Masha Gessen

Distinguished Visiting Writer

Academic Program Affiliation(s): Written Arts

Biography: Masha Gessen is a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of 11 books of nonfiction, most recently Surviving Autocracy (Riverhead Books, June 2020); The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, which won the 2017 National Book Award for Nonfiction; The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy, a 2015 award-winning account of the Boston Marathon bombers; and The Man without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, a 2012 portrait of the Russian leader that Foreign Affairs said “shines a piercing light into every dark corner of Putin’s story.” The Moscow-born Gessen is the recipient of numerous awards, including Guggenheim, Andrew Carnegie, and Nieman Fellowships, Hitchens Prize, Overseas Press Club Award for Best Commentary, and an honorary doctorate from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Gessen has written about Russia, Putin, LGBT rights, and Donald Trump for the New York Review of Books and New York Times, among other publications; appeared as a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and other news outlets; and served as a translator for the acclaimed FX series The Americans. Gessen previously taught at Amherst College and Oberlin College.

Studied at Rhode Island School of Design, Cooper Union. At Bard since 2020.
Website: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/masha-gessen
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