WORDS WILL BREAK CEMENT by Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen spoke about her book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, at Politics & Prose on Saturday, March 8, 2014.

Gessen, journalist and author of a critical biography of Putin, knows something about courage. She’s the perfect writer to profile Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist punk collective dedicated to public artistic responses to Russian politics. Gessen recounts the group’s 2012 performance of “A Punk Prayer for Freedom” in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, beseeching Mary for a new leader. Three of the activists were charged with felony hooliganism.