Putinas of Putin: Giannina Braschi at the 92NY
A roaring standing ovation from more than 800 people greeted Giannina Braschi’s performance of “Putinas of Putin” at New York’s 92NY. The audience cheered, laughed, and clamored for more—a vivid response to timely political writing that is rowdy, theatrical, defiant, and comedic.
The scene comes from Putinoika, Braschi’s contemporary reimagining of The Bacchae and her epic tragicomedy of the Trump-Putin era. Mexican poet, novelist, and playwright Carmen Boullosa captured the book’s irreverent force:
“Putinoika is the best thing that Trump ever gave us.”
—Carmen Boullosa, quoted in The Literary Encyclopedia
Watch Giannina Braschi perform “Putinas of Putin” at the 92NY.
Celebrating Daughters of Latin America
Giannina Braschi gave the reading on September 8, 2023, during the Unterberg Poetry Center’s celebration of Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women, edited by Sandra Guzmán.
The anthology brings together 140 Latine writers, scholars, and activists from fifty nations writing in more than two dozen languages. Hosted by Rosie Perez, the historic gathering featured Carmen Boullosa, Giannina Braschi, Sonia Guiñansaca, Sandra Guzmán, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Yvette Modestin, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Esmeralda Santiago, Elisabet Velasquez, and other major and emerging voices.
The celebration opened the Unterberg Poetry Center’s eighty-fifth-anniversary season. As the applause for Braschi continued, Perez joined her at the podium and asked her to say her name for the cheering crowd.
What Happens in “Putinas of Putin”?
“Putinas of Putin” comes from the contemporary Bacchae at the center of Putinoika. Braschi transforms Euripides’ tragedy into a political tragicomedy of the Trump-Putin era, populating its world of collusion, pollution, delusion, plague, and frenzy with the Muses of Bacchus, the Agents of Pendejo, and the Putinas of Putin.
In Euripides’ Bacchae, Agave kills her son Pentheus in a Dionysian frenzy. Braschi reverses the ancient tragedy: the daughter kills the father. At Mar-a-Lago, Ivanka embarks on a hunting spree and shoots Putin and her father, Pendejo.
Through this grotesque reversal, dynastic power turns against itself. The scene becomes a theatrical reckoning with tyranny, complicity, and inherited power.
About Putinoika
Published by FlowerSong Press in 2024, Putinoika is a cross-genre epic tragicomedy about the frenzy and plague of the Trump-Putin era. Drawing on ancient Greek tragedy, the book unfolds in three parts: Palinode, Bacchae, and Putinoika.
Amid a world overflowing with collusion, pollution, delusion, and contagion, the work searches for a passage beyond political degradation through poetry, philosophy, humor, and renewed faith in creativity.
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Forrest Gander writes:
“If, as in Ezra Pound’s translation of Aristotle, the ‘swift perception of relations’ is truly the ‘hallmark of genius,’ it’s in the brightly lit halls of Braschi’s books where poetry is tested and stamped with such a mark.”
“Give Me More Putinas, Por Favor”
In September 2024, World Literature Today published “Give Me More Putinas, Por Favor: A Conversation with Giannina Braschi” by Sandra Guzmán.
Guzmán recalls the performance:
“The last time I saw Giannina Braschi was a year ago at the 92NY in New York City. The auditorium was packed—800-plus New Yorkers convening to celebrate the launch of my monumental Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Latine Women. Braschi, one of the 140 brilliant writers featured in the anthology, read an excerpt of her new book, Putinoika (FlowerSong Press, 2024), and introduced the world to Putinas. She brought the house down. Multiple mic-drops. The audience was clamoring to know more about Putinas. Who are they? What world do they inhabit? And, who does their hair?
Braschi’s book comes right on time, two months before the US presidential election in which voters have a chance to retire Trump forever, and here the Puerto Rican poet is at her brilliant peak, bringing us a mind-bending and form-shattering literary experience. The book is rife with invented words that perfectly describe the grubby Trump-Putin love affair and the detritus it causes(ed). It also elevates us to higher realms asking us to dig deeper and find the virtues we possess to create a world where lovers, philosophers, and poets reign.
Putinoika is a Puerto Rican limpieza. And to quote Braschi specifically: it’s the spiritual cleansing of our time….”
—Sandra Guzmán, World Literature Today
Related Reading and Viewing
- World Literature Today: “Give Me More Putinas, Por Favor: A Conversation with Giannina Braschi,” by Sandra Guzmán
- 92NY Archives: Daughters of Latin America: An Anthology Reading
- 92NY YouTube: Giannina Braschi performs “Putinas of Putin” at the 92NY
- Latino Book Review: Review of Putinoika
- Latin American Women Authors
- Nuyorican Women Leaders
- Putinoika: Book, Performances, and Critical Reception
Editorial note: Curated by the Site Editors as an archival and critical resource, this post was prepared independently and does not constitute writing by Giannina Braschi. Last reviewed and updated: August 21, 2026.