The fierce, thrilling and acclaimed memoir of Maria Alyokhina- artist, protestor, outsider, prisoner, survivor
The fierce, thrilling and acclaimed memoir of Maria Alyokhina- artist, protestor, outsider, prisoner, survivor
The fierce, thrilling and acclaimed memoir of Maria Alyokhina- artist, protestor, outsider, prisoner, survivor'Freedom does not exist unless you fight for it every day.'Maria Alyokhina always wanted to change the system - but, as protests go, this didn't seem like a big deal. One gloomy February morning in 2012, wearing a balaclava, she performed a protest song in Moscow Cathedral with the group Pussy Riot. It only lasted forty seconds. But as a result she was sentenced to two years in one of the hardest prison systems in the world, sent hundreds of miles away, forced to leave her young son and her life behind her. This is the story of what happened. It's a story of endurance and survival, of solidarity and female friendship and, above all, the will never to back down. It's one of the most honest, raw and searing memoirs in years.
“Reading: RIOT DAYS, by #PussyRiot member MariaAlyokhina. A women's prison memoir like no other! One tough cookie!”
Reading: RIOT DAYS, by #PussyRiot member MariaAlyokhina. A women's prison memoir like no other! One tough cookie! -- @MargaretAtwood
A future cult classic Vogue
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
Maria Alyokhina is a political activist, artist and member of Pussy Riot collective. Her first book Riot Days was highly acclaimed and translated into many languages.
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