A profile
Writer · Translator · Senior UN official · Philanthropist · Board director
Born in Egypt, the daughter of a British intelligence officer and a Spanish Jewish mother, Patricia came to Australia as a child.
01 — The Writer
Cairo 1942 — My Search for Sol, her Spies and her People. A daughter’s search through a hidden box of family secrets.
“The day I buried my mother I finally opened the box she had hidden on the top shelf of her wardrobe, and for the first time I understood who she had been.” So begins The Secrets of the Blue Box.
Written as Patricia’s doctorate at the University of Technology Sydney, the book tells three interlocking stories — Amaury’s, Max’s and Sol’s — all of which derive from the discovery of a cache of hidden family secrets, deposited by the author’s mother. Their focal point is the apartment at 19 rue Hawayati in Cairo where, Patricia suggests, “three empires met”.
“This is a magnificent doctorate. I was hooked reading it and couldn’t put it down.”
Prof. Bill Schwartz, University of London, examiner
From the contents
02 — The Translator
Tales of Occupied Paris. A novel by Jean Dutourd, translated by Patricia Azarias, with introduction and notes.
The funniest novel about occupied Paris you’ve never read – a best seller for decades, by one of France’s most brilliant and storied authors, Resistance hero, working journalist, distinguished member of the Academie Francaise, Jean Dutourd.
It’s time for English readers to visit Paris in the 1940s and meet Leon, Madeleine, Charles-Hubert and Julie. Here’s a sparkling new translation by Patricia Azarias, with a charming, illuminating introduction and plenty of notes.
The original, Au Bon Beurre, has never been out of print since 1954 and was serialized for television.
“The funniest novel about occupied Paris you’ve never read.”
From the publisher’s descriptionOnce they were sitting down in their compartment, the Poissonards unwrapped their provisions. Even though the train took eighteen hours to get to Vichy, even though they beefed and porked every half hour, they still did not manage to get to the end of their supplies. Their travelling companions gazed at them with demented eyes. Between mouthfuls, the Poissonards lectured them about morality and politics.
03 — The Senior UN Official
The most senior Australian in the UN at the time, Patricia headed the Internal Audit Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, examining the operations of all the large UN departments and all of the UN’s peacekeeping operations.
Patricia was nine when her father first told her about Dag Hammarskjöld and the United Nations. “Small as I was, I was sure right away that the United Nations was where I wanted to work.”
Her first job was with the UN Development Programme: almost nine years of constant travel, including three years of field service in Zimbabwe, where she met her husband Yannis, a Greek diplomat. She left the UN for family reasons, worked as an economist for a regional bank in Saudi Arabia, and then spent more than a decade in the New South Wales public service, first as Director of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee through two changes of government, and later as Chief Executive of the Ministry of Infrastructure Management.
On 11 March 2004 she returned to the UN in New York as Director of the Internal Audit Division in the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Her auditors examined every large UN department and every peacekeeping operation. In the UN’s own newsletter she argued for clear policies on harassment and the protection of whistle-blowers, for collaboration over confrontation, and for women to demand the support they need to reach senior posts.
“Don’t be afraid of anything. Go for it. Do it. Say it. Ask for it. Take it. Nothing is really stopping you.”
Patricia, interviewed in network, the UN Women’s Newsletter, 200504 — A Life
Eight chapters, from Cairo to Sydney and back again. Scroll, and the place keeps pace with you.
Chapter 1 — Cairo
Patricia was born in Egypt, the daughter of Max, a British intelligence officer, and Sol, a Spanish Jewish mother. Sol’s apartment on the rue Hawayati in Cairo — where, Patricia suggests, “three empires met” — is the focal point of The Secrets of the Blue Box.
Chapter 2 — Sydney
Patricia came to Australia as a child. In Sydney, she made three life-changing discoveries – at nine, the Iliad, and the United Nations; and at 17, the music of Mozart.
“I was nine years old when my father first told me about Dag Hammarskjold and the United Nations, and, small as I was, I was sure right away that the United Nations was where I wanted to work.”
Chapter 3 — Oxford & Princeton
Studies at Oxford and Princeton followed. Patricia has degrees from Sydney, Oxford and Princeton Universities, and her main field of study has been economics.
Chapter 4 — Zimbabwe
Her first job was in the UN Development Program: almost nine years of constant travel, including three years of field service in Zimbabwe. There she met her husband Yannis, a Greek diplomat.
Chapter 5 — Saudi Arabia
For personal reasons she left the UN service and went to do cost-benefit analyses for a regional bank in Saudi Arabia. Their two children were born there.
Chapter 6 — NSW Parliament
Returning to Sydney after nearly 20 years, Patricia was for ten years Director of the Public Accounts Committee in the Parliament of New South Wales, serving through two changes of government. There she led a team researching and writing extensive management and financial reviews of a wide range of government agencies. Later she served as Chief Executive of the Ministry of Infrastructure Management in New South Wales.
Chapter 7 — New York
Back in New York, as the most senior Australian in the UN at the time, Patricia was appointed Director of the UN’s Internal Audit Division in the Office of Internal Oversight Services.
Chapter 8 — Sydney again
When she returned to Sydney, she briefly became a banker, wrote a Ph.D. about her extraordinary mother Sol, translated a landmark work of French literature, served on 15 boards, and, with her husband, created a new health-related business and a philanthropic foundation to support Australian playwrights and teach children about democracy.
05 — The Philanthropist
Co-Founder, Organiser and Fundraiser of two prizes for new Australian plays — one for adults, one for children — decided by the audience’s vote.
With her husband Yannis, Patricia created a philanthropic foundation to support Australian playwrights and teach children about democracy. At each prize the plays are performed and the winner is chosen by the people in the house, who vote by dropping tokens into golden urns.
The Lysicrates Prize
Supporting young Australian playwrights
The Martin-Lysicrates Prize
Giving kids their first experience of the democratic vote
How the vote works
The audience votes by dropping tokens into golden urns.
06 — Also
SafeMate
With her husband, Patricia established SafeMate Australia Pty Ltd, which assists first responders at a medical emergency to provide rapid, targeted help to the patient.
Boards
Patricia served on 15 Boards and committees, including SBS Television and Radio, South East Sydney Local Health District, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and Pillar Superannuation.