{{Short description|Russian-American journalist and activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox person | image = Masha Gessen 01a.jpg | birth_name = Mariya Aleksandrovna Gessen | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1967}}<ref name="loc-mg">{{cite web |title=Gessen, M. |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n94105913.html |website=LC Linked Data Service |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=January 2, 2026}}</ref> | birth_place = Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russian Federation) | death_date = | death_place = | caption = Gessen in 2015 | native_name = | native_name_lang = ru | citizenship = {{flatlist| *Russian * United States }} | spouse = {{plainlist| *Lynne Echenberg }} | children = 3 | occupation = {{Flatlist| *Journalist *author *activist}} | relatives = Keith Gessen (brother) }}
'''M. Gessen''' (formerly known as '''Masha Gessen'''; {{langx|ru|Маша Гессен}}) is a Russian American journalist, author, and translator who has written extensively on LGBT rights.<ref name="contemp">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2016 |title=Masha Gessen |encyclopedia=Contemporary Authors Online |url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1000163352/BIC1?u=oakland_main&xid=56c66657 |access-date=16 January 2017 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Thomas">{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=June |date=21 April 2016 |title=The Art of the Perfect Subtitle |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/04/21/the_americans_russian_translator_talks_about_her_perfection_of_the_show.html/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616130945/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/04/21/the_americans_russian_translator_talks_about_her_perfection_of_the_show.html |archive-date=16 June 2018 |access-date=16 November 2017 |work=Slate |format=audio |issn=1091-2339}}</ref><ref name="nonbinary">{{cite web|last=Gessen|first=Masha|title=The Supreme Court Considers L.G.B.T. Rights, but Can't Stop Talking About Bathrooms |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-supreme-court-considers-lgbt-rights-but-cant-stop-talking-about-bathrooms|newspaper=The New Yorker|date=9 October 2019|access-date=9 October 2019|archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120124214/https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-supreme-court-considers-lgbt-rights-but-cant-stop-talking-about-bathrooms|url-status=live}}</ref>
Gessen writes primarily in English but also in Russian. In addition to authoring several nonfiction books, they have contributed to ''The New York Times'', ''The New York Review of Books'', ''The Washington Post'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''The New Republic'', ''New Statesman'', ''Granta'', ''Slate'', ''Vanity Fair'', ''Harper's Magazine'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''U.S. News & World Report''.
Gessen has been an opinion columnist at ''The New York Times'' since May 2024 and was a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' from 2017 to 2024.<ref>{{cite press release |last=Kingsbury |first=Kathleen |author-link=Kathleen Kingsbury |title=Masha Gessen Joins the ''Times'' as an Opinion Columnist |url=https://www.nytco.com/press/masha-gessen-joins-the-times-as-an-opinion-columnist/ |publisher=The New York Times Company |access-date=21 July 2024 |date=23 May 2024 |archive-date=21 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240721005754/https://www.nytco.com/press/masha-gessen-joins-the-times-as-an-opinion-columnist/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nast |first=Condé |title=Masha Gessen |url=https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/masha-gessen |access-date=2026-04-01 |website=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Gessen was born into a Jewish family in Moscow to Alexander and Yelena Gessen.<ref name=contemp/>
Gessen's paternal grandmother, Ester Goldberg, the daughter of a socialist mother and a Zionist father, was born in Białystok, Poland, in 1923 and emigrated to Moscow in 1940. Ester's father Jakub Goldberg died in 1943, in either the Białystok Ghetto or a concentration camp.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/books/review/ester-and-ruzya-grandmothers-of-invention.html |title='Ester and Ruzya': Grandmothers of Invention |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 March 2005 |access-date=28 January 2020 |last1=Pollitt |first1=Katha |archive-date=28 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128202224/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/books/review/ester-and-ruzya-grandmothers-of-invention.html |url-status=live }}</ref> As a Judenrat member he was forced to assist the Nazis by, among other things, providing lists of Jews for deportation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2004-07-10 |title=Against all odds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jul/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview8 |access-date=2025-06-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
Gessen's maternal grandmother, Rosalia (Ruzya) Solodovnik, worked as a censor for the Stalinist government until she was fired during an antisemitic purge. Gessen's maternal grandfather, Samuil, was a committed Bolshevik who died during World War II, leaving Ruzya to raise Yelena alone.<ref name="auto"/>
In 1981, when Gessen was a teenager, their family moved via the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program to the United States.<ref name=Rakoff>Smith Rakoff, Joanna. [http://www.arlindo-correia.org/140505.html "Talking with Masha Gessen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024131910/http://www.arlindo-correia.org/140505.html |date=24 October 2012 }}. ''Newsday'', 2 January 2005.</ref> As an adult in 1996, Gessen moved to Moscow, where they worked as a journalist.<ref name=Rakoff/><ref name="Guardian-BloodMatters-2008" /> They hold both Russian and US citizenship. Their brothers are Keith, Daniel, and Philip Gessen.<ref>Smith Rakoff, Joanna. "Talking with Masha Gessen", ''Newsday'', 14 June 2017.</ref>
==Journalism career== thumb|right|upright|M. Gessen at the Moscow International Book Festival, 2011
