Tetyana Teren resigns as executive director of PEN Ukraine

Tetyana Teren is no longer an executive director of PEN Ukraine, as announced (post in Ukrainian) on her Facebook page.

“Many people saw PEN as a part of my identity. So did I, and much more than just a professional one. I joined PEN Ukraine at the invitation of people who were dear to me — Leonid Finberg, Ola Hnatiuk, Mykola Riabchuk — people who have been my guiding light and great support. My task, which became my dream and mission for these years, was to build PEN Ukraine as an institution with sustainable and long-term cultural and human rights initiatives, partnerships, an administrative team and a space for interaction and creation in Kyiv,” Teren wrote.

Teren reminded her readers that in the seven years of her work, the PEN Ukraine community has more than doubled (from 68 to 183 authors), and they successfully implemented many important projects, Free Voices of Crimea, People of Culture Taken Away By The War, In Solidarity with Ukraine, Drahomán Prize and many more among them.

“At this point I can’t list all the competitions, residencies, conferences, festivals, advocacy campaigns, published books and events we were involved with and in which we have put our ideas and hearts. The most important for me was to have an opportunity to work at the intersection of culture and human rights, and to be involved in campaigns in support of author Oleh Sentsov, journalist Roman Sushchenko, scientist, religious scholar and activist Ihor Kozlovsky, journalist and former prisoner of secret illegal Izolyatsia prison Stanislav Aseyev, Crimean journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko, journalist and activist Maksym Butkevych, Ukrainian Crimean Tatar politician who became the deputy chairman of the Mejlis Nariman Dzhelal and all the Crimean hostages of the Kremlin,” Teren added.

Teren also expressed her gratitude to her colleagues of the PEN administrative team and her appreciation for having had the opportunity to work with so many figures and personalities important to Ukraine. Teren will continue to be the member of the board of PEN Ukraine and will continue to chair the Supervisory Board of the George Gongadze Prize.

Maksym Sytnikov will hold the position of the new executive director of PEN Ukraine. In 2021, he joined PEN Ukraine’s administrative team, being responsible for human rights projects. After the outbreak of the full-scale invasion, Sytnikov organized visits of foreign delegations to Ukraine and literary and volunteer trips to the de-occupied and frontline regions. Since 2023, he was deputy executive director.

Tetyana Teren is a journalist, curator of book projects and literary programs. She worked as a presenter of “Book Basket”, a TV show on Kharkiv TV channel “А/ТВК”, as an editor of literary magazine “Berezil” on Channel 5 and the “Ukrainska Pravda. Kultura” website. She contributed to such periodicals as “Ukraina Moloda,” “Den,” “Tyzhden,” “Vysokyi Zamok,” “Harper’s Bazaar Ukraine” and others.

PEN Ukraine is a cultural and human rights organization that unites Ukrainian journalists, writers, scholars, publishers, translators and human rights activists. PEN Ukraine was founded in 1989, and is one of 146 national centers of PEN International.

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Main image: Artem Galkin/Tetyana Teren’s Facebook page

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn