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Journalist Masha Gessen has resigned from the board of the free expression group PEN America after a panel at the organization’s World Voices Festival featuring Russian writers was canceled in response to objections from Ukrainian writers.
Concerns have been raised by Artem Chapeye And Artem CzechUkrainian writers who are also soldiers on active duty in the Ukrainian army and about to appear a panel on writers as warriors on May 13. After arriving in New York last week, the Ukrainians noticed that a separate panel – on writers in exile, led by Gessen – included two Russians.
According to Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of PEN America, the Ukrainians told organizers they could not participate if that panel (which also included Chinese novelist Murong Xuecun) went ahead, citing a ban on Ukrainians appearing at events with Russians. After attempts to present the panel outside the festival failed, it was cancelled, according to Nossel.
Gessen, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, said in a text message that they remain committed to PEN’s work but can no longer remain on the board, where she served as vice president.
“I believe very much in PEN’s mission, but I had to step down as leader to avoid being involved in what I felt was a wrong decision,” said Gessen. Their dismissal was reported first through the Atlantic Ocean.
Boycotts of Russian artists and culture have been a subject of debate in the cultural world since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. But Nossel, he has spoken out against such boycottssaid demand had not fully reached PEN until now.
At last spring’s Spring Festival, she noted, Andrey Kurkov, a novelist and the president of PEN Ukraine, had the annual Freedom of Writing lectureafter which he had a podium conversation with the Russian-American writer Gary Shteyngart. But there were no Russian writers at the festival, which was smaller than usual due to Covid concerns.
Ukrainian writers’ concerns about performing with Russians had been raised earlier this year, Nossel said, when discussions about the festival began. But she said PEN didn’t realize until the Ukrainian delegation arrived in New York that they would object to participating not only in a panel of Russians, but also in a wider festival where Russians participated in one of nearly four dozen events.
Chapeye, who was reached by email, said he believed that “for political/public image reasons, a Ukrainian soldier cannot be seen under the same ‘umbrella’ with Russian participants.”
Asked about the consequences of his action, he said: “I think the only consequence would have been my guilt towards all the people killed and tortured by the Russian army.”
Gessen, who emigrated from the former Soviet Union as a teenager in 1981 and holds both Russian and American citizenship, has been a prominent critical voice in Russia, returning to work as a journalist in 1991. Their books include “The Man Without a Face”, a 2012 biography of Vladimir Putin, and “The future is history: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” which won the National Book Award in 2017. In 2013, Gessen moved back to the United States with their family, citing growing persecution of LGBTQ people.
The two Russians on the canceled panel, Ilia Venyavkin And Anna Nemzer, left Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. Both are employees of the Russian Independent Media Archive, a joint project of PEN America and Bard College, which preserves the past two decades’ worth of work from independent outlets, most of which have been shut down or blocked by the Putin government. (Veniavkin and Nemzer were not immediately available for comment.)
In an interview, Nossel praised Gessen’s “huge contributions” to PEN America, where they have been on the board for nine years. “It’s a big loss,” said Nossel. “But it felt like a no-win situation.”
Gessen emphasized that they remained members of PEN and continued their commitment to the Russian Independent Media Archive, of which they spearheaded. The decision to cancel the panel, Gessen said, “was a mistake, not an act of malice.”
“My objection is not against the Ukrainian participants’ demand,” said Gessen. “They are waging a defensive war with all the means at their disposal. My problem is only with PEN’s response.