Gessen was on the board of directors of the Moscow-based LGBT rights organization Triangle between 1993 and 1998 and has led gay rights demonstrations in Moscow.<ref name=peoples>{{Cite web |title= Биография Мария Гессен |trans-title= Мария Гессен / Maria Hessen: Biography |language= ru |website= www.peoples.ru |url= https://www.peoples.ru/state/statesmen/maria_hessen/index.html |access-date= 16 March 2022 |archive-date= 20 August 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010833/https://www.peoples.ru/state/statesmen/maria_hessen/ |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Gessen |date=2011-10-31 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00072991 |work=Benezit Dictionary of Artists |access-date=2023-08-28 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00072991 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010905/https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00072991 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Gessen served as a volunteer board member at PEN America for nine years, resigning in May 2023<ref>{{cite web|title=Masha Gessen Resigns in Protest from PEN America Board |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/05/what-happens-when-the-free-speech-absolutists-flinch/674069/ |date=16 May 2023|work=The Atlantic|access-date=23 May 2023}}</ref> after the organization withdrew an invitation to two exiled Russian authors to speak at the PEN World Voices event in the wake of a threatened boycott.<ref name="pen-theguardian">{{cite news |title=Author resigns from PEN America board amid row over Russian writers pane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/16/pen-vice-president-masha-gessen-resigns |work=The Guardian |date=17 May 2023 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010819/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/16/pen-vice-president-masha-gessen-resigns |url-status=live }}</ref> Gessen was vice president of the board at the time and continues to be a member of PEN America.<ref>{{cite web |title=Masha Gessen Resigns from PEN America Board Over Removal of Russian Writers Panel |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/22/pen_america_masha_gessen |date=22 May 2023 |work=Democracy Now! |access-date=23 May 2023 |archive-date=22 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522212512/https://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/22/pen_america_masha_gessen |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gessen said they understood the feelings of Ukrainian authors but did not approve of the way PEN handled the situation.<ref name="pen-theguardian"/> They said: "I felt like I was being asked to tell these people [the Russian dissidents] that because they're Russians they can't sit at the big table; they have to sit at the little table off to the side … Which felt distasteful."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Why Masha Gessen Resigned from the PEN America Board |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-masha-gessen-resigned-from-the-pen-america-board |magazine=The New Yorker |date=24 May 2023 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=17 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117023704/https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-masha-gessen-resigned-from-the-pen-america-board |url-status=live }}</ref>
In an October 2008 profile of Vladimir Putin for ''Vanity Fair'', Gessen called him "an aspiring thug" and claimed the "backward evolution" of Russia began within days of his inauguration in 2000.<ref name=VF>{{cite web |last=Gessen |first=Masha |title=Dead Soul |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/10/Dead-Soul |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414185356/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/10/Dead-Soul |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 April 2014 |date=1 October 2008 |work=Vanity Fair |access-date=5 June 2017}}</ref>
Gessen contributed several dozen commentaries on Russia to ''The New York Times'' blog "Latitude" between November 2011 and December 2013 on the Russian gay propaganda law and other related laws, violence toward journalists, and the depreciation of the ruble.<ref name=Latitude>{{cite web |last=NYT |url=http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/author/masha-gessen/ |work=The New York Times |title=Powerlessness and Pretense |date=30 December 2013 |access-date=12 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010847/https://archive.nytimes.com/latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/author/masha-gessen/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In March 2013, politician Vitaly Milonov promoted the Russian law against foreign adoption of Russian children by saying: "The Americans want to adopt Russian children and bring them up in perverted families like...Gessen's."<ref name=Leaving>{{cite web |last=Gessen |first=Masha |title=When Putin Declared War on Gay Families, It Was Time for Mine to Leave Russia |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/08/26/when_putin_declared_war_on_gay_families_it_was_time_for_mine_to_leave_russia.html |work=Slate |date=26 August 2013 |access-date=15 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010814/https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/08/when-putin-declared-war-on-gay-families-it-was-time-for-mine-to-leave-russia.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Dismissal from ''Vokrug sveta''=== Gessen was dismissed as chief editor of Russia's oldest magazine, ''Vokrug sveta'', a popular-science journal, in September 2012, after they refused to send a reporter to cover a Russian Geographical Society event about nature conservation featuring President Putin, because Gessen considered it political exploitation of environmental concerns.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/05/vladimir-putin-hang-glider-endangered-cranes|title=Putin to pilot hang-glider at head of endangered Siberian crane migration|work=The Guardian|first=Howard|last=Amos|date=10 September 2012|access-date=29 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/flying-putin-fired-editor|title=Flying Putin, Fired Editor|work=The New York Times|first=Masha|last=Gessen|date=10 September 2012|access-date=29 January 2017}}</ref> After Gessen tweeted about their firing, Putin phoned them and claimed he was serious about his "nature conservation efforts". At his invitation, Gessen met him and Gessen's former publisher at the Kremlin and was offered their job back. Gessen rejected the offer.<ref name=Skavlan>{{cite web|last=Skavlan|first=Fredrik|title=American/Jewish/Russian journalist Masha Gessen wrote negative book about President Putin|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBA8oBqVlEg&noredirect=1 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/QBA8oBqVlEg |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|work=Skavlan|date=23 November 2012 |access-date=15 May 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=Aschberg>{{cite web|last=Aschberg|first=Robert|title=Stora Journalistpriset 2012: Masha Gessen|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ55WVAY10o |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/KQ55WVAY10o |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|work=Stora Journalistpriset 2012|date=23 November 2012 |access-date=15 May 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
