FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jamie Parker MP, Member for Balmain to host book launch at NSW Parliament in honour of the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday
Australians have come together to honour HH the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet in a special anthology, Dear Dalai Lama: Letters from Australians, published in association with Brave Media and the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, (University of Sydney) on the occasion of his 80th birthday, celebrated on 6 July worldwide.
This rare publication of letters succeeds in its motivation—true to the Dalai Lama’s universal message of loving kindness—to illuminate the friendships between Australians and the spiritual leader of Tibetans which date back further than his first visit to the country in 1982.
Conceived and compiled by local Tibetan refugee, Tenpa Dugdak with a foreward by Prof. Emeritus Stuart Rees AM, Dear Dalai Lama is a deeply considered collection of edifying correspondence featuring:
- Dr. Bob Brown, Former Senator and leader of the Australian Greens
- Gabriel Lafitte, Environmentalist and researcher
- Julian Burnside AO QC, lawyer, writer, human rights advocate, 2014 Laureate of the Sydney Peace Prize
- Abby Myer, State representative for the OI Society of Australia
- Abe Quadan, Palestinian human rights and peace activist and lecturer in Mediation
- Prof. The Hon. Gareth Evans AC QC, Former Foreign Minister of Australia
and other generous contributors
At the heart of salutations dedicated to an inspiring world leader —a sobering appeal to our social conscience and sense of humanity emerges. That is, to continue to bravely defend the Tibetans’ rights and aspirations for true freedom on their long struggle—as this book strives to do.
As Stuart Rees reminds us in the foreward to the book, this significant event emerges “…at a time when courage in public life is desperately needed.”
Dear Dalai Lama will be launched at NSW Parliament in the Jubilee Room at 6pm on Tuesday 4 August and kindly hosted by Jamie Parker MP, the member for Balmain with special guests. Light refreshments will be served with a champagne toast to the Dalai Lama!
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All proceeds from this book have been pledged to the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Scholarship Fund for students from the world’s least developed countries.
For more information visit: to: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/peace_conflict/
http://sydneypeacefoundation.org.au/peace-‐projects/internships-‐scholarships/
A limited edition of Dear Dalai Lama is now available at Gleebooks instore and online at: http://bit.ly/1GErUUa
For more information contact Tenpa Dugdak at dugdak@gmail.com
or Karen Collier at bravemedia.karen@gmail.com
“This thoughtful and inspiring collection of letters of gratitude demonstrates the profound influence that His Holiness has had on many Australians committed to peace, to justice and to humanity.” –
David Hirsch, Chair Sydney Peace Foundation
