Past Programs
Ethics - 2008
Christopher Kremmer on greed
12/09/2008
Christopher Kremmer, author of Bamboo Palace, The Carpet Wars and Inhaling the Mahatma, begins the 2008 Sydney PEN '3 Writers' series of talks with an address on the subject of greed.
PEN is an international organisation that exists to highlight the plight of writers and journalists who are being persecuted because of their work. The organisation also works with writers to highlight wider injustices and inequities in society. It's with this in mind that Sydney PEN have used this series of talks to focus on greed, survival and courage.
The second speaker in the series will be Melissa Lukashenko tackling the topic of survival and then Anna Funder on the subject of courage. All three talks will be published as an essay collection in the first half of 2009.
Poetry and military life ... teaching literature at West Point Read Transcript
16/03/2008
Elizabeth Samet has spent the last 10 years teaching literature to cadets at West Point, where her students go from reading poetry in the morning to training for combat in the afternoon. In her book Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point she talks about how her students negotiate the world of literature and the world of war, and how being so close to war has affected her relationship to literature.
Philosopher and author AC Grayling Read Transcript
20/02/2008
In his new book The Choice of Hercules philosopher AC Grayling uses a legendary choice that faced Hercules, duty versus pleasure, as the starting point for reflecting on contemporary ethical challenges.
Poetry and military life ... teaching literature at West Point Read Transcript
19/02/2008
Elizabeth Samet has spent the last 10 years teaching literature to cadets at West Point, where her students go from reading poetry in the morning to training for combat in the afternoon. In her book Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point she talks about how her students negotiate the world of literature and the world of war, and how being so close to war has affected her relationship to literature.