===Radio Liberty=== [[File:Masha Gessen vs. SWAT (9317876724).jpg|thumb|Gessen (center) and Karèn Shainyan at a protest in Moscow, July 2013]] In September 2012, Gessen was appointed as director of the Russian Service for Radio Liberty, a U.S. government-funded broadcaster based in Prague.<ref name=GessenHire>{{cite news|title=Radio Liberty Hires Gessen|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/radio-liberty-hires-gessen/468212.html|access-date=5 January 2013|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=17 September 2012}}</ref><ref name=Heritage>{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Ariel|title=How to Save Radio Liberty|url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/how-to-save-radio-liberty|publisher=The Heritage Foundation|access-date=5 January 2013|author2=Helle Dale|date=13 December 2012|archive-date=31 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231093805/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/how-to-save-radio-liberty|url-status=unfit}}</ref> Shortly after their appointment was announced and a few days after Gessen met with Putin, more than 40 members of Radio Liberty's staff were fired. The station lost its Russian broadcasting license several weeks after Gessen took over. The degree of Gessen's involvement in these events is unclear, but has caused controversy.<ref name=Heritage/>
===Return to the U.S.=== In December 2013, Gessen moved to New York because Russian authorities had begun to talk about taking children away from gay parents.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ghomeshi |first1=Jian |title=Masha Gessen on defiance and exile |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP1B6XpZQvo |date=27 June 2014 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=10 August 2024 |via=YouTube |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010845/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP1B6XpZQvo |url-status=live }}</ref> In March of that year, "the St Petersburg legislator [Milonov] who had become a spokesman for the law [against 'homosexual propaganda' towards children] started mentioning me and my 'perverted family' in his interviews", and Gessen contacted an adoption lawyer asking "whether I had reason to worry that social services would go after my family and attempt to remove my oldest son, whom I adopted in 2000".<ref name=CBC/>
The lawyer told Gessen "to instruct my son to run if he is approached by strangers and concluding: 'The answer to your question is at the airport.'" In June 2013, Gessen was beaten up outside of the Parliament; they said of the incident: "I realized that in all my interactions, including professional ones, I no longer felt I was perceived as a journalist first: I am now a person with a pink triangle." Fearing that a court might annul their son's adoption without their knowledge, Gessen said they "felt like no risk was small enough to be acceptable" and "so we just had to get out".<ref name=CBC>{{cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Lara |title=Masha Gessen on the State of Vladimir Putin's Russia |url=http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/09/masha-gessen-on-the-state-of-vladimir-putins-russia/ |work=CBC Radio |access-date=11 May 2014 |archive-date=19 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519184102/http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/09/masha-gessen-on-the-state-of-vladimir-putins-russia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In a January 2014 interview with ABC News, Gessen claimed that the Russian gay propaganda law had "led to a huge increase in antigay violence, including murders. It's led to attacks on gay and lesbian clubs and film festivals ... and because these laws are passed supposedly to protect children, the people who are most targeted or have the most to fear are LGBT parents."<ref name=ABC>{{cite web |title=Russian Author and Activist Masha Gessen Answers 5 Questions |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/01/russian-author-and-activist-masha-gessen-answers-five-questions/ |work=ABC News |access-date=12 May 2014}}</ref>
Gessen wrote in February 2014 that Citibank had closed their bank account because of concern about Russian money-laundering operations.<ref name=Banking>{{cite news |last=Gessen |first=Masha |title=Banking While Russian |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/opinion/gessen-the-checks-in-the-mail.html |work=The New York Times |date=11 February 2014 |access-date=15 May 2014 |archive-date=19 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519191930/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/opinion/gessen-the-checks-in-the-mail.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gessen worked as a translator on the FX TV channel historical drama ''The Americans''.<ref name=Thomas/>
{{As of|2023|June}}, Gessen taught as a distinguished professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-27 |title=Newmark J-School Names Masha Gessen as First Distinguished Professor |url=https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/2023/06/newmark-j-school-names-masha-gessen-as-first-distinguished-professor/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230808193015/https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/2023/06/newmark-j-school-names-masha-gessen-as-first-distinguished-professor/ |archive-date=2023-08-08 |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=Newmark J-School, The City University of New York}}</ref> Since 2020 Gessen has intermittently taught in the Written Arts department as Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bard College.<ref>{{Cite web |last=College |first=Bard |title=M. Gessen |url=https://www.bard.edu/faculty/m-gessen |access-date=2026-04-05 |website=www.bard.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Award-Winning Author Masha Gessen Joins Bard College Faculty |url=https://www.bard.edu/news/details/?id=16718&type=release&prefurl=award-winning-author-masha-gessen-joins-bard-college-faculty-2020-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230808192637/https://www.bard.edu/news/award-winning-author-masha-gessen-joins-bard-college-faculty-2020-04-14?type=release |archive-date=2023-08-08 |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=Bard |language=en}}</ref> Previously at Amherst College, they were named the John J. McCloy '16 Professor of American Institutions and International Diplomacy for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 academic years. In October 2017, they published their tenth book, ''The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2017/9-2017/meet-the-visitors |title=Meet the Visitors |last=Duke |first=Katherine |date=September 18, 2017 |website=Amherst College |access-date=June 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250624144821/https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2017/9-2017/meet-the-visitors |archive-date=June 24, 2025}}</ref> They were included in the 2022 Fast Company Queer 50 list.