Agenda

Drew Hinshaw is a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who has reported from more than fifty countries. He won the Overseas Press Club's Book of the Year award for Bring Back Our Girls, his account of the mission to rescue 276 Nigerian high school students.

In his second book, Swap, he and co-author Joe Parkinson turn their spotlight on the story of how the Russian government planted deep-cover agents in the West, how the CIA tracked them down, and how Russia responded by snatching American citizens—imprisoning them under false or jacked-up charges—forcing the U.S. government to play Putin’s game.

Swap unspools the history behind the series of prisoner trades that returned Moscow and Washington to the crude transactional logic of the Cold War, culminating in the two rivals’ largest and most complex swap ever. On August 1, 2024, twenty-four people jailed in seven nations were exchanged, including eight Russian spies, smugglers, hackers, and a professional hit man. But that headline moment was only the climax of a secret war two decades in the making…

Swap has received rave reviews across the press: The Washington Post called it “a riveting look at U.S.-Russia hostage deals,” and MSNBC’s Morning Joe raved about “a real-life spy thriller that delves into the Kremlin’s decade-long game of human poker.”

We are delighted to be interviewing Drew at Secret Kingdoms, and learning more about this strange new world… This event will take an interview format, with Drew discussing the book and its evolution, and reading extracts from it. Whilst the event is free, places are limited and we do ask that you buy a 3€ voucher, redeemable at the event. Drinks and Snacks will be served.