Book Launch - Larisa Reisner. A Biography & Writings

A Book Launch for Cathy Porter's New Books on Larisa Reisner- A Biography & Collection of her Writings ——————————————————————————————— Larisa Reisner: A Biography Cathy Porter https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2124-larisa-reisner-a-biography ——————————————————————————————— "She burst across the revolutionary sky like a blazing meteor, dazzling all in her path," Trotsky wrote. For the poet Boris Pasternak, she was Lara, the heroine of his novel Doctor Zhivago. Commissar, revolutionary fighter, espionage agent, journalist, Larisa Reisner (1895–1926) was a model for the 'new woman' of the Russian Revolution, and one of its most popular and brilliant writers, whose works were published in mass editions and read by millions. In this sweeping biography, Cathy Porter sets her life against the backdrop of the world-shaking events of 1917. Drawing on material recently released from the Soviet archives, Porter tells Reisner's story through the memories of those close to her, her own voluminous writings, and her six books—published for the first time together with this biography. Cathy Porter will discuss her work on Larisa Reisner with Sezgin Boynik and Alexander Billet ——————————————————————————————— Cathy Porter studied Russian and Czech at London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies and Cambridge University, and has published over 20 books on Russian history culture and politics, including most recently Alexandra Kollontai. Writings from the Struggle (Bookmarks, 2020), as well as translations of the plays of Maxim Gorky and Karel Capek, and the diaries of Sofia Tolstaya. Sezgin Boynik is a writer, editor and publisher who lives and works between Finland and Kosovo. He edited “Coiled Verbal Spring: Devices of Lenin’s Language” (Rab-Rab Press, Helsinki, 2018), “Sickle of Syntax and Hammer of Tautology: Visual Poetry in Yugoslavia” (OEI, Stockholm, 2021), “Socialist Dawn: Yugoslav Communist Party’s Turkish Newspaper from 1920” (TUSTAV, Social History Publications, Istanbul, 2023). Boynik is founder of Rab-Rab Press in Helsinki (www.rabrab.net) and co-founder of Pykë-Presje in Prizren (www.pykepresje.com). Alexander Billet is a writer of prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction. His writing has appeared extensively in left aesthetic forums including Jacobin, Salvage, Radical Art Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Historical Materialism blog, Protean, Real Life, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books and Chicago Review, Against the Current. . His first book, Shake the City: Experiments In Space and Time, Music and Crisis, was released in late 2022 through 1968 Press. For seven years he was a founding and chief editor at the radical arts publication, Red Wedge. Currently he is a member of the Locust Arts & Letters Collective and helps edit its publications Locust Review and Imago. He runs an active blog at alexanderbillet.com Paul Reynolds (Chair) is a member of the Historical Materialism Editorial Board ——————————————————————————————— Please consider subscribing to the Historical Materialism journal, published by BRILL. www.brill.com/hima You can also find paperback copies of all HM Books published by Haymarket Books, and a subscribers offer, at https://www.haymarketbooks.org/series_collections/1-historical-materialism