Pussy Riot joins Life Is Beautiful speaker lineup

Members of the punk group Pussy Riot, including Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in the blue balaclava and Maria Alekhina in the pink balaclava, are attacked by Cossack militia in Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. The group had gathered in a downtown Sochi restaurant, about 30km (21miles) from where the Winter Olympics are being held. They ran out of the restaurant wearing brightly colored clothes and ski masks and were set upon by about a dozen Cossacks, who are used by police authorities in Russia to patrol the streets. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

They were imprisoned for two years in their native Russia, where they toiled in labor camps and became international symbols of the continuing struggle for freedom of expression in certain parts of the word.

Now, feminist art punk collective Pussy Riot is coming to Las Vegas.

Band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina have been added to the Learning program of the Life Is Beautiful music, food and art festival, which takes over downtown Oct. 24-26.

They will speak on their incarceration, as well as their music, women’s and LGBT rights and more.

Joining Pussy Riot among the new additions to the Learning lineup, which now includes more than 40 speakers, are Vegas’ own Penn & Teller, Malala Fund co-founder and CEO Shiza Shahid, Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor and consumer products icon Andy Grignon.

For the full list of speakers, go to www.lifeisbeautiful.com.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow on Twitter @JasonBracelin.