*Brittney Griner is working on a memoir about her experience of being incarcerated in Russia after being convicted of drug smuggling charges.
Griner was arrested at Moscow Airport on Feb. 17, 2022, after customs officials allegedly found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage. She traveled to Russia to play in the off-season but was ultimately convicted on drug smuggling charges and sentenced to 9 years in a Russian penal colony. She spent 10 months detained in the country before President Biden successfully negotiated her release in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner returned to the U.S. in December.
“That day (in February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” the WNBA All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury said in a statement released by Alfred A. Knopf, The Huffington Post reports.
“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,” she added.
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Griner’s memoir is currently untitled and is expected to drop in spring 2024.
Knopf said in a statement that the book will unpack “in vivid detail her 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,” the announcement reads.
“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.”
In February, Griner re-signed with the Mercury, and its upcoming season starts in May and runs through September.
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