It represents over 150,000 writers and translators in 60 associations in 34 European countries.
[1] It is recognised by the European Union, UNESCO, and WIPO.
[2] Until 2022,[3] the organization was involved in the awarding of the European Union Prize for Literature.
[4] The EWC was founded in 1977 as the European Writers' Congress,[5] being led in a decentralised manner during the first few decades.
In 2006 it was re-created as an international non-profit association under Belgian law with a seat in Brussels, to be renamed European Writers' Council in 2010.