Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Illustration: Elina Warsta

The Runeberg Prize for fiction, given this year for the twenty-fourth time, went to Kari Hotakainen (born 1957) for his novel Ihmisen osa (‘The human lot’, Siltala, 2009). The prize, worth €10,000, was awarded on 5 February – on the birthday of the poet J.L. Runeberg (1804–1877) – in the city of Porvoo.

The jury – representing the prize-founders, the Uusimaa newspaper, the city of Porvoo, both the Finnish and Finland-Swedish writers’ associations and as the Finnish Critics’ Association – chose the winner from a  shortlist of seven books. ‘The picture of a fast-changing society that Hotakainen paints in his novel is not a comforting one, but neither is it hopeless…. chilling and perceptive, but not without sharp comedy’, the jury concluded.

Every reader has his or her favourite book. It is possible to define, with acceptable criteria, when a work of fiction is ‘a good novel’: do the plot, characterisation and language work, does it have anything to say? But when is a ‘good’ novel better than another ‘good’ novel? More…

This year’s Topelius Prize has gone to Sello & Pallo. Vaaleansininen rakkauskertomus (‘Cello & Ball: a pale blue love story’, Tammi), a first novel for young people by the scriptwriter and film director Lauri Törhönen. More…

Uuni
[The stove]
Helsinki: Otava, 2009. 400 p.
ISBN 978-951-1-23845-4
28 €, hardback

Many authors have inspired imitators, at least for a brief period, but few prove to be so original that they lend their name to an entire stylistic movement. Antti Hyry (born 1931), whose debut work was published in 1958, is a member of this most influential class of writers. His pared-down ‘Hyryesque’ sentences, which convey in a stark, crystal-clear manner only that which his characters think or observe, have been at the core of Finnish modernism for over half a century now. His latest novel, a tranquil, even meditative work, describes in minute detail – virtually brick by brick – how a man constructs a great wood-burning hearth in his house. Alongside the building work, Hyry provides minutely observed details of the natural surroundings and nearby people. Rich in content and brilliant in its simplicity, this novel was awarded the 2009 Finlandia Prize for fiction.

Seven books were chosen out of approximately 200 to be the candidates of the Runeberg Prize, to be awarded on 5 February 2010. More…

The Finnish nominees for the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize, to be awarded in March 2010, are the novels Puhdistus (‘Purge’, the winner of the Finlandia Prize for Fiction in 2008) by Sofi Oksanen, and Glitterscenen (‘The Glitter Scene’, 2009) by Monika Fagerholm.

The prize, worth €47,000, will be selected by a jury from a shortlist of  11 works from the Nordic countries. The most recent Finnish winner of the prize was Kari Hotakainen’s Juoksuhaudantie (‘Trench Road’, which also won the Finlandia Prize for Fiction) in 2004.

Antti Hyry

The Finlandia Prize for Fiction 2009, worth €30,000,  was awarded to Antti Hyry (born 1931) on 2nd December; his novel about building a stove, Uuni (‘The stove’, Otava), was chosen by the art historian and former director of the Finnish National Gallery, Tuula Arkio, from a shortlist of six. More…

Mari Kujanpää

The Finlandia Junior Prize, for the best book for children and young people, was awarded on 24 November to Mari Kujanpää (born 1976) for her third book for children, Minä ja Muro (‘Me and Muro’, illustrated by Aino-Maija Metsola, Otava). More…

The winner of the Finlandia Prize for Non-Fiction 2009, worth €30,000, is Borgå 1809. Ceremoni och fest (‘Borgå [Porvoo] 1809. Ceremony and feast’) by historian Henrika Tandefelt (born 1972; see this review).

The final choice was made by Björn Wahlroos, Chairman of the Board of the Sampo Insurance Group. No doubt the historical period described in Tandefelt’s book is of great interest to Wahlroos, as he is the owner of the Åminne (in Finnish, Joensuu) estate, which is located in the south-west of Finland and dates from the 18th century. Wahlroos has recently restored the manor house to its full 19th-century glory. The Åminne estate was once the home of Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, a Finnish-born statesman and officer. Armfelt was also King Gustav III’s trusted adviser – and later adjutant-general under Tsar Alexander I in St Petersburg, and finally, before his death, governor-general of Finland (1813). More…

Leena Parkkinen. Photo: Heidi Lehväslaiho

On 19 November the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, the Helsinki newspaper’s prize for the best first work of the year, worth €15,000, was awarded to Leena Parkkinen (born 1979).

Parkkinen’s first novel, entitled Sinun jälkeesi, Max (‘After you, Max’, Teos) depicts life in the circus and Siamese twins in Helsinki after the First World War. The jury made their choice out of more than 70 works.