Novelist and journalist Keith Gessen to visit as Poynter Fellow

Keith Gessen, a Russian-born American novelist, journalist, and editor, will visit Yale on Wednesday, Nov. 29 as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism.

Gessen will speak at a Branford College Tea at 4 p.m. in the Branford House, 80 High St.

Gessen has published a novel, translated several Russian books, edited non-fiction collections, and written articles for a range of publications. He has written about Russia for the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the Atlantic, and the New York Review of Books. His novel, “All the Sad Young Literary Men”, was published in 2008. That year, he was named a “5 under 35” honoree by the National Book Foundation.

Gessen is a founding editor of n+1, a thrice-yearly literary magazine based in New York. He is also an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. In 2011, Gessen became involved in the Occupy Movement in New York, and he co-edited the OCCUPY! Gazette.

Born in Moscow in 1975, Gessen has lived in the United States since 1981. He earned a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Syracuse University.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus journalists from a wide variety of outlets who have made significant contributions to their field. Among recent Poynter fellows are Vinson Cunningham, Ezra Edelman, and Susan Glasser.