Says she’s ready to share ‘unfathomable’ experiences Arrested and imprisoned in RussiaBasketball star Brittney Griner is writing a memoir, due out in spring 2024.
Grina is arrested last year Detained at Moscow airport on drug charges for nearly 10 months, most of that time in prison.Her plight unfolded at the same time as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and further heightened tensions between Russia and the United States, which did not end until she was killed exchange release for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
A WNBA All-Star for the Phoenix Mercury, Greiner flies to Moscow in February 2022 to rejoin UMMC Yekaterinburg, the Russian women’s team she has played for in the offseason since 2014.
“That day (February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life that I was not ready to share until now,” Griner said in a statement released Tuesday by Alfred A. Knopf.
“The main reason I went back to work in Russia that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family and teammates proud. After a very challenging 10-month detention, I am happy to be rescued and back home. Readers will hear me story and understand why I am so grateful for the outpouring of support from people all over the world.”
Griner added that she also hopes her book will raise awareness of other Americans detained overseas, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovicharrested in Russia last month and charged with espionage; businessman Li Kai, who served 10 years in prison in China for leaking state secrets to the FBI; and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges. Around Greener’s release, Whelan criticized the U.S. government for not doing enough to help him.
Russia has always been popular gaming destination For the top WNBA players in the offseason, some make more than $1 million — nearly four times their base salary as a WNBA. Despite pleading guilty to possessing the jars containing the cannabis oil, Griner still faces trial under Russian law for what she says hastily packed them.
Griner’s memoir, currently untitled, will eventually be published in a teen edition. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In a press statement Tuesday, Knopf said the book will be “intimate and moving,” with Griner “disclosing in vivid detail her harrowing experience of being wrongfully detained (categorized by the State Department) and navigating the Byzantine laws and regulations of Russia.” Difficulty using a language system she does not speak.
“Griner also described her grim and surreal time in a foreign prison and the horrifying aspects of everyday life in women’s penal colonies,” the announcement read. “At the heart of the book, Greiner highlights the personal turmoil she endured during her nearly ten-month ordeal and the resilience she displayed on the day she returned to the United States last December.”
Griner, 32, 6-foot-9, two-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time Baylor All-American, prominent advocate for fair pay for female athletes and the first openly gay athlete to strike an endorsement deal with Nike . She is the author of her previous book, In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court, published in 2014.
in february she Re-sign with Mercury and will take part in the upcoming season, from May to September.
Hillel Italy, Associated Press
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