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Masha Gessen

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In her 2014 book, Words Will Break Cement, Masha Gessen wrote: ‘to create, and to confront, one has to be an outcast.’ The book was about Russian feminist activists Pussy Riot, but themes of alienation and confrontation have coloured much of Gessen’s work and life.  

A prolific journalist in both Russia and the United States, Gessen is Russia’s leading LGBT activist and a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin. Gessen is perhaps best known in the English-speaking world for shedding light, and providing astute analysis, on international headline-making stories from Russia – such as the emergence of Pussy Riot and controversies around the Sochi Winter Olympics.

In her new book, The Tsarnaev Brothers, Gessen turns her attention to traumatic events that have taken place on the soil of her adopted home. The book tells the story of the Boston bombers, and explores the theme of split identity in immigrant America, as well as the disastrous consequences of social dislocation.

In conversation with Maxine Beneba Clarke, Gessen will discuss immigrant identity, activism and an extraordinary career in journalism.

Featuring

Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist and the author of ten books of nonfiction, including bestsellers The Man Without a Face and Words Will Break Cement. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Vanity Fair, and many other publications, and has received numerous ... Read more

Maxine Beneba Clarke

Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of the acclaimed memoir The Hate Race, the award-winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the poetry collections Carrying The World and How Decent Folk Behave, and many other books for adults and children. Her forthcoming poetry collection is It’s The S... Read more

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Northcote Town Hall

189 High St, Northcote VIC 3070

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