It appears that the poet, Liza Gotfrik, the very same one that considers South-Eastern Ukraine to be occupied and that has paid multiple visits to the ATO-troops will come to Russia on her own initiative.
"I applied to the Russian consulate to have my Russian passport restored". Yulia Tolopa put this on her Facebook (запрещена в РФ), where she is better known by her code name, "Valkyrie." She lives in Ukraine, and served in the Aidar battalion, which actively participated in the so-called Anti-terrorist operation.
It seems she should have become a hero in Kiev. Alas, the Ukrainian authorities have decided to deny her citizenship. And the migration service threatened to deport her back to Russia where the FSB is waiting for her. Tolopa's a wanted fugitive and will likely go to prison. Playing for time is all she can do. It's not just a Russian passport that she needs but a clear record as well. She's got until mid-February.
We'll see how this turns out.
Anastasia Efimova will tell us more.
- Good evening, Anastasia
- Greetings. Is she even welcome here?
- She is. At least at a literary award ceremony for an award that she's been nominated for.
Anastasia Efimova:
The discussion was long and heated but the shortlist of this year's Grigoryev Award was approved. And Liza Gotfrik is the first nominee.
Vsevolod Emelin, Grigoryev Award winner: "I don't know Liza personally. I saw her videos long ago at a video-poetry contest. I was impressed both by the poetry and the poet herself. Oddly enough, she didn't win anything back then. But I've been her fan since then. Everyone that calls her a freak I would suggest looking at the mirror and then at her photos on Facebook and think again who's a freak and who isn't."
Gotfrik is actually a pseudonym of Elizaveta Nepiyko. She has a degree in medical psychology and was conducting psychological courses for the ATO-troops.
Vadim Levental, CEO of Grigoryev Award, author: "Yes, she did publicly support them. Yes, she's still posting some nasty stuff. But she didn't commit any crime. And ideas are not criminalized in Russia. OK? That's why we have no grounds to bring this person to justice, roughly speaking. Once again, if we separate poetry and art from politics, from her political views and so on and so forth then everything just falls into place."
If we separate politics and art we are left with Liza Gotfrik's poetry. About Russia, for instance that will "nurture us with grounds and the dissidents with rounds." Her other rhymes would sound like: wife-life, bird-heard, Moskal-jackal.
Vladimir Marochkin, author, music and literary critic: "People write a couple of passages with some rhyme and rhythm and then call themselves poets. There are a lot of these kinds of poets and they are called pen pushers. To put it lightly, this kind of poetry is unprofessional and uninteresting."
The Grigoryev Award might not be the most famous one but it is quite prestigious. It's been held in St. Petersburg for 8 years. Liza Gotfrik was nominated by a Kiev publisher and approved by the professional jury.
Aglaya Toporova, Grigoryev Award jury member: "She's never written about the ATO. Her style is a trendy dark folk: kind of pirate ballads, ironic stories about life and everything. She performs in the form of a cabaret show. The jury found her interesting. Her ballads aren't political but rather of the criminal kind of like Krovostok, if you know the band".
An example of a "non-political" ballad by Liza Gotfrik. The heroes are the 18-year-old Galya Yarovaya and some Russian agent sent to Lvov to fight the UIA. Porn is kids’ stuff compared to what's going on between them. That's a quote. And then Galya remembers her nationalist father and dismembers her Russian boyfriend. The grand finale: "love anyone you want, but not the Moskal-scum".
Liza Gotfrik: "She took a knife and one-two-three right in his heart, cutting flesh like butter. That's for my father! A gushing scarlet borsch-colored flood. Galya is covered in her butcher's blood. Our hero is used to sticking a boar. His limbs and his body are joint no more. In the light of the morning dawn the forest creature is finally gone. His mouth is slit from ear to ear a lesson from a girl he dared to endear".
By the way, this is the very piece that Liza Gotfrik is going to read at the award ceremony in St. Petersburg on December 14. She's already searching for a stylist to show off to the public. "The fact, that Galya Yarovaya will be included in the Russian award compilation is so cutie patootie."
The piece entitled "Bloody national drama" is clearly non-political.
- Anastasia Efimova on fine poetry.