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Masha Gessen is No. 11 on the 2022 Fast Company Queer 50 list |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/queer-50/list/rank/11 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Fast Company |language=en-US |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619192047/https://www.fastcompany.com/queer-50/list/rank/11 |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Arrest warrant by Russia=== {{See also|Russian 2022 war censorship laws}} In August 2023,<ref>{{cite news |title=Russia brings new charges against jailed journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Maria Ponomarenko, issues arrest warrant for exiled journalist Masha Gessen |url=https://cpj.org/2023/12/russia-brings-new-charges-against-imprisoned-journalists-alsu-kurmasheva-and-maria-ponomarenko-issues-arrest-warrant-for-exiled-journalist-masha-gessen/ |work=Committee to Protect Journalists |date=14 December 2023 |access-date=18 December 2023 |archive-date=18 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218214246/https://cpj.org/2023/12/russia-brings-new-charges-against-imprisoned-journalists-alsu-kurmasheva-and-maria-ponomarenko-issues-arrest-warrant-for-exiled-journalist-masha-gessen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Russia opened a criminal case against Gessen on charges of spreading "false information" about the Russian army's actions in Ukraine. In December 2023, it was reported that Gessen's name appeared on the Russian Interior Ministry's online wanted list.<ref>{{cite news |title=Russia Puts Prominent Russian-American Journalist on Wanted List |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-puts-prominent-russian-american-journalist-on-wanted-list-/7391630.html |work=VOA News |date=9 December 2023}}</ref> Gessen was accused of spreading "false information" after discussing atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha during an interview with Russian journalist Yury Dud.<ref>{{cite news |title=Russia Opens Criminal Case Against Journalist Masha Gessen Over Ukraine War 'Fake News' |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/11/23/russia-opens-criminal-case-against-journalist-masha-gessen-over-ukraine-war-fake-news-a83198 |work=The Moscow Times |date=23 November 2023 |access-date=18 December 2023 |archive-date=18 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218214246/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/11/23/russia-opens-criminal-case-against-journalist-masha-gessen-over-ukraine-war-fake-news-a83198 |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2024, Gessen was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 8 years in prison.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-15 |title=US journalist Masha Gessen is convicted in absentia in Russia for criticizing the military |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-masha-gessen-journalist-convicted-5e72bc40d5981a5620be90e8bcfe3f28 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>
===Award controversy=== In August 2023, the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBS) announced that Gessen had won the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. In December, days before the award was to be presented, the HBS said it planned to withdraw its support because it objected to Gessen's December 9 ''New Yorker'' essay ''In the Shadow of the Holocaust'' on German Holocaust memory and the Gaza war.<ref name="guard-14dec2023">{{cite news |last1=Connolly |first1=Kate |title=Award ceremony suspended after writer compares Gaza to Nazi-era Jewish ghettos |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/14/award-ceremony-suspended-after-writer-masha-gessen-compares-gaza-to-nazi-era-jewish-ghettos |date=14 December 2023 |work=The Guardian |access-date=14 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wagner |first=Laura |date=14 December 2023 |title=Masha Gessen won a 'political thought' prize. Then they wrote on Gaza |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/12/14/masha-gessen-hannah-arendt-prize/ |access-date=16 December 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=15 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215043025/https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/12/14/masha-gessen-hannah-arendt-prize/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AP-16dec2023">{{cite web |title=Author receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos |url=https://apnews.com/article/germany-hannah-arendt-prize-masha-gessen-1923648579baea413c8b35cc436375fe |date=16 December 2023 |work=Associated Press |access-date=12 January 2024 |archive-date=18 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218164437/https://apnews.com/article/germany-hannah-arendt-prize-masha-gessen-1923648579baea413c8b35cc436375fe |url-status=live }}</ref> In the essay, Gessen argued that Germany's remembrance culture regarding the Holocaust was being used as a "cynically wielded political instrument" by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to target Muslim immigrants. Gessen was also critical of the Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip, saying it was highly destructive and comparable to an Eastern European ghetto "being liquidated" by the Nazis.<ref name="ny-9dec2023">{{cite magazine |last=Gessen |first=Masha |title=In the Shadow of the Holocaust |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/in-the-shadow-of-the-holocaust |date=9 December 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=14 December 2023 |archive-date=17 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117043556/https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/in-the-shadow-of-the-holocaust |url-status=live }}</ref> On December 16, Gessen received the award in a scaled-down ceremony.<ref name="AP-16dec2023"/><ref name="ac-9dec2023">{{cite web |author=Amanpour and Company |title=Masha Gessen Responds to Controversy After Comparing Gaza to a Nazi Ghetto |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU6kP9UqhGI |date=21 December 2023 |work=Amanpour & Company |access-date=12 January 2024 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820010851/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU6kP9UqhGI |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Personal life== Gessen is nonbinary and trans and uses ''they/them'' pronouns.<ref name="pronountweet">{{cite tweet |last=Gessen|first=Masha|user=mashagessen |number=1275529666246426625 |date=23 June 2020 |title=I avoided the topic of pronouns for a while |link=no |access-date=7 August 2020 }}</ref><ref name="YouTube">{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAYNKHP-kVQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/BAYNKHP-kVQ |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=Маша Гессен: о Трампе, тестостероне и терроре|website=Youtube|date=18 February 2020 |access-date=9 March 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="nyt-7nov2025">{{cite news |last1=Gessen |first1=M. |title=The Ruling About Passports Isn't About ID. It's About Social Control. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/opinion/supreme-court-trump-passports-gender.html |access-date=November 10, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=November 7, 2025 |quote=I carry a U.S. passport that indicates my gender as “X” — an official document that attests to my being exactly who I am: a person who doesn’t identify as either male or female.}}</ref>
