We’ve waited twenty years for this. To be scrupulously honest, I haven’t, as when it won the Finlandia Prize in 2003, I couldn’t speak a word of Finnish. But Pirkko Saisio’s Punainen erokirja in Mia Spangenberg’s translation as the Red…
Blog Archives
The Red Book of Farewells
Tagged with: books, Finlandia Prize, Finnish, Mia Spangenberg, Pirkko Saisio, Punainen erokirja, Red Book of Farewells, Translation, Two Lines Press
Posted in books, literature, Queer, translation
Posted in books, literature, Queer, translation
Annie Ernaux: finding the translations
When Annie Ernaux received the Nobel Prize in Literature last autumn, I am ashamed to say I had never heard of her. Some French-speaking friends had loved her work for years. Two had learned French outside France, whereas friends who…
Tagged with: Alison Strayer, Annie Ernaux, books, Finnish, Fitzcarraldo Editions, French, Gummerus, Lotta Toivanen, Translation
Posted in books, Nobel Prize in Literature, translation
Posted in books, Nobel Prize in Literature, translation
Childhood, Youth, Dependency
Tiny books with pastel covers that pack a punch. I wish I had found these sooner, and that the author could still write more. I discovered the Danish Tove – Ditlevsen – through a rave review of Katriina Huttunen’s new…
Tagged with: books, Childhood, Copenhagen Trilogy, Danish, Denmark, Dependency, Finnish, gift, Katriina Huttunen, Lapsuus, Michael Favala Goldman, Nuoruus, Tiina Nually, Tove Ditlevsen, Translation, Youth
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted in Uncategorized
Passio(n)
A tree of life gleams gold, rubies ready to be plucked from its branches. Around the trunk swirls a snake, ready to strike. Not life, then, but knowledge of good and evil. Plucking the rubies out, stripping the branches, is…
Tagged with: books, Finnish, Mia Spangenberg, Passio, Passion, Pirkko Saisio, Translation
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
Tolkien’s Translator
Finland’s Gandalf is real. She forges fantastic fireworks, the like of which were never seen before. They dazzle the locals who’ve never been over the next hill – or heard of anyone under it. “You shall not pass!” she cries,…
Tagged with: books, Finnish, Kersti Juva, Lord of the Rings, SKS, Speculative fiction, Tolkien, Tolkienin tulkkina, Translation
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
Aino A!
Living in a building designed by Alvar Aalto is both unparalleled and uncomfortable. I have just moved out of Viitatorni (the “skyscraper” he finally got built in Jyväskylä after years of trying) into Säynätsalo Town Hall, into Säynätsalo Town Hall,…
Tagged with: Aino A!, Aino Marsio-Aalto, architecture, biofiction, books, Finnish, Jari Järvelä, Translation, Wivi Lönn
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
Waiting for translation: Margarita
A real old-school holiday resort. Sauna, muscle-reviving massage for the old biddies with health problems, berry and mushroom picking, rowboats to the island in the middle of the lake, home-cooked food with produce from the estate. A local community where…
Tagged with: Anni Kytomäki, books, Finlandia Prize, Finnish, Margarita, Translation, waitingfortranslation
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
A window left open
If some of these poems feel like song lyrics, that’s because they are. Pentti Saarikoski’s best-loved work was set to music for the sixties folk group, Muksut. You can watch their original videos in the national treasure trove that is…
Tagged with: books, Dublin Literary Award, Emily Jeremiah, Finland, Finnish, Fleur Jeremiah, Muksut, Norvik Press, Pentti Saarikoski, Poetry, Translation
Posted in books, Dublin Literary Award, poetry
Posted in books, Dublin Literary Award, poetry
Fifty islands I have not visited and never will
This is the subtitle to Judith Schalansky’s Atlas of Remote Islands. I discovered it eleven years late, because this year Marko Niemi translated it into Finnish. I ordered the German original straight away and despite the pandemic it arrived promptly…
Tagged with: Atlas of Remote Islands, books, Christine Lo, Finnish, German, Mare, Marko Niemi, Poesia, Translation
Posted in books, history, Illustration, translation
Posted in books, history, Illustration, translation
The snow banks are high, the snow drifts deep
Christmas is almost here. Deep snow drifts is what we want, but will we get them? At least we can sing about them. My choir sang this carol by Jean Sibelius at our Christmas concert this year. We do not…
Tagged with: Christmas, Christmas Carols, Finland, Finnish, On hanget korkeat nietokset, Sibelius, Translation
Posted in Christmas, music, translation
Posted in Christmas, music, translation
found in translation 