Status: 02.09.2024 17:41
After the resignation of its president José FA Oliver, the PEN Center Germany would benefit from new, visionary leadership that would set a noticeable example, believes NDR literary editor Jürgen Deppe.
As of now, one of the largest writers’ associations in Germany is once again without leadership. José FA Oliver resigned on Monday for health reasons. This was to be expected. José FA Oliver had been seriously ill for some time, the However, the German PEN Center is discreet enough not to let any details leak out. The fact that Oliver was not present at the annual meeting in Hamburg in the spring to mark the start of the anniversary year – German PEN is celebrating its 100th birthday this year – gave rise to fears of the worst. In Darmstadt, where the German PEN Center is based, people have probably already thought about what will happen after Oliver.
German PEN Centre struggles for importance after PEN Berlin splits off
Officially, it is now a search committee that will decide on a successor. This will not be easy, after the PEN Berlin has split off from the German PEN Center – and the German PEN Center has been struggling to maintain its importance since then. German PEN has lost a lot of its importance as a result of the split from PEN Berlin. Many of the well-known German authors are now organized in the capital’s club.
It lacks its own dynamic profile
In the two years that José FA Oliver has been in charge of the German PEN, he has never really managed to give the venerable mother PEN a new, dynamic profile of its own that would go beyond what PEN has always done – to campaign for persecuted and imprisoned writers around the world. At this point, to allow an internal reappointment of the leadership positions would be a purely administrative act. The PEN Center Germany would now benefit from new, visionary leadership that would set a noticeable example. But who could do this, internally or externally, is completely open. A fresh start would definitely do the PEN Center Germany good.
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