President of PEN Ukraine re-elected; new Executive Board elected

The election took place in Kyiv on January 24, during PEN Ukraine’s General Assembly

Philosopher, writer, and journalist Volodymyr Yermolenko was re-elected president of PEN Ukraine. Literary scholar Tamara Hundorova and writer and humanitarian volunteer Andriy Lyubka became vice-presidents.

Additionally, the new Executive Board of the organization was elected during the Assembly. Henceforth, the Board includes Maksym Butkevych, Yaryna Grusha, Tamara Hundorova, Kateryna Kalytko, Andriy Lyubka, Oleksandr Mykhed, Iryna Starovoyt, and Tetyana Teren. Ola Hnatiuk will also continue her work as the president’s advisor.

According to the Statute of the organization, the president and Board members fulfill their duties within a biennium. The president can be re-elected for another two years’ term. We shall remind you that Volodymyr Yermolenko was first elected president of PEN Ukraine in 2022.

Before Volodymyr Yermolenko, PEN Ukraine was presided over by Andriy Kurkov (2018-2022), Mykola Riabchuk (2014-2018), Myroslav Marynovych (2010-2014), Yevhen Sverstyuk (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 of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Expert of Internews-Ukraine NGO, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld. In 2020, together with journalist Tetyana Ogarkova, he created the Kult podcast. Author of numerous articles about Ukraine, Europe and world processes in Ukrainian and foreign media. Author of books: Narrator and Philosopher: Walter Benjamin and his time ("Оповідач і філософ: Вальтер Беньямін та його час", 2011), The Distant, The Close. Essays on Philosophy and Literature ("Далекі близькі. Есеї з філософії та літератури", 2015), The Ocean Catcher: A Story of Odysseus ("Ловець океану. Історія Одіссея", 2017), Volatile Ideologies: Ideas and Politics in Europe of the 19th and 20th centuries ("Плинні ідеології. Ідеї та політика в Європі ХІХ–ХХ століть", 2018). Laureate of the Yuri Shevelyov Prize (2018) and Petro Mohyla Award (2021).

PEN Ukraine is a non-governmental organization in cultural and human rights uniting 183 Ukrainian journalists, writers, scholars, publishers, translators, playwrights, screenwriters, photographers, cultural managers, and human rights activists. PEN Ukraine co-founded the Vasyl Stus Prize, the Yuri Shevelov Prize, the George Gongadze Prize, and the Drahomán Prize. Since 2022, after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the organization has focused on the main goals of its work, such as informing international audience about Russia’s war in Ukraine, documentation of Russia’s war crimes against media and culture, memorializing the deceased journalists and cultural activists, resuming cultural life in Ukraine, and supporting Ukrainian libraries damaged by Russia.