Political Girl

About the book

'Witty, urgent, and unflinching... her story speaks to anyone who believes that protest can be art, and that art can confront, disrupt, and even destabilize authoritarian power' Alpa Shah

What can you do when your country becomes a repressive authoritarian state?


2014: Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics. Russia invades Crimea. Putin is re-elected president. Several political prisoners are amnestied and released early from prison.

Maria Alyokhina is among them. She had spent two years in a penal colony after performing the punk prayer 'Virgin Mary, Banish Putin' with her friends in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. They had warned the rest of the world of the dangers of authoritarianism, but the Russia she finds...