Gessen has dual Russian and U.S. citizenship.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Remnick |first=David |date=2023-03-11 |title=What We Talk About When We Talk About Trans Rights |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-trans-rights |access-date=2023-08-28 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> In 2004, they married Svetlana Generalova, a Russian citizen who was also involved in the LGBT movement in Moscow. The wedding took place in the U.S.<ref name=peoples /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://echo.msk.ru/guests/5301/ |title=Семья Генераловых — Персоны |lang=ru |website=Эхо Москвы |url-status=dead |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=25 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325010507/https://echo.msk.ru/guests/5301/ }}{{page needed|reason=This link is to the whole series of interviews and doesn't include that specific information; the transcript of the particular interview must be linked (extracted from the Web Archive, as the original site has been destroyed).|date=March 2024}}</ref> Generalova and Gessen later divorced. By the time Gessen returned to the U.S. from Russia in December 2013, Gessen was married to Darya Oreshkina.<ref name=Bethune>{{cite web |last=Bethune |first=Brian |title=Russian dissident Masha Gessen on Pussy Riot, Putin and Sochi |url=http://www.macleans.ca/culture/arts/russian-dissident-masha-gessen-on-pussy-riot-putin-and-sochi/ |work=Maclean's |date=18 January 2014 |access-date=17 May 2014}}</ref><ref name=Margolin>{{cite web |last=Margolin |first=Emma |title=Faces of Russia's LGBT community |url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/faces-russias-lgbt-community |access-date=17 May 2014 |author2=Johnny Simon |website=MSNBC |archive-date=19 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519185322/http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/faces-russias-lgbt-community |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2024, Gessen married Lynne Echenberg, special counsel for restorative justice in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/gessen/posts/pfbid02F1ZsRFSZa3Vqt666vV5LBRyZtrV6Jj8W2snW9UiQKQpx3Bhan8QC365TAZKMfSwMl |title=Got Married |last=Gessen |first=Masha |date=June 1, 2024 |website=Facebook |access-date=June 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611155217/https://www.facebook.com/gessen/posts/pfbid02F1ZsRFSZa3Vqt666vV5LBRyZtrV6Jj8W2snW9UiQKQpx3Bhan8QC365TAZKMfSwMl |archive-date=June 11, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynne-echenberg-0a41a716 |title=Lynne Echenberg |website=Linkedin |access-date=June 24, 2025}}</ref>
Gessen has three children.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/russian-gay-activists-plea-get-us-the-hell-out-of-here_b_3881059.html |title=Russian Gay Activist's Plea: 'Get Us the Hell Out of Here' |last=Signorile |first=Michelangelo |date=6 September 2013 |website=HuffPost |access-date=6 September 2017 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011401/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russian-gay-activists-plea-get-us-the-hell-out-of-here_b_3881059 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gessen tested positive for the BRCA mutation that is correlated with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy in 2005.<ref name=Guardian-BloodMatters-2008>{{cite news |last=Groskop |first=Viv |title=Masha Gessen talks about blood, babies and the burden of knowing too much |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/05/familyandrelationships.family |work=The Guardian |date=4 July 2008}}</ref>
Gessen came out as nonbinary in 2020 and began using ''they/them'' pronouns.<ref name="pronountweet" /> Of their childhood, Gessen has said: "I remember, at the age of five [...] hoping that I would wake up a boy. A real boy. I had people address me by a boy's name. My parents, fortunately, were incredibly game. They were totally fine with it." As a child, Gessen used the masculine-inflected verb forms in Russian, but as a teenager they switched to the feminine inflection. In a Russian-language interview, Gessen said they continue to use the feminine form of verbs when speaking Russian.<ref name="YouTube"/>
==Awards== * 2005: National Jewish Book Award for ''Ester and Ruzya: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler's War and Stalin's Peace''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/National+Jewish+Book+Award|title=National Jewish Book Award {{!}} Book awards {{!}} LibraryThing|website=www.librarything.com|access-date=18 January 2020|archive-date=3 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603004931/https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/National+Jewish+Book+Award|url-status=live}}</ref> *2012: Stora Journalistpriset (Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism), Guest of Honor<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.storajournalistpriset.se/about/|title=About – Stora Journalistpriset|website=www.storajournalistpriset.se|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702040549/https://www.storajournalistpriset.se/about|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2013: Liberty Media Corporation, Media for Liberty award for their article "The Wrath of Putin," published in the April 2012 edition of ''Vanity Fair''<ref name=DF>{{cite web|title=2013 Media for Liberty Award Honors Vanity Fair's "The Wrath of Putin" by Masha Gessen|url=http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/14/2013-media-for-liberty-award-honors-vanity-fairs-t/|work=Daily Finance|access-date=19 May 2014|archive-date=4 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404021005/http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/14/2013-media-for-liberty-award-honors-vanity-fairs-t/|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2015: University of Michigan Wallenberg Medal, 24th recipient<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wallenberg.umich.edu/news-and-events/masha-gessen-to-receive-wallenberg-medal/|title=Masha Gessen to Receive Wallenberg Medal – Wallenberg Legacy, University of Michigan|first=Wallenberg|last=Committee|date=14 July 2015|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-date=4 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404074231/https://wallenberg.umich.edu/news-and-events/masha-gessen-to-receive-wallenberg-medal/|url-status=live}}</ref> *2017: National Book Award for Nonfiction for ''The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-national-book-award-winners-20171115-story.html|title=Masha Gessen, Jesmyn Ward, Robin Benway and Frank Bidart win National Book Awards|last=Kellogg|first=Carolyn|work=Los Angeles Times|date=15 November 2017|access-date=16 November 2017|archive-date=4 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404025943/https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-national-book-award-winners-20171115-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> *2018: Hitchens Prize<ref>{{cite web |title=2018 Prize – Masha Gessen |url=http://www.dvrf.org/2018-masha-gessen |publisher=The Dennis & Victoria Ross Foundation |access-date=18 May 2020 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404021006/http://www.dvrf.org/2018-masha-gessen |url-status=live }}</ref> *2023: Hannah Arendt Award<ref name="guard-14dec2023" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boell.de/en/2023/12/14/heinrich-boll-foundation-has-decided-pull-out-event-during-which-masha-gessen-was|title=The Heinrich Böll Foundation has decided to pull out of the event