mired in eighteen months of political U-turns, enforcement gridlock, and mounting international pressure.

Yang Hengjun’s letter from prison

Dear Prime Minister Albanese, words are now failing me. Tears blur my vision. I can only use a silent voice to thank you and all the people who care for and love me. I know you and the Australian Government endeavour to do your utmost to bring me home for medical care and reunification with my family. I believe as long as we are together, with conviction and confidence, aspiration and determination, all dreams should come true, one day! I have a dream: let peace win, let humanity gain, let love prevail, let freedom ring.

Freedom to write
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PEN Sydney has been protecting freedom of expression for more than 90 years. We also defend writers here and around the globe who are at risk of being silenced.

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News & Media

palestine and gaza banned in nsw schools

palestine and gaza banned in nsw schools

Students in NSW schools are watching a genocide in Gaza unfold on their phones, yet their teachers are banned from discussing the story with them....

Shankari Chandran’s pen lecture

Shankari Chandran’s pen lecture

We live in an era of unprecedented access to information, yet power and authority often present fiction as fact. As a writer and lawyer, Shankari...

We are now on bluesky

We are now on bluesky

Twitter is toxic, Threads is irrelevant - the world is moving to Bluesky and we’re joining them. Follow us @pensydneyPEN Sydney has decided to join...

The PEN Sydney magazine has compelling articles about freedom of expression, the imprisonment of writers and journalists, the literary world and original fiction and poetry.

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PEN Sydney works to free writers who are at risk of being silenced. Their words and courage give us the motivation to continue.

“The role that writers can play in times of uncertainty, diligently curating narratives to nourish empathy, encompassing glimpses of joy and ultimately offering the gift of hope, lacks formal recognition, and this lack of acknowledgement or coherent protections can ultimately decimate expression and propel rampant self-censorship.”

Ma Thida

A Burmese human rights activist, surgeon and writer. She spent six years in Burma’s Insein prison for her pro-democracy activism. She has published 26 books, including her prison memoir Prisoner of Conscience; My Steps through Insein and A-maze both available in English. She is the Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison committee

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