The EWC Board is very pleased that, at its extraordinary Board Meeting of 23rd February 2026, 

Sebastià Portell was elected unanimously as interim President of the EWC,

following Grażyna Plebanek who had resigned on 17th February.

Portell, until now a member of the Board, is a writer and translator, with wide experience in the associative field and with a special sensitivity to European cultural and linguistic diversity. He assumes the position with the intention of ensuring continuity in the work of the current Board and of the Boards that preceded it, as well as our excellent team, in defending the professional rights and working conditions of writers.

At the same meeting, and after the resignation of Eystein Hanssen as a Board Member on 20th February, the Board has also co-opted
Saulius Vasiliauskas as new Board Member.

Saulius Vasiliauskas is a Lithuanian literary scholar, writer and editor-in-chief of The Vilnius Review , a magazine dedicated to Lithuanian literature in translation. His academic work focuses on the sociology of literature and literary institutions, and he takes an interest in small-language literary cultures and international literary exchange.

The EWC Board and Team is looking forward to working within this new group in continuing to defend and strengthen authors and their rights as we did successfully in the last years.

#oneteamonegoal #authorsrigths #doingtherightthing #doingtherightsthing