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WNBA star Brittney Griner says she working on a memoir in which she will share the "unfathomable" experience of her Russian detainment.
On Tuesday (April 11), Griner announced that she's writing a memoir scheduled to be released in Spring 2024, per the Associated Press.
The memoir comes after Griner was detained for nearly 10 months in Russia on drug charges. Griner was released in December via a one-for-one prisoner swap involving Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
When the Griner flew to Moscow in February 2022 to join UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian basketball team she had previously played for during the offseason, she didn't fathom being arrested and kept from her family for months.
“That day (in February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner said in a statement announcing the memoir. “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.”
Griner added that she hopes the memoir will bring attention to other Americans detained overseas including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.
Alfred A. Knopf said in a statement on Tuesday that the Griner will give “intimate and moving” details of the "harrowing experience of her wrongful detainment (as classified by the State Department) and the difficulty of navigating the byzantine Russian legal system in a language she did not speak.”
“Griner also describes her stark and surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of day-to-day life in a women’s penal colony,” Knopf said of the memoir. “At the heart of the book, Griner highlights the personal turmoil she experienced during the near ten-month ordeal and the resilience that carried her through to the day of her return to the United States last December.”
Griner’s memoir is currently untitled, AP News reports.
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