Tiia Strandén and Maria Antas from FILI have curated the literary programme for the Finnish Guest of Honour appearance. Not only for Frankfurt in October, but also for the start of literary spring in Leipzig on Thursday. The two Finnish project managers tell us which authors, readings and performances they will bring to Leipzig. Please meet Tiia and Maria:
What do you bring along to Leipzig? What can the audience in Leipzig and German publishers look forward to?
The Leipzig FINNLAND. COOL. -program is a real teaser to the vast programme of 2014! We present both authors and the focus of our FINNLAND. COOL. -programme: the necessity and joy of reading. Timo Parvela and Seita Vuorela both write for young readers and know what happens when authors meets school classes. Both writers are very popular, and we are happy to present the first reciever of the Nordic literature prize for young readers, Seita Vuorela, to a German audience. In four days you can enjoy a caleidoscopical picture of contemporary Finnish writing; the female voices of Hanna Hauru, coming from Lapland, and Susanne Ringell, who writes in Swedish are to be heard, but we also present a debutant writer, Aki Ollikainen, who tells a story of a famine in Finland in the 19th century. Contemporary topics are presented in Tuomas Kyrö’s satirical novel about a Roma beggar who becomes a minister in Finland and in Ville Tietäväinen’s graphic novel about African refugees desperately aiming towards Europe. For those interested in visual dimensions of storytelling, just come and listen to the presentations of Comic Atlas Finland (it’s huge!) and discussions on taboos in children´s books illustrations together with Veronica Lassenius.
Leipzig is only the start for a huge literary programme. Can you give an outlook on the spring/summer season?
Since both childrens and juvenile fiction and comics are dear to us Finns, we start our programme with these genres. Berliner Bücherinseln and Kölner… are two important stops, as are the comic festivals in Fumetto and Erlangen.
What makes Finnish literature “Finnish”? Is there a common specialty?
Equality, one of the corner stones of Finnish society, can be applied to Finnish literature, as well. Poetry, comics, prose, children´s and YA literature and non fiction are all part of the present literary scene. And because the libraries are popular places for both children and adults, the whole catering meets everybody who steps into the library.
In the latest releases: Can you identify new topics or repeating topics? What do Finnish authors deal with?
The first novel ever written in Finnish, The Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi, is a comedy, and this tradition has survived every change in the Finnish and global society. You can always find a friendly kind of satire among the most popular writers in Finland. Arto Paasilinna being the internationally best known of this tradition. During the last few years novels have turned more international, though, paralleling Finnish society with other cultures. Not only economics goes global these days.
What do you expect from your Guest of Honour experience? What are your goals?
A Guest of Honour-programme is about giving and taking! We offer the German audience new writers writing on matters that can be both familiar and strange, and we, here in Finland, learn a lot from working together with German publishers, journalists and event organizers. We certainly hope to be back for more, in 2015, in 2016 and 2025 – just you wait.
Thank you for this interview!
First picture: Tiia Strandén / Second picture: Maria Antas
Questions: Raphaela Sabel, Frankfurt Book Fair