Emails reveal State Library discussed political, religious views of writers

Board members and senior staff of State Library Victoria discussed the political views of writers at length, consulted donors and the state government, and flagged concerns around the religious background of writers before deciding to cancel a series of workshops, according to documents obtained by The Age.

In March, the State Library announced it was “postponing” its writing boot camp aimed at teenagers, though it has since failed to announce new dates and the writers involved have declared their unwillingness to take part. The library denied at the time that the cancellations were related to pro-Palestine views expressed by the writers.

Poet Omar Sakr’s pro-Palestine views are highlighted at length in State Library of Victoria correspondence.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

But documents released under freedom of information laws reveal senior staff and board members, including former federal Labor MP Maxine McKew, discussed the writers’ views on issues ranging from Palestine to human rights in China. A dossier of the writers’ social media posts and public articles was also created by a staff member.

In particular, pro-Palestine views expressed by poet Omar Sakr are highlighted at length in correspondence between McKew, who was at the time a member of the library’s board, and library management. The initial discussion appears to stem from concerns raised with the library by an unnamed teacher who describes Sakr as “unsafe”. Opinions about Gaza expressed by writers Jinghua Qian, Alison Evans and Ariel Ries are also highlighted.

On February 13, an email from McKew to library chief executive Paul Duldig has “Omar Sakr” as its subject. Most of it is redacted, but it relates to comments made by Sakr about Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

“Many thanks for sending through the full text. It’s an instructive and revealing read,” McKew says. “The first thing to say is that I note this was written in the immediate aftermath of the Oct 7 attack. Which leads to the obvious question – do we have a clear read on everything Omar Sakr has posted since then? If not, we should know and soon.”

She continues: “Now, Mr Sakr is perfectly entitled to air these views”, at which point more copy is redacted. “My point is this – we must adhere to a policy of strict neutrality.

“It doesn’t mean we have to vet everyone for their political and social views. But it does mean that on a subject such as Gaza/Israel we have a duty to be absolutely thorough and super careful about the way language is used by the people we engage.”

On Tuesday, McKew said: “My decisions as a board member are guided by the policy of political neutrality, which covers all the major Victorian cultural institutions. The library is being entirely consistent in applying this policy to the contentious issue of Gaza/Israel.”

The documents reveal that Duldig read articles written by Sakr that had been identified as controversial. Duldig wrote in February: “It is a reasoned argument, though controversial. On these grounds, no reason not to proceed with the presenter.”

Opinions about Gaza expressed by writers Ariel Ries, Alison Evans and Jinghua Qian were also highlighted.Credit: Justin McManus

Library management then decided to raise the issue with other board members and seek advice from state government funding body Creative Victoria. Staff were also delegated to consult library donors about the issue.

In a separate set of email correspondence between staff, one library employee raises Sakr’s Muslim religion and his pairing with a Jewish writer as a concern.

“I wanted to flag with you two authors who are paired together for one of the teen writing boot camp information sessions on 15 Feb,” the email, written by an unnamed employee, says. “The reason I’m flagging it is because one is of Muslim heritage (Omar Sakr) and the other I believe is of Jewish heritage and it’s just clicked that this might need some additional risk management.”

Sakr’s views on Palestine and his poetry about Israel’s invasion are cited below those comments.

It is unclear from the documents when and by whom the decision was made to cancel the workshops.

The State Library has regularly denied any decisions about the writing workshops were based on the political beliefs or identity of anyone involved with the program.

On Tuesday, Duldig did not answer specific questions relating to Sakr’s religion and the involvement of donors. In a statement, he reiterated the library’s position that “postponing” the writing boot camp was not due to the political views of the participants.

“Concerns were raised with the library about the blogs of one writer, Mr Sakr, and these blogs were found not to require further action,” he said. “In reviewing those concerns, the library did find that its policies and procedures were not sufficiently robust.”

Sakr said on Tuesday: “I think it’s clear now to everyone how poorly handled, how unnecessary and wasteful and damaging this has been to us writers and to the library’s reputation.”

The cancelling of the writing workshops has led to the resignations of senior staff and an open letter signed by more than 100 employees criticising library management. Australian authors Michelle de Kretser, Tony Birch and Grace Yee have all announced a boycott of the library over its handling of the issue.

Last Friday, The Age reported that library management had banned staff from wearing pro-Palestine material. In response Duldig emailed all staff expressing disappointment they had spoken to this masthead about the library’s new dress code, warning staff that speaking to the media could breach their employment conditions.

Creative Victoria was contacted for comment.

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