Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014

  To Eastern Lands: Reflections in Prose, Photographs and Verse of a Journey from Melbourne to Bombay, Beijing and Other Exotic Destinations.

Join us to hear Roger Uren talk about his latest book.

We are delighted to announce that The Honourable Neil A. Brown, Q.C will introduce Roger Uren's talk. Neil Brown was a minister in the Fraser Government and later deputy leader of the Opposition under John Howard after Bob Hawke became Prime Minister.

From his first journey into Asia to becoming Vice-President of a Hong Kong television broadcasting company, Roger Uren talks about his extensive career in government service, the media, and writing books.

Join us for the first Australian book launch of To Eastern Lands: a selection of poetry, photographs and prose by Roger Uren, a former diplomat, intelligence analyst, author, and Chinese-language television station executive, who has spent much of his time working on Asian issues.

Roger Uren has had a long and rich relationship with Asia, and made his first journey to Asia in 1966, when he spent a “gap year” working on a news magazine in Bombay that was edited by the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He subsequently studied Indonesian and Chinese at Melbourne University and at Taiwan Normal University, before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs, as it was then known, and serving in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Washington. He subsequently spent eight years as head of the Asia Branch in the Office of National Assessments, Australia’s premier intelligence assessment agency, before becoming the Vice President of Phoenix Satellite Television, a Hong Kong-based Mandarin Chinese broadcaster.

Besides his career in government service and the media, he has also written a series of books, including Portrait of a Chinese Paradise, a study of Chinese erotica, and a biography of Kang Sheng, the founder of the Chinese intelligence service and a key political influence in Mao’s China. These books were all written under the pseudonym John Byron, but the Author’s Introduction to To Eastern Lands reveals the logic behind the use and selection of that pseudonym.

Roger Uren will discuss the factors that influenced the attitudes expressed in his poetry, which took him from being a young high school student in Melbourne with a love of the sea to becoming an Asian-oriented diplomat and writer.


When: 6pm Tuesday 18th of February, 2014

Where: Asia Bookroom, Unit 2, 1 - 3 Lawry Place, Macquarie. ACT

RSVP: By 17th of February, either by phoning 6251 5191 or Email Us

Admission by gold coin donation to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation

This is an event not to be missed, but, if you can't join us on the 18th of February and would like to buy a signed copy, let us know as it can easily be arranged.