Ma Thida: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy

In 1993, Ma Thida was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her support of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and for ‘endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature’.

Released from prison in 1999, Thida’s advocacy for freedom of expression continues unabated as Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee and as a current fellow in the Writers-in-Exile Programme of PEN Germany.

At this special event presented in partnership with PEN Melbourne, Ma Thida appeared in conversation with writer, essayist and academic Michelle Aung Thin. Together, they discuss the current political situation in Myanmar, Thida’s activism and survival of the harsh conditions of Insein Prison, and her ongoing dedication to freedom of expression.