Author resigns from PEN America board amid row over Russian writers panel

Masha Gessen steps down as vice-president as group admits mistakes' over cancellation of literary festival

Masha Gessen, the prominent Russian-American writer who has documented Russia's decline into authoritarianism, has resigned as vice-president of PEN America after the organisation cancelled an event last week with Russian dissidents after objections from Ukrainian participants.

The group, which was founded in 1922 and describes itself as stand[ing] at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression," was plunged into controversy after it acknowledged that it had called off an event at a literary festival in New York after Ukrainian writers on a separate panel had threatened to pull out.