Russian writer accuses Ukrainian authors of allegedly blackmailing US PEN Centre — PEN Ukraine reacts
Russian author Masha Gessen has accused Ukrainian writers of allegedly blackmailing the US PEN Centre. This happened after the Russians were cancelled from an event at a literary festival in New York. Ukrainian writers claim their position as their responsibility to their people — The Atlantic in a statement by PEN Ukraine.
The World Voices festival was to host two panels: the first, to which Ukrainians Artem Chekh and Artem Chapai were invited, about writers who became combatants, and the second about authors in exile. The second panel was to be moderated by Russian Gessen. Two Russians were also among the speakers on that panel.
Ukrainian writers Artem Chekh and Artem Chapai refused to participate in the event because of the presence of Russian authors. Chekh is a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, best known for his autobiographical book Who Are You? which tells the story of growing up in Ukraine in the 1990s. Artem Chapai is a Ukrainian essayist and journalist. He published his most famous book, The Ukraine, in 2018. It is a collection of short stories in which Chapai mixes documentary and fictional elements to tell the story of Ukraine "as it is".
After the full-scale invasion began, Chekh and Chapai joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Masha Gessen is a writer and journalist born in Moscow. In 1981-1991, they lived in the United States, but returned to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then, they have worked for Russian publications and engaged in LGBT activism in their homeland. In 2013, they moved back to the United States because of the persecution of LGBT families in Russia. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, they critically covered the Kremlin's actions in foreign media. Since 2017, they have been working as a writer for The New Yorker magazine. After the start of the full-scale invasion, they travelled to Ukraine and wrote a series of articles on Ukrainian life for The New Yorker.
PEN America's director general, Susanne Nossel, suggested that the event should take place outside the festival, but in the same place and at the same time. However, Gessen rejected the idea.
After that, the Russian said that the Ukrainians were "blackmailing" the organisers. At the same time, they noted that they "can understand Ukrainians being cruel to Russians".
Gessen does not want to "put up with this position" of the American PEN, so they resigned from the organisation's board.
Representatives of PEN Ukraine responded to the Gessen’s accusations.
"We, as the Executive Board of PEN Ukraine, believe that promoting any illusions of dialogue between Ukrainian and Russian authors at joint events is not only problematic, but also immoral as long as Russian military aggression endangers the lives of Ukrainian civilians," the statement reads.
PEN Ukraine rejects the accusations of "blackmail" and "ultimatums" and stressed that the Club’s position is "dictated by responsibility to our people".
"We hope for understanding from our partners. We also call for transparency and openness in planning events involving Ukrainian speakers. Ukrainian authors have the right to know whether Russians will be invited to certain events and in what guise," the Club added.
