Management committee
PEN Sydney’s Management committee is elected annually. It is a collective of writers, readers and activists who are responsible for the activities and strategic direction of PEN Sydney. All the positions are voluntary.
Claudia Taranto
Joint President
Claudia is a Walkley award winning producer at ABC Radio National. She is a contributor to the Rewind podcast, including the series Conspiracy:War on the Waterfront. She has also taught journalism to First Nations broadcasters at James Cook University and been the editor of the PEN Sydney magazine.
Magdaline Shenton-Kaleido
Joint Treasurer
Magdaline is an experienced leader who has been working in non-profit organisations with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants for over ten years in settlement, community development and social justice.
Mansour Razaghi
Joint President
Mansour came to Australia as a Kurdish political refugee from Iran. He has hosted New Voice, a Farsi/Persian current affairs and community program, on 2000FM since 1998. He worked as a journalist for SBS Radio and ABC Radio and TV and was twice nominated for a Walkley Award. He is also an interpreter and has worked with the Department of Immigration, assisting the settlement of refugees.
Dragana Zivancevic
Joint Treasurer
Dragana is an independent scholar and higher education professional, she is also a freelance translator for English, Serbian and Spanish. Dragana chaired PEN Perth’s Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee, and served on its Writers in Prison Committee.
Zoë Rodriguez
Committee Member
Zoë is the Director of the Australian government arts support program Artbank. She trained as a lawyer focusing on copyright and other IP laws for writers, publishers and visual artists. Zoë is currently the Chair of PEN International’s Women Writers Committee.
Dr Nina Burridge
Committee Member
Dr Nina Burridge is an Associate Professor in the School of International Studies and Education, in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney. She joined UTS as a full time academic in 2005 and has been researching and writing about human rights, cultural diversity, global citizenship and women’s empowerment.
Tom Morton
Committee Member
Tom Morton is a former ABC investigative journalist and radio documentary producer. After leaving the ABC he taught journalism at the University of Technology Sydney and was involved in 2 international research projects on coal, climate change and renewable energy. After decades in institutions, he retired in 2020 and now devotes himself to freelance journalism, climate activism,