Riot Days

Description

From activist, Pussy Riot member and freedom fighter Maria Alyokhina, a raw, hallucinatory, passionate account of her arrest, trial and imprisonment in Siberian jail for standing up for what she believed in.'One of the most brilliant and inspiring things I've read in years. Couldn't put it down. This book is freedom' Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick'A women's prison memoir like no other! One tough cookie!' @MargaretAtwood'Once you begin reading, you are completely disarmed, unable to put it down until the last page' Marina AbramovicPeople who believe in freedom and democracy think it will exist forever.That is a mistake. What happened in Russia - what happened to me - could happen anywhere.When I was jailed for political protest, I learned that prison doesn't just teach you to follow the rules. It teaches you to think that you can never break them.It's inevitable that the prison gates will open at some point. But this doesn't mean that you leave the 'prisoner' category and go straight into the category of 'the free'.Freedom does not exist unless you fight for it every day.This is the story about how I made a choice.

Reviews

Reading: RIOT DAYS, by #PussyRiot member MariaAlyokhina. A women's prison memoir like no other! One tough cookie! -- @MargaretAtwood A future cult classic * Vogue * In oppressive political systems, some of the most effective weapons are sarcasm and dark humour. It is exactly these weapons that are employed by Masha Alyokhina in the brilliantly written Riot Days. Once you begin reading, you are completely disarmed, unable to put it down until the last page -- Marina Abramovic Riot Days could so easily have been a straightforward, from-the-horse's-mouth confessional account of one of the most publicised political protests of recent years. Alyokhina takes on a far greater challenge: creating a text that is not just a reflection on a piece of art, but becomes one itself, and one that, in many places, lives up to her own criteria of protest: that it must be "desperate, sudden, and joyous" -- Rachel Hewitt * Guardian * The literary equivalent of guerrilla street art -- Marc Bennetts * The Times * Urgent and bold -- Anna Aslanyan * Financial Times * [An] energetic and enjoyable prison diary ... A search for meaningful protest in an age in which presidents often appear to be playful performance artists -- Peter Pomerantsev * Spectator * Alyokhina's eye for surreal detail gives Riot Days a welcome dose of dark humor ... Through the chinks in the abusive system, Alyokhina glimpses human beings * The New York Times Book Review * Strong, brave, honest, touching, bitter and sad -- Vladimir Sorokin, master of contemporary Russian literature One of the most brilliant and inspiring things I've read in years. Couldn't put it down. This book is freedom -- Chris Kraus, author of 'I Love Dick' Accessible and inspiring * Huck Magazine * Fascinating and important ... What's most striking is its universality * Refinery 29 * Iconoclastic * Livres Hebdo *

Author description

Maria Alyokhina is a political activist, artist and member of Pussy Riot collective. After 'Punk Prayer' - a Pussy Riot performance of the song 'Mother Mary, banish Putin' in Moscow Cathedral on 21 February 2012 she was convicted of 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred', sentenced for two years' imprisonment and transported to a penal colony in the Urals, one of the hardest prison systems in the world. As a political prisoner she campaigned to improve the lives of her fellow inmates in the penal colony and continued her work as an activist and artist outside. She is a co-founder of the independent Russian media outlet MediaZona and actor with the Belarus Free Theatre.