during which Masha Gessen was to receive the Hannah Arendt Award | Heinrich Böll Stiftung|website=www.boell.de|access-date=4 March 2024|archive-date=20 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011410/https://www.boell.de/en/2023/12/14/heinrich-boll-foundation-has-decided-pull-out-event-during-which-masha-gessen-was|url-status=live}}</ref> *2024: Polk Award in Commentary for ''In the Shadow of the Holocaust''<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2024-02-19 |title=The New Yorker's Luke Mogelson and Masha Gessen Win Polk Awards |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-new-yorkers-luke-mogelson-and-masha-gessen-win-polk-awards |access-date=2024-07-09 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011259/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-new-yorkers-luke-mogelson-and-masha-gessen-win-polk-awards |url-status=live }}</ref> *2026: Pulitzer Prize in Opinion Writing for several pieces<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Opinion Writing - M Gessen of the New York Times |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/m-gessen-new-york-times |publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes |access-date=2026-05-04}}</ref>
==Summaries of select works== ===''The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin''=== {{external media |float = right |video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?304877-1/the-man-face-rise-vladimir-putin Presentation by Gessen on ''The Man Without a Face'', 8 March 2012], C-SPAN}} In ''The Man Without a Face'', Gessen offers an account of Putin's rise to power and summary of recent Russian politics. The book was published on 1 March 2012 and translated into 20 languages.<ref name=Vuolo>{{cite journal |last=Vuolo |first=Mike |title=Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/live_at_politics/2014/03/masha_gessen_discusses_words_will_break_cement_the_passion_of_pussy_riot.html |journal=Slate |date=14 March 2014 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011415/https://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/live_at_politics/2014/03/masha_gessen_discusses_words_will_break_cement_the_passion_of_pussy_riot.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
''The New York Review of Books'' described the book as written in "beautifully clear and eloquent English", calling it "at heart a description of th[e] secret police milieu" from which Putin originated and "also very good at evoking ... the culture and atmosphere within which he was raised, and the values he came to espouse".<ref name=Applebaum>{{cite magazine |last=Applebaum |first=Anne |title=Vladimir's Tale |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/apr/26/vladimirs-tale/ |magazine=New York Review of Books |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011322/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/04/26/vladimirs-tale/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Guardian'' called the book "luminous";<ref name=Harding>{{cite web |last=Harding |first=Luke |title=The Man Without a Face by Masha Gessen – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/09/man-without-face-gessen-review |work=The Guardian |date=9 March 2012 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011330/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/09/man-without-face-gessen-review |url-status=live }}</ref> the ''Telegraph'' called it "courageous".<ref name=Miller>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=A. D. |title=The Man Without a Face: the Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen: review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9100906/The-Man-Without-a-Face-the-Unlikely-Rise-of-Vladimir-Putin-by-Masha-Gessen-review.html |work=The Telegraph |date=24 February 2012 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011336/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9100906/The-Man-Without-a-Face-the-Unlikely-Rise-of-Vladimir-Putin-by-Masha-Gessen-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
CIA officer John Ehrman wrote: "As a biography it is satisfactory, but no more than that" and "little of what Gessen has to say is new". Ehrman found Gessen's depiction of Putin as essentially a gangster and a mafia don to be an oversimplification, but concluded, "The image of Putin making offers no Russian can refuse is exactly what Gessen wants us to see and is effective as anti-Putin propaganda."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-57-no-4/the-man-without-a-face-the-unlikely-rise-of-vladimir-putin-and-mr-putin-operative-in-the-kremlin.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106100404/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-57-no-4/the-man-without-a-face-the-unlikely-rise-of-vladimir-putin-and-mr-putin-operative-in-the-kremlin.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-11-06 |title=Intelligence in Public Literature. ''The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin'' and ''Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin'' |date=12 February 2014 |website=CIA |access-date=23 October 2020}}</ref>
===''Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot''=== {{external media |float = right |video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?318334-1/words-break-cement Presentation by Gessen on ''Words Will Break Cement'', 12 March 2014], C-SPAN}} When this book was published in 2014, A. D. Miller wrote in the ''Telegraph'' that "even readers who do not share Gessen's esteem for Pussy Riot as artists will be convinced of their courage". Miller called Gessen "the right person to tell this story" and their journalistic approach "scrupulous and sensitive".<ref name=Words>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=A. D. |title=Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, by Masha Gessen, review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/10638445/Words-Will-Break-Cement-The-Passion-of-Pussy-Riot-by-Masha-Gessen-review.html |work=The Telegraph |date=18 February 2014 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011331/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/10638445/Words-Will-Break-Cement-The-Passion-of-Pussy-Riot-by-Masha-Gessen-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Booklist'' called the book "prickly, frank, precise, and sharply witty".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot |first=Masha |last=Gessen |date=8 January 2014 |publisher=Riverhead Books |isbn=978-1594632198 }}</ref>
