Jailed Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina ended her eleven day hunger strike in protest of her treatment from prison officials yesterday. After having her demands met by the Russian prison Maria demonstrated her Pussy Riot protest credentials are still strong, even after Pussy Riot's appeal was rejected in May.
It isn't just within prison walls that the Pussy Riot cause is bring kept alive. At this year's Saboteur Awards the English Pen e-book 'Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot' won the award for Best Poetry Anthology.
Sophie Mayer, who co-edited 'Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot', said:“Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer proved the power of words: as poets, we want to amplify their call for freedom, and continue their argument against rhetorics of repression. When I and my co-editors Mark Burnhope and Sarah Crewe started a poems for Pussy Riot writing project with a call-out to friends on Facebook in September 2012, we didn’t imagine co-producing a book in association with English PEN, let alone winning an – aptly named – Saboteur Award! We’re thrilled that Catechism, which included 110 poets and involved two dozen translators, has reached so many readers, and that Sabotage have given us the opportunity to reach more. The votes for Catechism are votes for and from an engaged poetry community to carry on the riot in writing.”
In solidarity with Pussy Riot members the Saboteur Awards audience performed a poem from the anthology in both Russian and English at the event.
This month will also see the launch of the 'Let's Start a Pussy Riot' book on the 15th June at Yoko Ono's curated Meltdown Festival as part of Activism Weekend. Another collaborative project, the book has been created with Pussy Riot, Storm in a Teacup, Girls Get Busy and Not So Popular. The book explores themes of feminism, LGBT rights, art in activism and freedom of speech with artists and writers such as Kim Gordon, Laurie Penny and Roz Kaveney among others.
Let's Start a Pussy Riot will be available at Rough Trade shops from 24th June, you can pre-order your copy HERE!
You can download e-book 'Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot' HERE! Or order a print copy HERE!
Pictured: Pussy Riot; Maria Alyokhina
