News
PEN Sydney brings you the latest news about freedom of expression, writers and their words.
News & Media
Iranian poet arrested
The Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on its own citizens continues, with members of Iran’s writing community among those arrested.On 26 January,...
Three Iranian Writers face imprisonment
This conversation was originally published in 2020. It was organised by PEN Sydney, on behalf of the Australian PEN Centres in Melbourne and Perth....
hate speech laws will do real harm
PEN Melbourne, PEN Sydney and PEN Perth express our deep concern regarding the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill that was passed by...
amanda echanis freed
On 14 January, Filipino poet, writer, and activist Amanda Echanis was acquitted of weapons and explosives charges after spending more than five...
adelaide writers’ week cancelled
The cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week after the removal of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah and the withdrawal of the majority of writers calls for a...
adelaide writers week
77 writers have withdrawn from the Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) after the Adelaide Festival Board decided to drop Australian-Palestinian author...
leila’s nightmare in iran
Leila Sadeghi had no idea of the danger that awaited her when she returned to Iran for her father’s funeral. As a translator of feminist articles...
senseless Death of an artist in iran
Artist and mother Mehrangiz Eminpour was killed in the Israeli attacks on Tehran on Monday June 2. PEN Sydney extends our condolences to her...
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...
Yang Hengjun’s letter from prison
A letter written in January this year by imprisoned Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been made public for the first time. Now in his sixth year of...
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
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...