A break after much argument, now a new beginning. In Berlin there is a new branch of the writers’ association PEN. At the top, author Menasse and journalist Yücel have big plans.
After a heated argument and ongoing quarrels at the writers’ association PEN, there is now an additional association, PEN Berlin.
During the meeting on Friday in Berlin and an online switch, around 150 members elected the journalist Deniz Yücel and the writer Eva Menasse (“Dunkelblum”) to head the association.
Yücel was previously President of the PEN Center Germany for a few months. After fierce arguments, he was confirmed there in May, but subsequently resigned.
In the election, Menasse received 143 of 143 votes, Yücel received 136 votes with eight votes against. Nine members were appointed to the board of the new association.
Julian Assange as honorary member
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who was imprisoned in Great Britain, immediately became an honorary member. This had been offered to him, he had accepted it in the morning, it said. This was acknowledged by the assembly in Berlin with sustained applause.
The writer Simone Buchholz (“River Clyde”), also elected to the board, left the meeting early “for the first official act of PEN Berlin”. Together with board member Alexandru Bulucz (“what parsley knows about the soul”), she picked up the writer Dmitry Glukhovsky (“Der Posten”, “Text”), who was wanted by the Russian judiciary, at the airport in Berlin.
According to Yücel, the new association also wants to work with PEN International. The necessary support is already available from the associations in Uganda and Ukraine.
«Not a club of like-minded people»
“It’s not a club of like-minded people and it doesn’t want to be, it’s a club of authors in this whole range,” said Yücel of the dpa. “As authors, writers and publicists, we can express ourselves competently on certain debates.” As an example, Yücel named the issue of freedom of expression and its limits. “Any discussion about freedom of expression is always a question of democracy.” What remains common is the PEN charter, “the idea of practical solidarity with authors who are being persecuted”.
Menasse also recognizes peculiarities in the new union. “This wide range of voices and diversity, the mix of women and men, of migrant literature as well as other literature, everything that comes together from our list can and will make a big difference, in addition to the many prominent names we also have, »said Menasse of the dpa. The writer does not see the new association in Berlin as competing with the existing organization. “What we have ahead of PEN Darmstadt is the momentum, the energy, also the good will and the hope of so many, which was really dramatically lost there.”
Numerous supporters
The supporters of PEN Berlin include Daniel Kehlmann («Tyll»), Christian Kracht («Eurotrash»), Karen Köhler («Miroloi»), Lucy Fricke («Die Diplomatin»), Ursula Krechel («Landgericht»), as well as Thea Dorn, who moderates the “Literary Quartet” on ZDF, Mithu M. Sanyal (“Identitti”), Christian Berkel (“Ada”) and Feridun Zaimoglu (“Hinterland”).
There are more than 140 writers’ associations worldwide, united in the international PEN. The three letters stand for the words Poets, Essayists and Novelists.
There had been a heated argument under Yücel in the PEN center in Germany. It was about leadership style. Statements by Yücel, who spoke out in favor of a no-fly zone in Ukraine during the Lit.Cologne festival, were also debated.
The German PEN center in Darmstadt sees the announced founding as an addition to its work. “We see this as an enrichment of the work of the PEN in the effort to reposition ourselves,” said Secretary General Claudia Guderian.
