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Granta is bringing forward to publication of Masha Gessen's Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, following news today (23rd December) of the release of the remaining two band members Naderzhd Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina .
Words Will Break Cement, originally scheduled for the end of March, will be now be available in e-book form in mid-January and published in physical format on 3rd February, with copies to be made available "as soon as possible after the 8th January printing date".
Gessen is the only journalist to have interviewed Tolokonnikova in prison, and also had "extensive" correspondence with Alyokhina during her prison term. The publisher called the book "necessary and timely", "an account of the Pussy Riot protest, the ensuing global support movement, and the tangled and controversial trial of the band members" as well as exploring the status of dissent in Russia.
In an interview on NPR over the weekend, Gessen said of the Pussy Riot members' anticipated release: "The only thing it means is that the Sochi Olympics are around the corner. These two women, Maria and Naderzhd, have been in prison for 660 days for lip-synching in a church for 40 seconds. They were sentenced to two years in prison for felony hooliganism... dozens of people are still either facing trial or serving time for peaceful protest in Russia."