The EWC Burning Issues Forum – SITUATION ROOM: The threat on authorship. 25th May 2024, Helsinki.
The program of the forum was developed by the European Writers’ Council (EWC) together with the Finnish hosts and co-sponsors, and will address issues of the present within the book sector about AI, censorship, open knowledge and writers’ income. The topics will be introduced by various experts by inputs and discussions with the delegates. There will be several opportunities to exchange with all experts, but also among the delegates of the EWC member organisations. Bring your most burning questions to the set topics, and our experts in the field will answer them after their respective interventions, stimulating the debate and knowledge sharing among delegates.
Place, Date, Time: Hotel Scandic Grand Central, Saturday 25 of May 2024, 13:30-17:55
– For registered AGM Delegates or upon personal invitation –
PROGRAM
13.30-13:50 / Welcome speech by Miguel Ángel Serrano, EWC President. • Welcome speech by the chair(wo)men of the host organisations. • Greetings from Tuula Haatainen, Member of the Finnish Parliament and Chair of Education and Culture Committee.
13.50-14:45 / AI: The ultimate threat on authors’ rights and role • The AI Act of the European Union: the EWC’ point of view. Input by Maïa Bensimon. • Threats and opportunities of AI. Panel discussion with Minna Ruckenstein and Nina George. Moderation: Maïa Bensimon.
14:45-15:25 / Censorship and dictatorship: a dire scenario • #FreeAllWords – project update. Input by Alena Makouskaya. • How it is to live and work as an author in Belarus. Panel discussion with an Author from Belarus and Arno Jundze. Moderation: Eystein Hanssen. Translation: Alena Makouskaya
15:25-15:55 / ++ Coffee break ++
15:55-16:35 / Open knowledge, open wound • Input by Jorge Corrales (CEDRO). • Dialogue with Jorge Corrales and Miguel Ángel Serrano.
16:35-17:50 / Writers’ income – different story in every country • Audio books, a Nordic success story – but not for everyone. Input by Karo Hämäläinen. • E-lending – how it works in Finland. Input by Niina Vettensola. • Where does my money come from? Inputs by Virpi Hämeen-Anttila and Markus Hotakainen. • Best practices and threats for authors’ income in different countries.
Breakout-sessions in different groups to discuss experiences among EWC member associations. Presentation of outcomes of the breakout-sessions. Moderation: Karo Hämäläinen.
17:50-17:55 / CLOSING REMARKS by Monika Pfundmeier, EWC Board Member, who is guiding through the Burning Issues Forum.
SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order)
Maïa Bensimon, Vice-President of the EWC. Maïa Bensimon was raised in a family of teachers, all readers attached to Culture and Education. After law school, Maïa dedicated her work to authors’ rights and intellectual property. First, as an attorney at law (2006-2015), then, as General Counsel for Society of French Literati (2015-2023) and lastly, as Secretary General of the National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC; since 2023). She was elected as Vice President of the EWC in 2021.
Jorge Corrales, CEO of CEDRO (Centro Español de Derechos Reprográficos, www.cedro.org) since March 2017. Previously, Jorge worked as CEDRO’s Head of Finance and IT Department. BA Hons degree in Economics, University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain). All his professional career has been carried out in the fields of technology, chemical, and, for the last 10 years, in the intellectual property sector.
Nina George is a multiple award-winning novelist, born 1973 in Bielefeld/Germany, and has been writing novels, non-fiction, essays, reports, short stories, blogs and columns since 1992. Her book The Little Paris Bookshop has been translated into 36 languages and was a New York Times Bestseller. Since 2023, Nina George is President of Honour, and Commissioner of Political Affairs of the EWC. www.ninageorge.de
Tuula Haatainen is a Member of the Finnish Parliament and the Chair of Education and Culture Committee.
