Ratushinskaya, Irina (1954–)

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Ratushinskaya, Irina (1954–)

Russian poet and memoirist. Name variations: Irina Borisovna Ratushínskaia. Born 1954 in USSR; m. Igor Gerashchenko.

Participated in Soviet human-rights movement in Kiev and was arrested (1982); at 28, sentenced to 7 years' hard labor and 5 years internal exile (1983); was detained for 3 years in a labor camp, though her poems were smuggled out and published as No, I'm Not Afraid (1986), which led to an international outcry over her case; released, emigrated with husband (1986); works in translation include A Tale of Three Heads (1986), Beyond the Limit (1987), and prison memoir, Grey is the Color of Hope (1988).