The last year-plus has seen maybe more discussion of Brittney Griner than any other athlete, from her Feb. 2022 imprisonment in Russia through months of efforts to free her that culminated with a prisoner exchange in December where she was sent home to the U.S. in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Now, Griner has her own memoir on the way, and it will discuss her imprisonment in Russia:
Alfred A. Knopf will publish Brittney Griner’s untitled memoir next spring 2024. For the first time, Griner recounts the tumultuous events of 2022 that both reshaped her life and captured the world’s attention https://t.co/VAAg9rbDxH
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) April 11, 2023
Here’s more on that from that Deadline piece, by Mike Fleming Jr.:
For the first time Griner recounts the tumultuous events of 2022 that both reshaped her life and captured the world’s attention: Griner’s arrest at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on February 17, followed by her detention, trial, and imprisonment in Russia, as well as the efforts in public and behind the scenes at the highest levels of government to bring her home. Griner’s memoir also documents how the global #WeAreBG movement began as well as the issue of pay equity for women athletes in the United States – the very inequity that led Griner to play basketball in Russia for seven previous seasons and to return for an eighth on that fateful February day.
…“I arrived in Moscow to rejoin the UMMC Ekaterinburg basketball team and was immediately detained at the airport. That day was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner says. “The primary reason I traveled back to Russia for work that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family, and teammates proud. After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world. By writing this book, I also hope to raise awareness surrounding other Americans wrongfully detained abroad such as Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Emad Shargi, Airan Berry, Shahab Dalili, Luke Denman, Eyvin Hernandez, Majd Kamalmaz, Jerrel Kenemore, Kai Li, Siamak Namazi, Austin Tice, Mark Swidan and Morad Tahbaz.”
As per Fleming’s piece, the book is set to have a (currently unnamed) co-writer. Jordan Pavlin, Knopf senior vice president and editor-in-chief, will edit it. It will be worth watching to see how this turns out and how it’s received, but there’s certainly going to be quite a bit of interest in Griner’s account of her imprisonment in particular.
Griner is set to return to the court with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this year. ESPN will spotlight their season-opening game against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19.
[Deadline]
