When I'm Out of Here: book presentation & in conversation with Hanna Komar

During the 2020 Belarusian uprising, a young poet is imprisoned for peaceful protest along with thousands of other ordinary people. Inside the crowded cells she encounters people from every walk of life — teachers, grandmothers, students — each with their own story of resistance. Her book, When I'm Out of Here, interweaves her story and theirs into a powerful portrait of courage under repression.

As we observe the erosion of civil liberties, the normalisation of detention, and the quiet expansion of state power, this book speaks to our time, finding hope behind bars and the human will to unite in the darkest moments.

Belarusian poet Hanna Komar will be joined in conversation by Maria Gulina, Open Eye Gallery's Communications and Content Producer.

Together they will discuss the book as both a document and a literary work, ways to document collective experience that pay tribute to the collective aspect of it specifically, and the human side of the peaceful protest in Belarus and in the UK.

Hanna Komar is a Belarusian poet, translator, and writer based in London. She is a joint recipient of the 2021 Freedom of Speech Prize by the Norwegian Authors’ Union and an honorary member of English PEN. Hanna has published five poetry collections, a literary Pr*son memoir, and a play titled Body in Progress, which reflects on the cruelty of the Belarusian dictatorial regime, exile and her journey of healing. Her work was presented at the Festival of Endangered Languages at the Barbican. She is currently completing a PhD, exploring how poetry can help share Belarusian women's experiences of domestic abuse and state violence.

Maria Gulina is a writer, editor, and environmental activist from Belarus, currently based in Liverpool, UK. She is interested in art activism, feminist, decolonial, and nature writing. She published her essays, short stories and poems in Belarusian collective books Rascjazenne (2023) and Roots / Leaves (2024). Her first book, A White Bird Flew, was published by Skaryna Press in 2024.

Image: from Hanna Komar's personal archive

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