Mark Isaacs

Mark Isaacs is a writer, a researcher, a photographer and a community worker.

Mark is president of PEN Sydney, an affiliate of PEN International, a worldwide association of writers which defends freedom of expression and campaigns on behalf of writers who have been silenced by persecution or imprisonment. He is currently studying for a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Technology, Sydney. His research will focus on human migration in the Asia-Pacific region.

His first book, The Undesirables: Inside Nauru (Hardie Grant, 2014), is a whistle-blowing account of his work with asylum seekers in Nauru, one of Australia’s notorious offshore prisons. His second book, Nauru Burning (2016), follows up The Undesirables with an investigative report into human rights abuses in Nauru.

Mark’s third book, The Kabul Peace House (Hardie Grant, 2019) is about a community of student peace activists in Afghanistan. The book was published in Australia and the United Kingdom. The affiliated photography collection, Imagining Peace: A Portrait of Modern Afghanistan, was exhibited in Newcastle Libraries in New South Wales, Australia.