The Board
The first regular board of PEN Berlin was elected at the general meeting on December 3, 2022 for a two-year term.
Spokespeople
Eva Menasse, born in Vienna in 1970, has lived in Berlin since 1999. Originally a journalist with profil and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), she works today as a writer and essayist. Recipient of (amongst others) Heinrich Böll Prize (2013), Friedrich Hölderlin Prize (2017), Ludwig Börne Prize (2019). Most recently she published the essay »Saying Everything And Nothing – On the State Of Debate In the Digital Age« (2023) and the novel »Dunkelblum« (2021), both at Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
Ex Members of Board
Doris Akrap, born in 1974 as a Yugoslavian citizen in Flörsheim am Main. She has been working for the daily newspaper taz since 2008, where she heads the society section taz2. She also works as a presenter of literary, social and political podiums, reviewer and author. As co-founder of the reading show »Hate Poetry« co-initiator of the »FreeDeniz«-campaign, she was honoured as Journalist of the Year in the »Special Prize« category in 2014 and 2017.
Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972 and grew up in the Spessart hills. In 1996 she moved to Hamburg because of the weather. Her columns appear in the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine, her novels with Suhrkamp publishing house. Her »Chastity Riley« series has received numerous awards, including the German Crime Fiction Prize and the International Dagger Award. Current book: »Only the Others Are Immortal«. Simone Buchholz lives on Hamburg’s St. Pauli district.
Alexandru Bulucz, born in Alba Iulia in 1987, spent his childhood in Romania and has lived in Germany since his youth. He is a freelance author, translator, critic, and editor. For his poetry he was awarded the Wolfgang Weyrauch Prize of the Literary March (2019). For his prose he won the the Deutschlandfunk Prize at the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition (2022). He lives and works in Berlin.
Jörg Sundermeier, born in Gütersloh in 1970, is an author and publisher of Verbrecher Verlag. He initiated the Left Book Days Berlin, served on the board of the Kurt Wolff Foundation, and is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg state board of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. He publishes in newspaper as taz, Berliner Zeitung, and Jungle World. His most recent publication was »Bedeutungswelten – Giwi Margwelaschwili im Gespräch mit Jörg Sundermeier« (Verbrecher publishing house).