New York: Basketball player Brittney Griner is working on a memoir that is expected to be released in the spring of 2024, and she has stated that she is prepared to share the "unfathomable" experience of being detained and imprisoned in Russia.
Griner was detained for nearly ten months last year, the majority of which was spent in jail after being arrested at the Moscow airport on drug-related charges.
Her predicament developed concurrently with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and increased tensions between Russia and the US; it only came to an end when she was released in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
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Griner, a WNBA All-Star for the Phoenix Mercury, flew to Moscow in February 2022 to re-join UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian women's team she has participated for since 2014.
That day (in February) marked the beginning of a period in my life that I can only now begin to talk about, Griner said in a statement made public by Alfred A. Knopf on Tuesday.
"I wanted to make my partner, family, and teammates proud, so that's why I went back to Russia for work that day. I am happy to have been saved and returned home after spending a harrowing ten months in confinement.
Readers will learn about my experience and comprehend why I am so appreciative of the worldwide outpouring of support.
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In addition, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia last month and accused of espionage, businessman Kai Li, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in China for allegedly disclosing state secrets to the FBI, and corporate security executive Paul Whelan, who is currently detained in Russia on spying-related charges, are among the other Americans held abroad. Whelan criticised the US government for not doing enough to assist Griner at the time of his release.
Top WNBA players frequently travel to Russia in the offseason, where some receive salaries exceeding $1 million, or almost four times their WNBA base salary. Griner still had to go through a trial under Russian law despite pleading guilty to having cannabis oil canisters in her possession as a result of what she claimed was hurried packing.
The title of Griner's memoir, which will eventually be released in a young adult edition, is currently undetermined. Financial details weren't made public.
According to a press release from Knopf on Tuesday, Griner would reveal "in vivid detail her harrowing experience of her wrongful detention (as classified by the State Department) and the difficulty of navigating the byzantine Russian legal system in a language she didn't understand."
The announcement continues, "Griner also recounts her stark and surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of daily life in a women's penal colony. In the book's core, Griner emphasises the internal turmoil she went through during the roughly ten-month ordeal and the tenacity that saw her through to the day of her return to the United States in December.
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Griner, 32, is the first openly gay athlete to sign an endorsement deal with Nike. He is a 6-foot-9, two-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time All-American at Baylor University, and an outspoken supporter of equal pay for women athletes. "In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court," which was published in 2014, is the only book she has previously written.
She renewed her contract with the Mercury in February and will take part in the team's upcoming season, which runs from May to September.