PEN Ukraine elected a new president

Volodymyr Yermolenko became the new president of Ukrainian PEN. The decision on the new leader was made by members of the Ukrainian PEN during the General Meeting.

Journalist, TV host Myroslava Barchuk and poet, translator Ostap Slyvynsky became vice-presidents of Ukrainian PEN.

Also during the Meeting, PEN members elected a new Executive Council of the organization, which included Alim Aliyev, Myroslava Barchuk, Larisa Denysenko, Ihor Kozlovskyi, Iryna Slavinska, Ostap Slyvynskyi, Marko-Robert Stech and Artem Chapeye. In addition, Olga Hnatiuk became an adviser to the newly elected president.

Yermolenko will be the president of PEN for two years. Later, he can be re-elected for another two-year term.

From 2018 to 2022, Ukrainian PEN was headed by Andriy Kurkov. Previously, the presidents of the organization were Mykola Riabchuk (2014-2018), Myroslav Marynovych (2010-2014), Yevhen Sverstiuk (1993-2010) and Mykola Vinhranovsky (1989-1993).

Volodymyr Yermolenko is a Ukrainian philosopher, writer and journalist, doctor of political studies. Senior lecturer at the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Expert of community organization Internews-Ukraine, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld. In 2020, together with Tetyana Oharkova, Yermolenko started the Kult podcast, dedicated to defining epochs in the history of culture and cult authors who had a great influence on the development of literature and culture. Author of numerous articles about Ukraine, Europe and world processes in Ukrainian and foreign media. Author of the books The Storyteller and Philosopher Walter Benjamin and His Time (2011), Distant relatives. Essays on philosophy and literature (2015), Ocean Catcher: The Story of Odysseus (2017), Fluid ideologies. Ideas and Politics in Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries (2018). Laureate of the Yuri Shevelyov Prize (2018) and the Petro Mohyla Award (2021).

PEN Ukraine is a cultural and human rights non-governmental organization that unites Ukrainian journalists, writers, scientists, publishers, translators and human rights defenders. The Ukrainian branch of the International PEN Club was established in 1989 and is one of the 146 national centers of the International PEN. 

Featured photo: Valentyn Kuzan/craftmagazine.net