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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned in Russia for more than a year, writes a memoir about his time in prison, five years in Moscow, and Russia’s slide into autocracy. There is.
The memoir will be published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, with a tentative publication date of 2026.
Crown editorial director Paul Whitlatch called the book “a testament to human resilience and a work of first-person reportage with little precedent in modern times.”
His statement continued: “During his 16 months in a Russian prison, he never stopped being a reporter, even as he faced realities that most of us can’t imagine.”
Gershkovic was unavailable for comment, said his attorney, Adam Eaglin of the Cheney Agency.
Gershkovic, 32, was arrested on a reporting trip in March 2023, becoming the first American journalist to be arrested on spying charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War. His detention marked an escalation in President Vladimir V. Putin’s crackdown on independent media in Russia.
Russian authorities have accused Gershkovych, who has been reporting on Russia for the Journal since 2022, of being a spy for the U.S. government. The charges have been vehemently denied by the White House, Mr. Gershkovic and the Journal, which said Mr. Gershkovic was carrying out his duties as an accredited journalist. The US government deemed him “unlawfully detained.”
Gershkovitch was imprisoned in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, spending 23 hours a day in a small cell and communicating with family and friends by letter.
Following a closed-door trial on trumped-up charges of espionage, Gershkovic was sentenced to 16 years in prison in a high-security penal colony in July.
He was released on August 1 as part of a major prisoner exchange involving seven countries that led to the release of 15 people imprisoned in Russia.
Mr. Gershkovitch is the son of Soviet exiles Mikhail Gershkovitch and Ella Milman, both of whom left the country in 1979 for the United States. They raised their children in New Jersey, speaking Russian at home and instilling in their children an appreciation for Russian traditions.
Mr. Gershkovitch previously worked as a news assistant at the New York Times, but moved to Russia in 2017 to work at the Moscow Times before joining the Wall Street Journal as a foreign correspondent.
In addition to Crown, the memoir was sold to British publisher William Collins and Dutch publisher Muehlenhof, Eaglin said.
“Evan is an extraordinary journalist and author,” he said. “He will provide a powerful new perspective on Russia’s relations with the West in the 21st century.”
