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PEN International Centre (Canberra)

International PEN is a transnational network of writers who share a common concern for the craft and art of writing and who are committed to freedom of expression through the written word. It is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work. It is also a voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries.

Founded in London in 1921, PEN is the leading voice of literature worldwide, bringing together poets, novelists, essayists, historians, critics, translators, editors, journalists and screenwriters. PEN has an international presence, with 126 centres operating in 91 countries.

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN was set up in 1960 as a result of mounting concern about attempts to silence critical voices through the detention of writers. It works on behalf of all those who are detained or otherwise persecuted for their written opinions and for writers who are under attack for their peaceful political activities or for the practice of their profession, provided that they did not use violence or advocate racial hatred.

Member centres of International PEN are active in campaigning for an improvement in the conditions of persecuted writers and journalists. They send letters to the governments concerned and lobby their own governments to campaign for the release of detained writers and for investigations in cases of torture and killings. Through writing to the families and, where possible, directly to prisoners, they provide encouragement and hope.

International PEN has consultative status at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and with UNESCO.

PEN ACT has been active in Canberra, the Australian capital, for over ten years, and has been able to take advantage of the proximity of Parliament House, embassies and the national media.

Some of the key activities undertaken by PEN ACT include:

Pen Memorial Walk:

A tree-lined walk to commemorate writers who have died for daring to speak out.

• Inaugurated in 1996
• A tree planted in memory of Ken Saro Wiwa - 1996
• A tree planted in memory of Robert Walker (indigenous poet) - 1997
• A tree planted for the Australian journalists killed in East Timor - 1998
• A tree planted for Larissa Yudina and Galina Starovoitova, Russian journalists - 1999

PEN-Sponsored sessions at the Canberra Word Festival:

• Xiaoyang Zhu (China) (1995)
• Satendra Nandan (Fiji) (1995)
• Butch Dalisay (the Philippines) (1997)
• Kin Oung (Burma) (1997)
• Jackie Huggins (indigenous Australian) (1997)
• Writers in prisons (1999)

PEN-Sponsored Literary Quiz

• Major fund-raising function and awareness raising event. This annual quiz was in its third year in 1999.

Publications:

• Doing Time - Prison Poetry (1999)
• Protesting the Testing: Canberra Writers Speak Out Against Nuclear
• Testing in the Pacific - An anthology of Canberra writers, published by PEN ACT and Left Book Club ACT (1996).

Public Forums:

• Censorship - 1995 (held at Parliament House)
• Burma - 1996 (held at Parliament House)
• East Timor - 1996 (held at Parliament House)
• Aboriginal Reconciliation - 1997 (held at the ACT Writers Centre)
• Attendance at the International Congress in Fremantle - 1997

Public Readings:

• Outside the Indonesian Embassy in support of East Timor
• Outside the Chinese Embassy to protest against the Tienanmen Square massacres
• Outside the Nigerian Embassy to protest against the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa
• Outside the Burmese Embassy to protest against the House Arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi
• Outside Parliament House in support of democracy in Burma.

Interventions for:

• Xiaoyang Zhu - Chinese writer
• Rata Samaputra
• Ken Saro-Wiwa

Fund-raising and awareness-raising dinners:

• Hosted by Josef Svorecky
• Co-hosted with the Goethe Institute
• With guest speaker Mrs Bavandra, previously married to the late ousted PM of Fiji

Reconciliation Book:

• Distribution of the PEN Reconciliation Book begun at the Fremantle Congress and a ceremony to house it in the ACT Writers' Centre (1997).

Media coverage:

• Regular contributions to Blast magazine on topics including censorship, minority languages, the oppression of writers.
• Extensive coverage for PEN ACT activities, including letters to the editor of newspapers published and radio broadcasts. For example, letters to the editor have been published in support of campaigner for women's rights to ordination in the Catholic Church (Ann Nugent), and concerning the former Chilean dictator, Pinochet.

Contact details for PEN International (Canberra)

PO Box 261
Dickson
Canberra ACT 2602

Tel/Fax: 61 02 62480912

Email: anugent@dynamite.com.au