Five books written by political prisoners (and one inspired by them)

Forwarded From Meduza — Books

Five books written by political prisoners (and one inspired by them)

✽ Pavel Kushnir. “The Birobidzhan Diary”

Meduza Publishing

“The Birobidzhan Diary” is the final book by pianist and writer Pavel Kushnir, who died in 2024 in a pretrial detention center in Birobidzhan after a dry hunger strike. The book’s editor and compiler, Dmitry Volchek, calls it not only a “historical document,” but also an “experimental poem.” We published “The Birobidzhan Diary” after Kushnir’s death, when we received the notebooks containing the manuscript from Olga Shkrygunova, a friend of the pianist (you can read about this in detail here).

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✽ Zhenya Berkovich. “Pets”

Babel Books Berlin

A touching fairy-tale novella about cats, dogs, rats, cockroaches, and one very funny and charming crow. “Pets” is full of quotes and references both to the Russian poetic classics and to pop culture. Just as completely different characters coexist in “Prison-Meow,” the pages of the novella bring together quotes from “Eugene Onegin” and funny riffs on prison chanson. Zhenya wrote the entire text of the book by hand while she was being held in pretrial detention.

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✽ Sasha Skochilenko (with the participation of journalist S. M. Favorski). “My Prison Trip”

Freedom Letters

From the “anti-war price tags” in one of St. Petersburg’s supermarkets to exhibitions in galleries across Europe, “My Prison Trip” tells the full story of one of the best-known political prisoners of today — artist Sasha Skochilenko. Unlike many similar stories, this one has a happy ending: Sasha Skochilenko was released in a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in 2024.

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✽ Natan Sharansky. “Fear No Evil”

Freedom Letters

In 1977, Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky was arrested and sentenced to thirteen years in a labor camp (of which he served nine) on charges of “treason,” when in reality it was for his human rights work. His book “Fear No Evil” is at once a psychological thriller, a political detective story, and a profound reflection on the nature of totalitarianism. Alexey Navalny also liked this book very much — while in prison, he corresponded with Sharansky.

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✽ Alexey Navalny. “Patriot”

One Book Publishing

Alexey Navalny began working on his memoir in 2020 during rehabilitation after being poisoned with Novichok, and finished it while already in prison. That is why “Patriot” can be divided into two parts: in the first, the politician reflects on how his political views were formed and changed, jokes, and thinks about faith and freedom; in the second, he keeps a prison diary.

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✽ Bonus: “Dawn Will Surely Come”

OVD-Info

“Dawn Will Surely Come” is a collection of letters sent to political prisoners through the website “Vestochka” (created by the independent human rights project OVD-Info). The book brings together very different letters — touching, sad, funny, full of support and hope. All of them are meant to show how easy it is to begin corresponding with political prisoners and how lifesaving such correspondence can be for everyone involved.

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You can read more about the books at this link. If you are outside Russia, join the “You Are Not Alone” support marathon for political prisoners.