''The New York Times'' called it "urgent" and "damning".<ref name=Nazaryan>{{cite news |last=Nazaryan |first=Alexander |title=Punk, Skirts, Balaclavas: A Russian Revolution |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/books/masha-gessens-words-will-break-cement.html |work=The New York Times |date=9 January 2014 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011416/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/books/masha-gessens-words-will-break-cement.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' called the book an "excellent" portrait of Pussy Riot and said that "Gessen gives a particularly brilliant account of their trials".<ref name=ApplebaumRev>{{cite news |last=Applebaum |first=Anne |title=Book review: 'Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot' by Masha Gessen |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-words-will-break-cement-the-passion-of-pussy-riot-by-masha-gessen/2014/02/13/7f5bff82-9258-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=25 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525083425/http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-words-will-break-cement-the-passion-of-pussy-riot-by-masha-gessen/2014/02/13/7f5bff82-9258-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''Los Angeles Times'' said that Gessen was "Not just a keen observer of these events" but "also an impassioned partisan".<ref name=Marcus>{{cite web |last=Marcus |first=Sara |title='Words Will Break Cement' documents the Pussy Riot revolution |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-masha-gessen-pussy-riot-20140113-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=14 January 2014 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=14 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514063422/http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-masha-gessen-pussy-riot-20140113-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
===''The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy''=== {{external media |float = right |video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?325803-1/masha-gessen-the-brothers Presentation by Gessen on ''The Brothers'', 29 April 2015], C-SPAN}} Published in April 2015 by Riverhead, ''The Brothers'' investigates the background of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing.<ref name=Bosman>{{cite news |last=Bosman |first=Julie |title=First Book Is Planned on the Tsarnaev Brothers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/business/media/masha-gessen-to-write-book-on-tsarnaev-brothers.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 2013 |access-date=17 May 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011336/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/business/media/masha-gessen-to-write-book-on-tsarnaev-brothers.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Bibliography== {{Incomplete list|date=June 2018}}
===Books=== * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |others=Foreword by Larisa I. Bogoraz; introduction by Julie Dorf|title= The rights of lesbians and gay men in the Russian Federation : an International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission report = Права гомосексуалов и лесбиянок в Российской Федерации : отчет Международной Комиссии по правам человека для гомосексуалов и лесбиянок |date=1994 |publisher=International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) |location=San Francisco <!--|isbn=978-1-884955-13-6|language=en, ru|oclc=33402470-->}} * {{cite book |last1=Gessen|first1=Masha (translated by)|last2=Lipovskaya|first2=Olga (preface by)|last3=Gorlanova|first3=Nina|last4=Volodina|first4=Galina|last5=Paley|first5=Marina|last6=Polianskaya|first6=Irina|last7=Tarasova|first7=Yelena|last8=Nabatnikova|first8=Tatiana|last9=Shulga|first9=Natalia|last10=Narbikova|first10=Valeria|last11=Sadur|first11=Nina|editor1-last=Gessen|editor1-first=Masha|title= Half a Revolution: Contemporary Fiction by Russian Women|date=1995|publisher=Cleis Press|location=Pittsburgh, PA|isbn=978-1-57344-006-6|language=en|oclc=31518015}} * {{cite book|author=Gessen, Masha|title=Dead Again: The Russian Intelligentsia After Communism|date=1997|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1-85984-147-1|url=https://archive.org/details/deadagainrussian00gess|language=en|oclc=36201042|url-access=registration}} * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title=Ester and Ruzya: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler's War and Stalin's Peace|url=https://archive.org/details/esterruzyahowmyg00gess |url-access=registration |date=2004|publisher=Dial Press Trade Paperbacks|location=New York|isbn=978-0-385-33605-5 |language=en|oclc=54529515}} - also known in the UK as ''Two Babushkas: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler's War and Stalin's Peace''<ref name=Guardian-TwoBabushkas-Review-2004>{{cite news|last1=Rounding|first1=Virginia|title=Against all odds|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jul/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview8|work=The Guardian|date=9 July 2004|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=20 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011307/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jul/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview8|url-status=live}}</ref> * {{cite book|author=Gessen, Masha|title=Blood Matters: From Inherited Illness to Designer Babies, How the World and I Found Ourselves in the Future of the Gene|date=2008|publisher=Harcourt|location=Orlando|isbn=978-0-15-101362-3|language=en|oclc=171151566|url=https://archive.org/details/bloodmattersfrom00gess}} - a ''New York Times'' Notable Book of the year * {{cite book|author=Gessen, Masha|title=Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century|date=2009|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-15-101406-4|language=en|oclc=759834681|url=https://archive.org/details/perfectrigorgeni00gess}} - about Grigori Perelman * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title=The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin|date=2012|publisher=Riverhead Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59448-842-9|language=en|oclc=859327104}} - Short-listed for Pushkin House Russian Book Prize 2013, Long-listed for Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2012 * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title= Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot|date=2014|publisher=Riverhead Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59463-219-8|language=en|oclc=880926302}} * {{cite book |last1=Kasparov|first1=Garry (foreword by)|editor1-last=Gessen|editor1-first=Masha|editor2-last=Huff-Hannon|editor2-first=Joseph|title=Пропаганда гомосексуализма в России : истории любви / Gay Propaganda: Russian Love Stories|date=2014|publisher=OR Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-939293-35-0|language=ru, en|oclc=907537609}} * {{cite book|author=Gessen, Masha|title=Brothers: The Road to An American Tragedy|date=2015|publisher=Riverhead Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59463-264-8|language=en|oclc=905658714|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/brothersroadtoam0000gess}} * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title= Where the Jews Aren't: The Sad and Absurd Story of Birobidzhan, Russia's Autonomous Region|date=2016|publisher=Nextbook/Schocken|location=New York|isbn=978-0-80524-246-1|language=en|oclc=959936125}} * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title= The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia|date=3 October 2017|publisher=Riverhead Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1594634536}} - 2017 National Book Award for nonfiction<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2017#.Wg0H2bT83Vo|title=2017 