American journalist and essayist Masha Gessen has resigned from the board of directors of the writers’ association PEN America. Gessen justified the resignation with the cancellation of an event with Russian panelists. From May 10th to 13th, PEN America hosted its annual World Voices Festival. Two Russian dissidents should have taken part in the canceled round of talks that Gessen would have moderated. Another discussion was scheduled to feature Ukrainian authors Artem Chapeye and Artem Chekh, both of whom are actively involved in the war.
Because of the Russian war of aggression, the two Ukrainians objected to the participation of any Russian discussants. The PEN organizers, on the other hand, assumed that this condition only applied to their own event. In fact, Chapeye and Chekh would have refused Russian participation in the entire festival. Since no compromise was reached, the round with Russian participation was canceled. The association’s statement said it took into account the circumstances and risks the Ukrainian authors faced as soldiers, their long journey and the misunderstanding to which the association itself had contributed.
Masha Gessen said in her statement: “I had the impression that I should tell them (the two Russian dissidents) that they are not allowed to sit at the big table because they are Russians. They would have to sit at the small table. It felt distasteful .” Gessen’s accusation that PEN America allowed itself to be blackmailed sparked a heated controversy in the US about the limits of free speech.
In 2019, Gessen, who was born in Russia, received the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding for the book “The Future is History – How Russia Won and Lost Freedom”.