BINDERY: The Fight for a Free Press: Book Launch and Panel

The Bindery hosts Alison Littman for the launch of her debut novel, Radio Underground. Littman will join New York Times journalist Sheera Frenkel, cybersecurity expert Bill Marczak (Larry King, Washington Post, Vanity Fair) and Camille Fischer from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to discuss the fight for a free press.

From combating fake news and censorship on social media to protecting journalists and activists abroad, panelists will discuss the threats to our freedom online and in the press in a high-stakes political environment. Schmooze and booze with panelists and the author after the discussion.

Radio Underground follows a journalist in Budapest during the Cold War who manipulates news on Radio Free Europe to spark the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against the Soviets. In Cold War Hungary, journalism was used to ignite uprisings, help people escape the country and persuade the masses to take action. The launch event will also include a short reading and Q&A with the author and panelists.

About Radio Underground

Eszter Turján is a mother and a fanatical underground journalist living in Budapest at the height of the Cold War. After years of suffering under the communist regime, she’d sacrifice anything, and anyone, to see the government fall. When she manipulates news broadcasts on Radio Free Europe, she ignites the vicious revolution, commits a calamitous murder, and is dragged away screaming to a secret underground prison as her teenage daughter Dora watches in horror.

Haunted and hurt, Dora vows to work against everything Eszter believes in. But, it’s not that simple. After nine years, Dora is unwittingly drawn back into Eszter’s circle when she falls hopelessly in love with a fan of The Beatles – and Radio Free Europe. At the same time, she discovers Eszter, driven mad by years of torture, is headed toward a death sentence. To save her mother, Dora will have to defy a vindictive and lethal regime, and confront family ties she’s spent years denying. On the brink of losing Eszter again, Dora must make a choice: to risk her life for the mother who discarded her—or leave it all to fate.

Radio Underground is a beautiful, relevant novel that explores the lengths and limits of love, family, and the power of expression.

About the Panelists

Sheera Frenkel is a cybersecurity reporter at the New York Times. She spent over a decade in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent, reporting for BuzzFeed, NPR, The Times of London and McClatchy Newspapers.

Bill Marczak has appeared on Politicking with Larry King and in the Washington Post, New York Times, Vanity Fair and other major outlets for his work rooting out spyware used to stifle activists, dissidents, journalists and others speaking out against dictatorial regimes. A Senior Research Fellow at Citizen Lab, a co-founder of Bahrain Watch, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at UC Berkeley, Bill focuses on novel technological threats to Internet freedom, including new censorship and surveillance tools.

Camille Fischer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation works on the organization’s free speech and government transparency projects. Previously, Camille worked in the Obama White House and in the Department of Commerce advocating for civil, human rights, and due process protections in national security and law enforcement policies.

Alison Littman is an author by day and stand up comedian by night. A former journalist, she covered politics and education while also contributing articles on John F. Kennedy and The Beatles to various specialty magazines. Her feature stories focus on listening to rock ‘n’ roll behind the Iron Curtain and Cold War politics. Radio Undergroundis her first novel.

Please note: This event will be at The Bindery, 1727 Haight.

This is an all ages event. The bar opens at 7, event begins at 7:30pm.

RSVP appreciated but not required.

If you cannot attend the event but would like to requeset a signed copy of Radio Underground and/or any of the authors’ books, order below and put your request in the comments field.