National Book Awards|work=National Book Foundation|access-date=15 November 2017|archive-date=14 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114141425/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2017/#.Wg0H2bT83Vo|url-status=live}}</ref> * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title= Never Remember: Searching for Stalin's Gulags in Putin's Russia|date=20 March 2018|publisher=Columbia Global Reports|location=New York|isbn=978-0997722963}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/never-remember|title=Never Remember: Searching for Stalin's Gulags in Putin's Russia|work=Columbia Global Reports|access-date=16 November 2017|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222180519/https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/never-remember/|url-status=live}}</ref> * {{cite book |author=Gessen, Masha |title= Surviving Autocracy |date=2 June 2020|publisher=Riverhead Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0593188934}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565060/surviving-autocracy-by-masha-gessen/|title=Surviving Autocracy|work=Riverhead Books|access-date=8 June 2020|archive-date=20 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820011339/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565060/surviving-autocracy-by-masha-gessen/|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Essays and reporting=== * {{cite journal|last1=Dorf|first1=Julie|last2=Gessen|first2=Masha|title=From Russia with Homo Love|journal=Out/Look|date=Winter 1992|pages=48–54|url=https://www.outrightinternational.org/sites/default/files/Jule-Dorf-Masha-Gessen-from-Russia-with-Homo-Love.pdf|language=en|access-date=16 October 2021|archive-date=16 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016112356/https://outrightinternational.org/sites/default/files/Jule-Dorf-Masha-Gessen-from-Russia-with-Homo-Love.pdf|url-status=dead}} * {{cite news|author=Gessen, Masha |title=Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky: One Man's Truth, Another Man's Tyranny|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2012/04/vladimir-putin-mikhail-khodorkovsky-russia|work=Vanity Fair|date=2 March 2012}} * {{cite news|author=Gessen, Masha |title=Is Vladimir Putin insane? Hardly|url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-oe-gessen-putin-russia-ukraine-20140311-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=11 March 2014|language=en}} * {{cite news|author=Gessen, Masha |title=Opinion: Trump's Incompetence Won't Save Our Democracy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/opinion/sunday/trumps-incompetence-wont-save-our-democracy.html|work=The New York Times|date=2 June 2017}} * {{cite magazine |author=Gessen, Masha |author-mask=1 |date=3 July 2017 |title=Forbidden lives : the stories of the gay men fleeing a purge in Chechnya |department=Letter from Moscow |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=93 |issue=19 |pages=22–28 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/03/the-gay-men-who-fled-chechnyas-purge <!--|accessdate=2018-06-01-->}}<ref>Online version is titled "The gay men who fled Chechnya's purge".</ref> * {{cite magazine |author=Gessen, Masha |author-mask=1 |date=12 February 2020 |title=The Queer Opposition to Pete Buttigieg, Explained |department=Our Columnists. 12 February 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-queer-opposition-to-pete-buttigieg-explained}} * {{cite magazine |author=Gessen, Masha |author-mask=1 |date=27 July 2020 |title=Lorena Borjas |department=The Talk of the Town. 2 April 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=96 |issue=21 |pages=14–15 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/remembering-lorena-borjas-the-mother-of-a-trans-latinx-community <!--|accessdate=2021-10-16--> |access-date=16 October 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417022925/https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/remembering-lorena-borjas-the-mother-of-a-trans-latinx-community |url-status=dead }}<ref>First published on newyorker.com on 2 April 2020.</ref> * [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/masha-gessen Articles from The New Yorker]
==See also== * LGBT rights in Russia * Russia under Vladimir Putin
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{sister project links|b=no|commons=Category:Masha Gessen|d=Q441226|n=no|q=Masha Gessen|s=no|v=no|wikt=no}} * {{twitter}} * {{C-SPAN|1026649}} * {{IMDb name}} * (11 March 2023). [https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-trans-rights What We Talk About When We Talk About Trans Rights] (an interview with David Remnick), The New Yorker. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120510034755/http://www.bloomsbury.com/Masha-Gessen/authors/1589 Bloomsbury Books author pages] * [https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/04/vladimir-putin-mikhail-khodorkovsky-russia# "The Wrath of Putin"] re: Russian prime minister's relationship with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, ''Vanity Fair'', April 2012. * [http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/a-call-from-the-kremlin/ "A Call from the Kremlin"] re: face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, ''The New York Times'', September 2012. * [https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=147653086 "Putin Biography Chronicles Rise Of A 'Street Thug'"], interview with Dave Davies on ''Fresh Air'', 1 March 2012. * [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/blood-matters-by-masha-gessen-896990.html Review of ''Blood Matters''], ''The Independent'' * [https://www.npr.org/2014/01/08/260746432/the-pussy-riot-arrests-and-the-crackdown-that-followed Review of "Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot"] * {{Muckrack}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gessen, Masha}} Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century Russian journalists Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Russian writers Category:American LGBTQ journalists Category:American non-binary writers Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American transgender writers Category:Jewish American journalists Category:Jewish Russian writers Category:National Book Award winners Category:The New Yorker people Category:Non-binary activists Category:LGBTQ American activists Category:Non-binary journalists Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Russian LGBTQ journalists Category:Russian LGBTQ rights activists Category:Russian LGBTQ writers Category:Russian non-binary people Category:Russian people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Russian transgender people Category:Russian translators Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States Category:Transgender academics Category:Transgender Jews Category:Transgender journalists Category:Transgender non-binary people Category:Writers from Moscow Category:CUNY Graduate School of Journalism faculty Category:Jewish American activists for Palestinian solidarity Category:Russian activists for Palestinian solidarity Category:Pulitzer Prize for Opinion Writing winners