Is this a Marmite book? Or maybe a sour-plum book, given the colour of the cover. My mum spent a large chunk of her childhood in Hong Kong, so she loves them, but they’re too strong for me. My mum…
Blog Archives
The Polyglot Lovers
Tagged with: And Other Stories, Lina Wolff, Saskia Vogel, Sweden, Swedish, The Polyglot Lovers, Translation, writing
Posted in books, gender, international, translation
Posted in books, gender, international, translation
What we owe
As an immigrant to a Nordic country under very different circumstances, I devoured this. I’m vastly more privileged – I am not a political refugee, although my grandparents and great uncle were, in their day. But the otherness and sameness…
Tagged with: books, Elizabeth Jane Clark Wessel, Golnaz Hashemazeh Bonde, Iran, Sweden, Swedish, Translation, What we Owe
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
Maresi’s Power
Maresi is home from the abbey. She has left her sisters behind. She has left the horror of death behind too, it seems. It isn’t easy coming home. The journey is hard, and long. And when she gets there, the…
Tagged with: Annie Prime, books, Dublin Literary Award, Finland, Finnish, Maresi, Maresi Red Mantle, Maria Kyrö, Maria Turtschaninoff, Swedish, Translation, YA
Posted in books, gender, translation
Posted in books, gender, translation
Oh, to be in Finland, now December’s there
It’s too warm. It should be colder – a lot colder. It’s unseasonable. It’s beautiful, delightful, but it all feels wrong. It’s just all a bit too much, not cosy enough, not delicate enough, perhaps? Things should be the same,…
Tagged with: Christmas Carols, Finland, Finnish, Karl Collan, Poetry, Robert Browning, Swedish, Sylvian joululaulu, Sylvias hälsning från Sicilien, Translation, Zachris Topelius
Posted in Christmas, music, poetry, translation
Posted in Christmas, music, poetry, translation
The Emperor of Portugallia
Once upon a time, a hundred years and more ago, there was an ordinary man in an ordinary village, who led a really rather ordinary life. He worked hard, but nothing really excited him; he wasn’t very happy, but he…
Tagged with: books, Norvik Press, Peter Graves, Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish, The Emperor of Portugallia, Translation
Posted in books, literature, translation
Posted in books, literature, translation
Mårbacka
As Finland’s centenary drew ever closer, I realised I had been neglecting her western neighbour in favour of the eastern one, which also has a big anniversary year. Selma Lagerlöf’s Mårbacka, published in the 1920s, seemed a good place to…
Tagged with: books, Mårbacka, Nobel Prize for Literature, Sarah Death, Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish, Translation
Posted in books, Nobel Prize in Literature, translation
Posted in books, Nobel Prize in Literature, translation
Finland 100: Edith Södergran
It is spring. The earth is bare, the snow is melting. The nights are cold, but the sun is getting stronger, the days are getting longer, a lot longer. Takatalvi (“back-winter” – the reverse of an Indian summer) might strike at…
Tagged with: Aale Tynni, David Barrett, Edith Södergran, Finland, Finland 100, Pentti Saaritsa, Poetry, Swedish, Uuno Kaila
Posted in books, Finland 100, poetry, translation
Posted in books, Finland 100, poetry, translation
the carol that travelled
This is one of the most beloved carols in the Nordic countries, but the tune is from Central Europe and it has travelled across the Atlantic in English translations. So why haven’t you heard of it yet? Maybe it’s because…
Tagged with: Aarberg, Bernhard Ingemann, Christmas Carols, Danish, Dejlig er jorden, Fairest Lord Jesus, Finnish, German, Härlig är jorden, maa on niin kaunis, Schönster Herr Jesu, Swedish
Posted in Christmas, history, international, music, translation
Posted in Christmas, history, international, music, translation
Naondel
Good things come to those who wait. I’m not the only one who has been waiting for the next volume of the Red Abbey trilogy to be published. Luckily Marja Kyrö’s Finnish translation of Maria Turtschaninoff’s Naondel came out with…
Tagged with: Annie Prime, Fantasy, Finnish, Maria Turtschaninoff, Marja Kyrö, Naondel, Red Abbey Chronicles, Swedish, Tammi, Translation, Ursula le Guin, YA
Posted in books, gender, translation
Posted in books, gender, translation
The painter who wrote: Tove Jansson’s letters
Tove Jansson was born 102 years ago today. Her letters were published in the original Swedish for her centenary, and you can read extracts in English translation by David McDuff at the Books from Finland archive. They are a treasure…
Tagged with: Books from Finland, David McDuff, Finnish, Jaana Nikula, Swedish, Tove Jansson, Translation
Posted in Illustration, literature, Tove Jansson Centenary, translation
Posted in Illustration, literature, Tove Jansson Centenary, translation
found in translation 