M. Gessen is an acclaimed journalist, author, and public intellectual whose work has profoundly shaped contemporary discussions on democracy, authoritarianism, human rights, and political transformation.
The lecture will be hosted by Aslı Ü. Bâli, Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law; Faculty Co-Director, Schell Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School.
A contributor to The New Yorker since 2014 and a staff writer from 2017 to 2024, M. Gessen is the author of eleven books, including Surviving Autocracy and The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, which received the 2017 National Book Award. Their reporting and commentary have appeared in The New York Review of Books and The New York Times, where they have written extensively on Russia, Ukraine, autocracy, LGBTQ rights, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump. Alongside this work, Gessen has built a distinguished career in science journalism, covering topics including AIDS, medical genetics, and mathematics.
Gessen is Distinguished Professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York and a Visiting Writer at Bard College. Their many honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, a Nieman Fellowship, the John Chancellor Award, the Hitchens Prize, the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought, a Polk Award, and an Overseas Press Club Award.
Please register for the event by emailing the Gruber Program. We hope you will be able to join us for this special occasion.
This event is open to members of the Yale community and invited guests. A Yale ID is required for entry.
Sponsoring Organization(s)
The Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women's Rights