A selection of short stories written by Mikhail Khodorkovsky during his time in prison will be published in May 2014 by the publishing house Alpina Publisher.

In August 2011 Khodorkovsky began publishing his stories in Russian magazine, The New Times. In October 2013, 17 of these stories were published in France. The opening remarks for the French edition were written by Mikhail’s children – Pavel and Anastasia.

Today, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, revealed  one of these stories, ‘The Junkie’, that hasn’t previously been published. ‘The Junkie’ is the story of Oleg, a drug addict, who wasted his life on drugs and ended up in prison at the age of 30. Oleg’s character is quiet and responsive, but he flatly refuses to be pushed around. “One day we ended up cleaning the snow together. We started talking…”

Prison’s People offers an insight into Russian prison life through such stories.

Read the story in full in Russian