Riot Days is the first book by activist, Pussy Riot member, and artist Maria Alekhina. It talks about the punk prayer at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Pussy Riot trial and the prison sentence that followed. The book was first published in 2017 and immediately gained great popularity abroad – for example, “Riot Days” was published in English by one of the largest British publishing houses, Penguin Books. In Russia, the book was distributed only under the name samizdat. After almost ten years, when “Riot Days” can no longer be bought anywhere, the publishing house “Medusa” is releasing the book in electronic form.
“Riot Days” begins in January 2012: Pussy Riot members rehearse in an abandoned factory, discuss student protests in France in 1968 and in Moscow in 2011, then sing “Riot in Russia – Putin’s Rage” in Lobnoye Mesto and for the first time attract the attention of not only the media, but also the police.
Next – the action that radically changed the fate of Pussy Riot – punk prayer in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. For two weeks, the girls hide from the police, give anonymous interviews to American and European media, and live with friends and acquaintances. Here is how Maria Alekhina writes about this time:
After the event at the temple, everyone competing with each other wanted to interview us. We introduced them via Skype: You can’t get online from where you live. That is, you spend the night. We changed apartments every two nights. How did they know how to keep it secret? There was no money at all. They ate bread with kefir and stole Wi-Fi. I took a stove from home, and a small gas can for it. This is how we heated the water and prepared the coffee. Interviews must be conducted with masks. Our faces were unknown to “millions of television viewers,” and we had no desire to show them.
The Pussy Riot trial sparked controversy about the role of the church in society, which ended with the introduction of an article on insulting the feelings of believers in the Russian Criminal Code. In Riot Days, Alekhina describes in detail the ridiculous charges, meaningless court hearings, and imprisonment that followed it all.
This is what Maria Alekhina says about the book
In 2017, my first book, Riot Days, about punk prayer and prison sentences, was published. It is designed according to this principle: a thirteen-year-old Argentine girl can open the book to any page – and she should become interested. At the same time, she doesn’t need to know anything about Russia, or Putin, or the gulags, but she should close the book with a desire to do something of her own.
In 2016, based on the book, Maria Alekhina, together with producer and artistic director of international festivals Alexander Cheparukhin and other Pussy Riot participants (for example, musician Diana Burkut and director Vasily Bogatov), created the musical and theatrical show “Riot Days”. The production has won international awards, including the Herald Angel and Lustrum Awards, as well as the Overall Theater Award at the Edinburgh Festival. In 2026, Pussy Riot will tour Europe with a new version of “Riot Days” – the show can be seen in France, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
“Riot Days” is being reprinted in electronic form only. Another book by Maria Alekhina entitled “Politics. How to Survive” V From Russia”, published by Medusa Publishing House in paperback. Philip Demidov, Maria’s son, illustrated both books.
