Upcoming Event

Introduced by Margaret Atwood.

In March 2023, a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was dragged into an unmarked van by FSB agents and imprisoned for 500 days; a pawn in a geopolitical chess match. His extraordinary memoir This Cursed Beautiful Land (2026) chronicles his arrest, imprisonment and eventual release.

As we mark PEN Canada’s centenary year of advocating for writers in peril across the world, Gershovich’s powerful story acts as starting point for a timely conversation about the dangers and opportunities facing writers and journalists in our fast-changing world.

Joining Gershkovich on stage will be award-winning journalist and author Carol Off and international human rights lawyer and best-selling author Philippe Sands.

Speakers

Evan Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich is a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal based in Berlin. Born in New Jersey to Soviet émigrés, he lived in Russia for over five years before his 2023 arrest and subsequent sixteen-month imprisonment on false espionage charges.

Carol Off

As a journalist Carol Off covered the Balkan wars, the 9/11 attack, the elections of Vladimir Putin, as well as revolutions, wars, and uprisings in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For sixteen years she co-hosted CBC radio’s As It Happens. Her acclaimed works of non-fiction include True Patriot Love: Reporting from the Frontlines of Canadian Sovereignty (2026).

Philippe Sands

Philippe Sands is a professor of law at the University of London, the Samuel Pisar Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and the author of East West Street. He is a frequent commentator on CNN and the BBC World Service, and a litigator before international courts. He is the former president of English PEN. In 2003, Sands was appointed a Queen’s Counsel. He lives in London, England.

The PEN Canada Graeme Gibson Talk is an annual conversation between writers with expert knowledge of an urgent political, social, cultural or economic issue. The event was established in 2021 to honour the Canadian author and writers’ advocate, Graeme Gibson.

This Toronto International Festival of Authors event is presented in partnership with PEN Canada, CBC IDEAS, Substack, and founding sponsor Penguin Random House Canada.