Does Sydney PEN’s work make a real difference?
Yes, it really does. In 2008 our advocacy work, together with our colleagues at International PEN, helped to release 94 writers from prison. In 2009, the Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka had a personal involvement in the release of an imprisoned newspaper editor after receiving many letters from members of Sydney PEN. Later in the year, another Sri Lankan academic and journalist was released following a mass public letter campaign by Sydney PEN. Other actions, such as The Empty Chair currently installed at UTS, and the Writers in Detention anthology of asylum seekers’ writing, Another Country, have prompted awareness of imprisoned writers and public debate of the issues in Australia. Some of the impact of our work is immediate, and some of it is incremental. The fact is that every bit – a letter signed by a supporter or a partnership with a fellow centre in the Asian and Pacific region – is part of our ethos of vigilance.
