4 April 2026
OVD-Info has published a collection of letters written to political prisoners
Source: OVD-Info
Hello, friends!
This is Sasha Polivanov, Director of OVD-Info.
Not long ago at all we released a book of collected letters to political prisoners called The Dawn Will Definitely Come. For us, this was a big event and our first experience of this kind. Whether or not we will continue doing this depends largely on how many copies will be sold (and more broadly, to what extent this book will be a notable event).
To slightly raise spirits, I’ll start by telling you how the idea for the book came about. About a year ago, myself and Maksim Kurnikov from the radio station Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) began chatting during a break at a conference. We talked about a new subgenre of letter: the letter of acquaintance with political prisoners. About how hard it is to begin writing a letter to someone you don’t know. About how beautifully different people go about doing this task: some talk about TV shows, some write about the news, some about the natural world, some go straight into the philosophy and reciting their favourite pieces of poetry.
‘If only we could publish a book like that, a book of letters to political prisoners,’ I said thoughtfully. When I said that, I saw Maksim’s eyes light up.
Here’s the result of this conversation:
- Order a paper copy of the book. A portion of the proceeds go to supporting OVD-Info’s work.
- Order in Russia or Belarus
- Order in other countries
What is this book about?
‘Everyone gets tonnes of letters,’ remembers Oleg Orlov, former co-chair of human rights foundation Memorial of his time in remand prison. He was one of the prisoners exchanged between Russia and the West in August 2024. That was one-and-a-half years ago. There are now more and more political prisoners in Russia, and tens of thousands all over the world have made writing letter to Russian prisons a regular part of their lives.
Using the service Vestochka, launched right after the prisoner exchange, more than 23,000 letters were sent! All of these letters passed through the attentive hands of OVD-Info volunteers, who monitored them for dangerous content, translated them from various languages and delivered them by hand to places of incarceration, even deciphering hand-written replies.
Form these letters was born our book. The book owes its title to a letter of New Year congratulations by the political prisoner Bulat Shumekov – a letter the censors covered in dark-blue marker pen.
The book has more than 80 letters written by users of Vestochka, (obviously all approved for publication by their authors!) as well as illustrations and, in several cases, prisoners’ letters in response.
This book was published thanks to the efforts of our volunteers, (if you are reading this, thank you very much!) as well as the Ekho Moskvy team and Maksim Kurnnokov. It is dedicated to all those who have written letters to political prisoners.
“I read these letters with admiration: people who did not know the person they were writing to opening themselves up in letters to political prisoners. Writing about their blind dog or their activities in squirrel-watching. They write about their problems with those close to them; they write about breaking news as well as how Maks is doing and what happened in Tolstoy’s Resurrection. Their letters go through censorship. They arrive at our cells. Reading these letters is time taken off the ridiculously long sentences. Five minutes off. Fifteen minutes off. What if thre are dozens of letters? What great work by OVD-Info! These letters reduce the time spent in prison. Everyone needs to read this book.”
– Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize and co-founder of Novaya Gazeta.
By buying this book, you are supporting OVD-Info.
In solidarity,
The OVD-Info Team
Translated by Oscar Seecharan
