Boston Book Festival 2019

With the crackdown on dissent and the subsequent chilling effect on free expression, artists and writers around the world continue to take a stand against repression. In countries with authoritarian regimes across Eurasia, their activism has had terrifying consequences: Akram Aylisli has experienced continuous harassment by Azeri authorities since 2012; Oleg Sentsov spent 5 years in the most severe Russian prison for a crime he did not commit; and dozens of citizen journalists continue to be arrested in Crimea. Polina Kovaleva (Project Director Eurasia, PEN America), Lev Golinkin (A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka), and Katherine Young (Farewell, Aylis: A Non-Traditional Novel in Three Works) come together to talk about the cases of Eurasian artists and writers who have been persecuted for their views, as well as to give their perspective on the intersection of political activism, art, and literature. Sponsored by PEN America.