Yuriatin Press

**The Yuriatin Press** was an organisation, possibly created without the knowledge or approval of the Society's government, that claimed to champion free speech and oppose censorship. Their motto was "**Sermo Liber Vita Ipsa**" meaning "Free speech is life itself" in Latin.

After the discovery of Miriam Gregory's manuscript in 1996, it was extensively reviewed and debated, and the Societal Council ultimately ruled that it was unfit for publication because of its numerous unverifiable claims which they feared would incite alarm among the populace. The Yuriatin Press, which disapproved of censorship and believed in the value of the text, if not the truth, decided to circulate the manuscript with their own notations amongst vetted, trusted individuals.

There was much internal debate as to how much of the manuscript, and in what way, it should be published, with some suggesting that only excerpts they were able to verify, and others saying they should simply release a summary of Miriam's claims. Eventually they decided to publish it as written, except for noted places where pages appeared out of order, or small sections were edited for clarity. Where possible, corroborating facts and accounts were added as footnotes, or contradicting facts where appropriate. The Yuriatin Press made attempts to contact individuals mentioned in the manuscript, but were unable to verify some of the most bold claims, such as the existence of the Institute.

In the epilogue of the manuscript written by the Press, they requested that the reader either return this copy to them, burn it, or take responsibility for its safekeeping personally. They stressed that the widespread distribution of the text was to be avoided "at all costs."

Although generally reporting facts impartially, the notations occasionally took the time to make negative comments about Miriam, calling her "exceptionally arrogant and alarmist" and making repeated scathing comments about her self-professed failure to keep up with the news. They also seemed to take offense whenever she was critical or accusatory towards both individuals of political importance and the Society itself.

> *"While we accept that some patrons who choose to access material from this press might subscribe to some skeptical thinking when it comes to the Society, we want to urge readers to resist ascribing undue weight to the author's conspiracy theories. Aside from the thorny issue of treason, it is a fool's errand to attempt to divine the motivations of persons who worked to rebuild our world."*
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## Additional info

* Yuriatin is the name of a fictional town invented by Boris Pasternak for his novel *Doctor Zhivago*. It was based on the real Russian town of Perm, in which Pasternak had lived. The name can be understood in Russian as "Yuri's town".
* The voice of the Yuriatin Press' notations in the audiobook of *You Feel It Just Below the Ribs* is Adepero Oduye

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.371
2. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.1-4
3. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.146
4. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.229
5. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.255
6. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.274-75
7. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.308
8. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.123-24
9. ↑ Doctor Zhivago (novel) - Wikipedia