232 female authors found »PEN Berlin«

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Also present at »PEN Berlin«: Former PEN President Deniz Yücel

Photo: Martin Schutt / dpa

232 well-known authors around Deniz Yücel are founding the new association »PEN Berlin«, which was announced in a press release.

It says: »We want a new PEN.

A contemporary and diverse PEN in which writers and translators of all literary and journalistic genres who write in German or live in Germany come together.

A PEN by and for colleagues who advocate freedom of expression and open discourse, without presidents and other titles, with a parity board at the top.«

The former president of the PEN center Deniz Yücel is the "driving" and "unifying" force in the constitution, which is to take place on Friday in the Berlin Literaturhaus, reports the "FAZ".

According to this, 20 authors have gathered in the past few weeks, who have gained more followers over Pentecost.

Thirteen of them, such as Eva Menasse and Herbert Wiesner, are officially still members of the "old PEN".

Yücel barely survived a vote-out procedure there and then left the association.

As a result, the entire PEN Presidium resigned.

The "second German PEN center" stands for "freedom of expression, open discourse, diversity, solidarity," writes author Jasmin Schreiber on Twitter.

She is also one of the authors of the new PEN.

Lucy Fricke, Diedrich Diederichsen, Ursula Krechel, Christian Kracht and Thea Dorn have also signed.

nga