2014-2015 Maya Brin Resident: Masha Gessen

The Maya Brin Residency Program is pleased to welcome Masha Gessen

The Maya Brin Residency program was thrilled to  host Masha Gessen, the prominent Russian-American journalist and LGBT activist, from April 20-25, 2015. Gessen is the author of Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot (2014) and the national bestseller The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. (2012). She recently edited a book called Gay Propaganda: Russian Love Stories. Her newest book, which will appear on April 7, 2015, is The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy.

Gessen's work has appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Slate and the Guardian, and she frequently appears on American TV and radio. Her visit to the School of Languages, Literatures, and cultures included a one-day conference on Freedom of Speech in Russia (Friday, April 24) and a public lecture on "Putin's War Against the West" (Wednesday, April 22). Gessen’s visit also included visits to classes, a seminar, and an event at McKeldin Library, "Speaking of Books: A Conversation with Masha Gessen" (Monday, April 20).