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José FA Oliver: His predecessor Josef Haslinger did not stand for election
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The poet and essayist José FA Oliver is the new President of the German PEN.
This was said by a spokesman for the writers' association of the German Press Agency in Darmstadt.
At the extraordinary general meeting in the Darmstadium congress center, Oliver was elected to succeed interim president Josef Haslinger.
Haslinger himself did not stand for election.
Haslinger took over the office together with the author Maxi Obexer after the resignation of the journalist and publicist Deniz Yücel in May after a power struggle in the German PEN center.
Just one month later, Obexer resigned from her position.
In a letter to the PEN members, the author wrote, »Providing for the essential new beginning is currently not feasible«.
Previously, there had been a heated argument about the leadership style of the top echelons of the writers' association, which had divided them.
Among other things, it was about insults, allegations of bullying and the tone of conversation.
The first demands for resignation against Yücel were already made in March.
At the conference in Gotha in mid-May, Yücel was narrowly confirmed in office - by 75 to 73 votes.
However, some members sharply attacked the then PEN President.
After a colleague on the presidency was voted out, Yücel resigned and described the organization as a "bratwurst booth".
Finally, on June 10, PEN Berlin, a new writers' association, was founded with Eva Menasse and Deniz Yücel at the helm.
There are more than 140 writers' associations worldwide, united in the international PEN.
The three letters stand for the words Poets, Essayists and Novelists.
isb/dpa