Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina with Yanis Varoufakis (2018 Event)

'To back down an inch is to give up a mile,' says Maria Alyokhina in Riot Days, her account of Pussy Riot’s extraordinary rise to infamy in 2012. Following an iconoclastic balaclava-clad performance in a Moscow cathedral, Alyokhina and two of her collaborators were arrested and sentenced to two years in a prison in the Urals. In this unmissable event filmed live at the 2018 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Yanis Varoufakis discusses with Maria Alyokhina the different varieties of totalitarianism that we are currently threatened with, her fight for free speech against the forces of Vladimir Putin’s regime, her hunger strike protest while in prison, as well as the work she is now doing to help Russian prisoners at home.

Book Festival News

Book Festival reveals first author events for 2024 Book Festival reveals first author events for 2024
Sunday 14 April

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Will McPhail: Drawing Inspiration Will McPhail: Drawing Inspiration The drawing style of Will McPhail will be instantly recognisable to readers of the New Yorker or Private Eye, where his cartoons are regularly published. Now the cartoonist has turned his hand to his first full-length graphic novel, IN, and it’s set to … Wayétu Moore & Nadia Owusu: On Belonging Wayétu Moore & Nadia Owusu: On Belonging Meet two women who combine breathtaking life stories with an uncommon ability to write about them. Wayétu Moore joined us last year with her fictional reimagining of Liberia’s history, She Would Be King. Now she returns to tell her true life story and … Lights Off The Quay - pt2 (Janice Galloway) Lights Off The Quay - pt2 (Janice Galloway) We commissioned and published new stories and poems from four of the finest Scottish writers: A L Kennedy, Janice Galloway, John Burnside and Don Paterson. Lights Off The Quay, our first publication of new writing, is the result. A sold-out event at the B… Rory Stewart speaks with Charlotte Higgins at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Rory Stewart speaks with Charlotte Higgins at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Despite coming fourth in the Conservative Party’s leadership contest, Rory Stewart has emerged as one of this strange Summer’s surprise political winners. The International Development Secretary’s refreshing honesty and viral Twitter campaigning won… Oana Aristide & Courttia Newland: New World Disorder Oana Aristide & Courttia Newland: New World Disorder One interesting product of dystopian fiction is the new perspective it offers on the real world we are living in. That is the case in the novels discussed today. Oana Aristide’s Under the Blue was written before the pandemic hit but with uncanny timing … Thomas Harding & Kojo Koram: What Was Taken? Thomas Harding & Kojo Koram: What Was Taken? Inspired by a personal quest to learn more about Britain’s role in the slave trade, Thomas Harding tells the story of the Demerara Uprising, a key trigger in the abolition of slavery, in White Debt. In Uncommon Wealth, Kojo Koram traces the group of Bri… Monica Heisey: On Modern Love Monica Heisey: On Modern Love Newlywed PhD student Maggie is in her late 20s with her whole life ahead of her – and then her husband asks for a divorce, moves out, and takes the cat with him. Really Good, Actually is as hilarious and heartfelt as you’d expect from Monica Heisey,… Ibram X Kendi talks to DeRay Mckesson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Ibram X Kendi talks to DeRay Mckesson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival We all occasionally do things that are racist, yet often fail to recognise it. Ibram X Kendi is a founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center in Washington DC. How To Be an Antiracist is his extraordinary guidebook which helps build a v… Rachel Kushner: Postcards from America Rachel Kushner: Postcards from America ‘Clarice Lispector had a diamond-hard intelligence, a visionary instinct and a sense of humour that veered from naïf wonder to wicked comedy.’ This snapshot of the great Brazilian writer is from an essay in Rachel Kushner’s new book The Hard Crowd … Marian Keyes: Family Matters Marian Keyes: Family Matters Marian Keyes didn’t start writing until her twenties, she felt that she was ‘all washed up at 30.’ But readers have had a love affair with Keyes that has lasted over two decades now. It’s hard to imagine a greater, more reliable comfort than …