Griner to write memoir tackling her ‘unfathomable’ Russian imprisonment

Brittney Griner, the women’s basketball star whose arrest and detainment in Russia made national headlines, is set to release a memoir next year detailing her imprisonment in the country.

“That day was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner, who was referring to the the day she was arrested in a Moscow airport, wrote in a social media post announcing the book. “Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world.”

Griner’s untitled memoir, which is set to be released next year, comes after the Olympic and WNBA champion spent nearly a year detained in Russia. Her case garnered the attention of Congress and the White House, with Griner ultimately being freed in a prisoner swap between the two countries in December. 

She was arrested after arriving at an airport in Russia for allegedly having hashish oil in her luggage, and was serving a nine-year prison sentence when she was released.

Alfred A. Knopf, the book’s publisher, said the memoir would detail Griner’s efforts to navigate the “byzantine Russian legal system.

“Griner discloses in vivid detail her harrowing experience of her wrongful detainment (as classified by the State Department) and the difficulty of navigating the byzantine Russian legal system in a language she did not speak,” Knopf said in Tuesday’s statement. “Griner also describes her stark and surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of day-to-day life in a women’s penal colony.”

Griner’s experience in Russia has remained relevant, as the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who the federal government has labeled as “wrongfully detained,” has sparked calls for his release from the White House and lawmakers.

Griner said one of her motivations in writing the book is to elevate the need to bring home people like Gershkovich and other U.S. citizens held in Russia.

“By writing this book, I also hope to raise awareness surrounding other Americans wrongfully detained abroad,” Griner said, pointing to Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been held in Russia on allegations of spying since 2018.