OUR BOARD and Team

Authors’ Rights, freedom of speech, and cooperation across borders: The writers and translators of the European book sector stand together for a sustainable future and the diversity of books.

The AISBL is administered by a board composed of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 7 members designated from among the representatives of the full members. Board members are elected by the general assembly with a mandate of two years, for a maximum of four mandates, consecutive or flexible.
The executive board is responsible of management and administration, subject to the powers reserved to the general assembly. The day-to-day management is delegated to the secretary general and to the coordinator.

For the current terms until 2027 the Board is composed by:

Grażyna Plebanek: President

Maïa Bensimon: 1st Vice President (re-elected, Vice President 2021-2025)

Monika Pfundmeier: 2nd Vice President (since 2023 Board Member 2023-2025)

Members of Board:

Claus Ankersen (since 2025)

Eystein Hanssen (re-elected, Part of the Board since 2021, 2nd Vice President since 2023-2025),

Conor Kostick (since 2025)
Sebastià Portell (since 2025)

Secretary General: Nicole Pfister Fetz.

Coordinator EWC: Zsuzsánna Dóczy.

Commissioner for Political Affairs: Nina George (since 2023)

President(s) of Honor:

Nina George (President 2019-2023, 1st official life-time President of Honor since 2023)

Miguel Ángel Serrano (President 2023-2025)

The EWC consists since May 2025 of 53 organisations from 34 countries in the EU and EEA area, including Iceland, Norway, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, representing over 250,000 writers of all genres, and is the largest federation worldwide, solely representing writers from the book sector.

The Annual General Meeting 2025 (AGM) of EWC FAEE took place on 23rd-25th May in Oslo. 57 delegates from 30 countries and 50 professional authors’ organisations, representing over 250,000 writers and translators from the European and international book sector, spent three days discussing the political, economic and literary challenges of the future.

During the AGM 2025, the European Writers’ Council voted about the ratification of three new members:

FUIS – Federation of Italian Authors‘ Association | Federazione Unitaria Italiana Scritorri Association, Italy.
NO – The Norwegian Association of Literary Translators | Norsk Oversetterforening (NO), Norway
ASOS – Slovak Writers’ Association | Asociácia spisovateľov Slovenska, Slovakia

Soon you will find the introduction of our new members also here:

OUR MEMBERS

Grazyna Plebanek

Writer, Journalist | Poland

President

Claus Ankersen

Writer, Poet | Denmark

Board Member

Nicole Pfister Fetz

art historian, cultural lobbyist | Swiss

Secretary-General

Maïa Bensimon

General Counsel | France

Vice President

Eystein Hanssen

Writer | Norway

Board Member

Conor Kostick

Writer, Historian | Ireland

Board Member

Zsuzsánna Dóczy

Coordinator, EWC Secretariat

Please contact Mrs. Dóczy for all requests to the EWC.

Monika Pfundmeier

Writer, Novelist, Consultant | Germany

Vice President (2nd)

Sebastià Portell

Writer | Catalonia

Board Member

Nina George

Novelist, Journalist | Germany

President of Honor, Commissioner for Political Affairs

Grazyna Plebanek, President
elected 2025

Claus Ankersen, Board Member

since 2025

Nicole Pfister Fetz, Secretary-General
“Doing the rights thing since 1977, the slogan of the EWC, will also be my future guiding principle. In times of upcoming generative Informatics as so-called AI, it becomes more important to defend writers and their human created contents. I am ready to dedicate my passion and my political skills to serve and promote the needs and interests of European writers.”

Nicole Pfister Fetz has a University degree in history of art and history. She has published numerous articles in the fields of the history of art, cultural studies and the politics of literature and is a guest lecturer at various universities and colleges – among others, for cultural lobbying at the University of Basel. She has established and maintains cultural-political and interdisciplinary networks on a regional, national, and international level, brings in broad knowledge of cultural support and promotion and is experienced in leadership and management. Also, her scientific and journalistic activities are clear benefits.

Maïa Bensimon, Vice President
We are at a time when authors should be strongly united to face major technology changes and protect their ART rights (Authorisation, Remuneration and Transparency) and all humans rights, first and foremost freedom of expression.

Maïa Bensimon, raised in a family of teachers and art lovers, is highly attached to Culture and Education. She has worked as an attorney for 10 years in the field of intellectual property rights, before starting advocating for authors as in-house counsel for the French Societe des Gens de Lettres (www.sgdl.org) since 2015, then for the French federation of authors in the Book Sector (www.conseilpermanentdesecrivains.org) as secretary general, then for EWC, as Vice President since 2019. She has published a little more than a dozen articles on intellectual property related issues

Eystein Hanssen

Board Member since 2019, Vice President 2021-2025 supports the project of Freeallwords – text and translation fund established by EWC to support Belarusian and Ukrainian writers.

Conor Kostick, Board Member

since 2025. Writer, Historian and Disputes Officer for the Irish Writers Union.

The EWC has done amazing work to benefit writers worldwide and I welcome the opportunity to give back some time and energy to the organisation on behalf of the Irish writers. If not for the EWC, Ireland would not have a PLR scheme and individual Irish authors have also gained enormously in contract negotiations from being able to cite EU laws influenced by the EWC .

In a world that is growing dark – from environmental hardship, the rise of fascism, and the encroachment of AI – there are communities who represent hope. I believe writers’ organisations provide a hopeful, positive community and are important not only for the day-to-day interests of writers but for all of society.

Monika Pfundmeier, Vice President (2nd)

“Courage creates future. There is no future but the one we shape. Words are the very first to spark thoughts, inspire and build a base for future concepts. Our/Writers‘ words & work create value and enable profits. Facing the challenges especially towards cuts into creators rights, digitalisation and Machine Generated Output /AI its crucial to protect our minds, work and us against exploitation to be able to keep our ability to shape with our work A and OUR better future.

Monika Pfundmeier is publishing as a German Writer since 2016 and was awarded for her second book as „one of the strongest voices of Germanys young contemporary literature“. She joined German Authors’ Association – VS/Verband dt. Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller. Also the Association of German Crime Writers SYNDIKAT e.V. as part of the board and started to work on improving Authors Rights. EWC Board Member since 2023).
In her past she managed as a consultant projects in finance and IT, improving /designing working and production processes, lead change management projects.

Sebastià Portell, Board Member (since 2025)

… is a Catalan writer and translator. Author of the novels Les altures (2022, shortlisted for the Òmnium Award for Best Novel of the Year), Ariel i els cossos (2018) and El dia que va morir David Bowie (2016, Time Out Barcelona Award for Artist of the Year). He has also written short stories, theater plays and several non-fiction books, and curated Amors sense casa (2018), the first anthology of Catalan LGBTQ poetry. His works have been translated into Galician, Italian and Spanish.

Nina George, President of Honor, Commissioner of Political Affairs
… is a multiple-awarded and international bestselling novelist. As the Political Commissioner of the EWC, she focuses on intellectual property rights, the digital economy and the importance of writers’ work for society, democracy and opinion forming. In 2022, she was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her honorary work in the field of literary politics.

Presidents of Honor

Miguel Ángel Serrano, President of Honor

… is an awarded Spanish poet, novelist, and essayist. He has a lasting career as a consultant in communications and strategy. Mr. Serrano has a Ph. D. in Economic Sciences and Business Administration. He is an expert in stakeholder analysis and strategy. He has been Secretary General of Asociación Colegial de Escritores de España for five years, and Vice President of EWC from 2021 to 2023, President 2023-2025.

OUR BOARD and Team