PEN America is collecting messages of encouragement and hope to be delivered to writers currently imprisoned around the world for standing up for their own beliefs. People are encouraged to go to PEN American’s website and write letters of solidarity…
Tag: russia
Russia Raids Movie Theater Showing Historical Farce
Last week Russian Ministry of Culture officials revoked the distribution license for Armando Iannucci’s satire, The Death of Stalin, based on the Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin’s graphic novel of the same name. When the Pioneer cinema in Moscow proceeded…
Moscow Librarian Receives Four-Year Suspended Sentence for ‘Extremist’ Literature
Natalya Sharina, the former director of Moscow’s Library of Ukrainian Literature who has been under house arrest since her home and library were raided by police in October 2015, has been convicted of “inciting hatred against Russians” and given a…
Russian Prosecutors Seek Suspended Sentence for Library Director
Russian prosecutors are seeking a 5-year suspended sentence for Natalya Sharina, the former director of Moscow’s Ukrainian Literature Library who stands accused of embezzlement and “inciting racial hatred.” Russian law prohibits the “‘mass dissemination’ of materials that the government designates ‘extremist’” and the country…
Bare Shelves at Moscow Library of Ukrainian Literature
Over a year after the former director of Moscow’s Library of Ukrainian Literature was arrested and charged with “inciting ethnic hatred” through books, the city government appears to be quietly shutting down the library with a specious “merger” into a…
Overwatch Digital Comic Banned in Russia for “Gay Propaganda”
The internet may be celebrating the announcement that a main character in the Overwatch digital comic based on the popular video game is LGBTQ, but unfortunately fans in Russia will miss out. As Mashable recently reported, due to laws in…
Despite Challenges, Russian Indie Comics Scene Continues to Grow
Around the world, comics have been embraced as literature and a medium for free speech. Russia is no exception. In a recent editorial piece on Vice News, Thomas Carey Frazier shares his experiences visiting the country’s Astro Con and the…
Russian Library Director Goes to Trial for Possessing “Extremist” Books
The director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, Russia, has begun the trial process after being charged and put on house arrest last year for possessing books that “incite ethnic hatred.” Last October, Natalia Sharina’s personal residence as…
Anti-Nazi Disney Cartoon Pulled from Russian Extremist Materials List
73 years after its debut on the silver screen, the Oscar-winning 1943 Donald Duck short “Der Fuehrer’s Face” or “Donald Duck in Nutzi Land” has been pulled off the list of banned “extremist materials” in Kamchatka, Russia. In 2010, a…
Russian Publishers Too Scared to Print Children’s Book About Animal Detectives
Despite a vague federal law that professes to protect children from harmful information, Russian mother and author Anna Starobinets didn’t let censorship stand in her way when it came to publishing her newest children’s book, Beastly Crime Chronicles. In a…