Did you notice the hiatus? Did you miss me? I was travelling. I'm back now full of caffeine.
Tomorrow Wednesday 21 November is the nine month anniversary since Pussy Riot, the punky protest group of Russian women performed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow and were locked up for denouncing the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for President Vladimir Putin.
Three members of the collective, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were arrested and held in custody until August when they were each sentenced to two years in prison on charges of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’. At their appeal hearing in October, the two-year jail term of Samutsevich was suspended, but the sentences against Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were upheld. They have since been separated and transferred to notorious prison colonies, far from Moscow and their young children.
In order to raise and maintain awareness of their case, English PEN launched Poems for Pussy Riot, inviting poets from all over the world to write creative responses to the case. A collection of the contributions, Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot, was published as a pay-by-donation e-book on 1 October 2012 to coincide with their first appeal hearing. A print-on-demand version is now also available, with all proceeds going to the Pussy Riot Legal Fund and English PEN’s Writers at Risk Programme.
The Poetry Divas are among a good number of poets reading at an event in Dublin, supported by Irish PEN, on Wednesday 21 November at The Grand Social (35 Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1). Start time is 6.30pm and admission is free.
Tomorrow Wednesday 21 November is the nine month anniversary since Pussy Riot, the punky protest group of Russian women performed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow and were locked up for denouncing the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for President Vladimir Putin.
Three members of the collective, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were arrested and held in custody until August when they were each sentenced to two years in prison on charges of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’. At their appeal hearing in October, the two-year jail term of Samutsevich was suspended, but the sentences against Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were upheld. They have since been separated and transferred to notorious prison colonies, far from Moscow and their young children.
In order to raise and maintain awareness of their case, English PEN launched Poems for Pussy Riot, inviting poets from all over the world to write creative responses to the case. A collection of the contributions, Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot, was published as a pay-by-donation e-book on 1 October 2012 to coincide with their first appeal hearing. A print-on-demand version is now also available, with all proceeds going to the Pussy Riot Legal Fund and English PEN’s Writers at Risk Programme.
The Poetry Divas are among a good number of poets reading at an event in Dublin, supported by Irish PEN, on Wednesday 21 November at The Grand Social (35 Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1). Start time is 6.30pm and admission is free.
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