Karo Hämäläinen has written both fiction and non-fiction for adults, young adults and children. He is the editor of literary magazine Parnasso, and member of the board of trustees of the Finnish Cultural Foundation. He has studied humanities and social sciences at the University of Helsinki and Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, as well as economics at the University of Tampere.
Virpi Hämeen-Anttila, b. 1958, PhD, a novelist, translator, book illustrator and scholar of South Asian literature and culture. She has written 30 novels, short stories, non-fiction, drama scripts and scholarly books and articles, as well as made translations from Indian and European languages. At present she is the vice chairperson of the Finnish Writers’ Union and the chairperson of Forum Artis, the national cooperation organ for Finnish artists’ associations.
Eystein Hanssen is a Norwegian novelist, published in his native Norway as well as Germany and Sweden, with ten novels to his conscience. He is one of the co-founders of the Norwegian Society of Authors, where he also holds the chair position. Hanssen has a particular interest in author’s rights management and the digitalization of literature, including the use of artificial intelligence. He is Vice President of the European Writers’ Council.
Markus Hotakainen is a Finnish science writer, journalist and translator. His background is in astronomy, and he has written 40+ books mostly on stars and space but also on weather and climate, nature and photography, and the history of science. Hotakainen has received the State Award for Public Information for his book on Mars which was published also in the United States. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of The Association of Finnish Nonfiction Writers.
Arno Jundze, Board Member of the European Writers’ Council. Dr. philol. Arno Jundze is a Latvian prose writer, cultural journalist, literary critic and theorist, host of the book show Grāmatu kods (Books Code) on TV24, chairman of the Latvian Writers’ Union. He is author of more than 10 books, novels, story collections and books for children. Arno Jundze has got several awards for his novel “Es nemiršu nekad” (I will never die, 2022) about famous 19th century Latvian poet Eduards Veidenbaums. His works have been published in Estonian, Lithuanian, Spanish, French and English.
Alena Makouskaya, Board Member of the European Writers Council, project leader of the EWC’s #FreeAllWords project, director of the International Union of Belarusian Writers (Lithuania), member of the Council of Europe Contact group on cooperation with Belarusian democratic forces and civil society, coordinator of civic cultural campaign “Budzma Belarusami” (budzma.org).
Belarusian writer, novelist, author of several books. Some of his works have been translated into several languages and his books have been published in several countries.
Minna Ruckenstein is Professor of Emerging Technologies in Society at the University of Helsinki and the founder of the Datafield Life Collaboratory. She has dedicated over a decade to studying the human aspects of digitalisation, datafication, and AI. Her latest book, The Feel of Algorithms was published by the University of California Press in 2023.
Miguel Ángel Serrano is a Spanish novelist, essayist, and poet. Since 2023, he is elected President of the EWC, previously Vice President for two years, and for five years, Serrano served as Secretary General of Asociación Colegial de Escritores of Spain. He holds a PhD in Economic Sciences and Business Administration. As a novelist, he was awarded with José María de Pereda Short Novel Prize, Department of Culture of the Government of Cantabria and was finalist at Mario Vargas Llosa NH Hotels Prize. He has published several novels, poetry collections and a historic essay.
Niina Vettensola, Executive Director at Sanasto. Experienced Team Lead with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organisation management industry. MBA focused on Digital Services from Laurea University of Applied Sciences.
Moderator
Monika Pfundmeier, Member of the Board of the European Writers’ Council, advisory board member of SYNDIKAT e.V., member of the Author’s Rights Network (Netzwerk Autorenrechte, Germany), is an activist for authors’ rights and an expert on generative AI in the literature field. She was awarded in 2018 as “one of the strongest voices in contemporary literature” and has published seven novels since 2016, most recently in August 2023 by Heyne Verlag. In terms of literary policy, she is committed to work and help creating a diverse, inclusive, liveable and sustainable society across Europe.
The EWC is grateful to the hosts and co-sponsors of the AGM Days 2024 in Helsinki including the Burning Issues Forum: