#FreeAllWords: International Text and Translation Fund of the European Writers‘ Council (EWC) gives a voice to authors from Belarus and Ukraine
European authors from 27 countries convene in Brussels to defend the role of the Writer as critical infrastructure
Brussels, 8th June 2026
EWC turns Brussels into the European Capital of Literature
From 12th to 14th of June 2026, Brussels is turning into the European capital of literature. The European Writers’ Council (EWC) invites the Writers’ and Translators’ Associations from Europe to gather for their annual meeting. This year, the Annual General Assembly will be held at the EWC’ headquarters, the European House of Authors (Maison européenne des Autrices et des Auteurs, MEDAA).
European Authors meeting to protect their rights
Around 80 delegates and Board Members from 27 countries, representing over 200,000 professional authors in the text and book sector, writing and publishing in a total of 30 languages, meet in Brussels to discuss how to improve authors’ working conditions and how to protect their professional rights during the federation’s annual assembly, alongside a new edition of the “Burning Issues Forum” dedicated to the role of writers as critical infrastructure.
What kinda future do we want to write?
In times of erosion of our professional and cultural rights, when threats to artistic freedom and freedom of expression are spreading across the world, the work of the European Writers’ Council and all our member associations is essential to ensure the future of a plural, democratic, and critically engaged society,”
states Sebastià Portell, EWC President.
“This gathering is a valuable opportunity to discuss the challenges we share and to reflect on possible ways to address them, based in the conviction that protecting our authors’ rights means protecting everyone’s human rights.”
The Writer as a critical infrastructure: protecting professional and cultural rights
On Saturday 13th June the delegates join, discuss and get inspired during the EWC’ “Burning Issues Forum”. Under the headline “The Writer as a critical infrastructure”, EWC guest speakers and the participants from its member associations will debate crucial issues for their profession, such as possible ways to advocate for authors’ rights through book sector organisations and CMOs, the need for a clear and robust regulation of Artificial Intelligence, challenges and success stories related to authors’ remuneration, and best practices in organising literary readings.
Burning Issues – a Forum for Discussions & Exchange
Speakers are EWC’ Board Members, Anne Bergman-Tahon, Director of the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), Matthijs De Ridder, President of the Flemish Writers Association – Vlaamse Auteurs Vereniging, Nina George, EWC President of Honour and Commissioner for Political Affairs, Samantha Holman, President of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) and CEO of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency, Francesca Novajra, President of the European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations (CEATL), Nicole Pfister Fetz, EWC Secretary General, Kurt Van Damme, Head of Sales, Legal & International of Reprobel, and Niina Vettensola, Executive Director at Finnish Literary Copyright Society Sanasto. At the end of the discussions, several Breakout Sessions will be held in breakout groups, where delegates will be able to debate best practice cases and shared challenges across different national contexts.
Annual General Assembly
The event, not open to the public but to media upon request, will conclude on Sunday 14th June with the Annual General Assembly, at which elections will be held for the role of President and of one Board Member, a proposal to amend the EWC Statutes will be voted on, and three associations are expected to become new members of the world’s only federation representing book authors.
For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact:
European Writers’ Council (EWC)
Nicole Pfister Fetz, Secretary General
nicole.pfisterfetz@europeanwriterscouncil.eu
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
About the European Writers’ Council (EWC)
The EWC is the world’s largest federation of writers in the book sector and of all genres (fiction, non-fiction, academic, children’s books, poetry, etc.). With 52 organisations and professional guilds from 34 countries of the EU, the EEA and of non-EU areas, the EWC represents 250.000 writers and translators, writing and publishing altogether in 37 languages. The EWC is the world’s leading federation for the defence of book authors’ rights since 1977.
europeanwriterscouncil.eu
info@europeanwriterscouncil.eu
The EWC AGM is supported by:
Reprobel is the collective management organisation (CMO) of Belgian authors and publishers, with an annual turnover of around 30 million euro. Reprobel is a full RRO member of IFRRO. It offers a successful licence (bizili by Reprobel) for both digital re-use and paper reproductions of copyrighted texts and images in the private and public sector. Reprobel also administers the statutory remuneration schemes for reprography, education and public lending right (PLR) on the Belgian territory. Through its 15 member CMOs and more than 40 international agreements, it ensures that rightsholders receive a fair remuneration for the (re)use of their works. Reprobel supports in many ways this year’s EWC AGM in Brussels. Kurt Van Damme, Reprobel’s Head of Licensing, Legal & International will speak on a panel at the Burning Issues Forum.
Stichting Leenrecht is the organisation that has been designated by the Dutch Minister of Justice by agreement with the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science and charged as a legal entity with implementing the public lending and rental rights regulations. It is authorised to collect and distribute the compensation. The articles of Stichting Leenrecht have been approved by the Minister of Justice and Stichting Leenrecht is supervised by the government through the Supervisory Commission. Stichting Leenrecht supports with a substantial financial contribution this year’s EWC AGM in Brussels. Its Managing Director Arjen Polman is also President of the recently founded association PLR International.
The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) is an independent, non-profit membership association that facilitates, at the international level, the collective management of reproduction and other rights in text- and image-based works through the cooperation of its member Reproduction Rights Organisations (RROs). IFRRO brings together over 160 members from around 90 countries worldwide, representing millions of authors, visual artists, and publishers of books, journals, newspapers, magazines, and printed music. Its mission is to develop and promote effective collective rights management, ensuring that the rights of authors and publishers are properly valued through the lawful and remunerated use of text- and image-based works. IFRRO is financially supporting this year’s Burning Issues Forum, and its President, Samantha Holman, will participate as a panel speaker.
deAuteurs is a collective management organization (CMO) for Dutch-speaking authors in the fields of literature, audiovisual works, graphic works, performance art, scene music, audio works, games, and VR/AR. It is a non‑commercial cooperative company with limited liability and was granted this status by a Ministerial Decree in 2011. deAuteurs unites over 2 500 authors and engages in ongoing, constructive dialogue with publishers, producers, broadcasters, theatre organizers and anyone who exploits creative works. It strives to optimize collective rights management in Flanders and internationally, and therefore consults regularly with both Belgian and foreign CMO’s. It also maintains regular discussions with representative authors’ and professional associations to stay closely connected to the field and to provide the necessary input for efficient and accurate rights management. Policy decisions at deAuteurs, are made by the Board of Directors, which consists exclusively of authors — for authors, by authors.
Additional Partners:
Institute of Balearic Studies (Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics) – Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA) – Lithuanian Council for Culture (ltkt.lt/en) – Syndikat e.V. (German Language Crime Writers’ Guild)
About the venue
The European House of Authors (Maison européenne des auteurs et des autrices, MEDAA), the venue for our meetings on Saturday and Sunday, offers a home for authors and its (European) organisations, so also to some of EWC’ sibling associations as IFRRO or CEATL. It was inaugurated on 17th March 2018 on the initiative of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD) and La Scam Belgique.