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Editorial: Now is the winter of our discontent

This'n'that
Bear necessities; Mervi Kantokorpi on Aki Salmela's poetry; Jani Saxell on Sari Mikkonen's new short stories; Tero Tähtinen on Leena Krohn's prose; beauty and horror at Lahti International Writers' Reunion in June; Mikael Agricola, farmer of olde wordes; changes in Books from Finland editorial board; literature prizes, Nøste Kendzior in memoriam

Aki Salmela
Say what you like
Poems from Sanomattomia lehtiä and Leikitään kotia ('Newsless newssheets', 'Let's play house', Tammi, 2005 and 2005), translated by Herbert Lomas
Aki Salmela (born 1976) likes to play with words and choices. Language is full of happenings, a 'useless' sentence is employed in a poem; a poem that has 'nothing to say' becomes a story…

Sari Mikkonen
Night decorator
A short story from the collection Yönseutuun ('Around nighttime', WSOY, 2006), translated by Owen Witesman
Interior design is a popular pastime for many. The narrator of this story by Sari Mikkonen (born 1967), a female anaesthetist, appreciates his male companion's nocturnal DIY until it starts getting out of hand and keeping her awake — she who grants others sleep is deprived of it herself

Leena Krohn
Really existing?
Extracts from the novel Mehiläispaviljonki. Kertomus parvista ('The Bee Pavilion. A story about swarms', Teos, 2006), translated by Anselm Hollo
The narrator in Leena Krohn's new novel joins the Fluctuating Reality Club. In these stories, on which Krohn builds a novel depicting our contemporary world, reality does indeed keep changing; in Krohn's universe, the problem of what is 'real' is essential

Juhani Niemi
Paradise lost
For the writer Toivo Pekkanen (1902-1957), the early 20 th century with its two World Wars, as well as the cruel Finnish Civil War of 1918, appeared a dystopic time of disillusionment. Introducing a short story published here in English for the first time, Juhani Niemi takes a look at Pekkanen's oeuvre

Toivo Pekkanen
The faraway island
'Kaukainen saari', a short story from the collection Elämän ja kuoleman pidot ('The feast of life and death', WSOY, 1945), translated by Lola Rogers
Two boys keep dreaming of a small island they see every day: it becomes a fantastic land of wonderful adventures. On a brilliant winter morning they finally ski there over the frozen sea

Mari Mörö
Green thoughts, white snow
Extracts from the collection of articles Melkein kaikki itää. Puutarhaa pihan täydeltä ('Almost everything germinates. Back yard full of garden', Kirjapaja, 2006), translated by Hildi Hawkins
Living in the countryside, the writer Mari Mörö (born 1962) reads seed catalogues amid the snowdrifts, knowing that after the winter solstice the slumber of her plants will quickly lighten, as will the day

Esa Kero & Petteri Kokkonen
Canine correspondence
Extracts and photographs from Veliveikko Pikinokka. Elämää Laatokan laidalla ('Blacknose, brother mine. Life by the Lake Ladoga', self-published, 2005. See www. pikinokka.net). Text translated by Jill G. Timbers
The photographer Petteri Kokkonen has recorded the everyday life of the Belozerova family, living by the Lake Ladoga in Russian Karelia - specifically from the viewpoint of Pikinokka the dog. The writer Esa Kero's dog Naksu, from Lake Saimaa, Finland, decides to write a letter to Pikinokka, and Kero jots down their canine exchange of views

Janna Kantola
Journey to the North
Most Finns couldn't name a single Sámi author who writes in her or his native language: the literary scholar Janna Kantola decides to travel north and educate herself — as well as her readers

Jyrki Lehtola
You say you want a revolution?
The journalist Jyrki Lehtola, in this first article of a series of media criticism, takes a look at media revolutions that have turned out not-so revolutionary

Reviews

Richard Weston
Nature and modernity
Connah, Roger: Finland. Modern architectures in history

Rainer Knapas
Her brilliant career
Aurora Karamzin. Aristokratian elämää [Aurora Karamzin. An aristocratic life]

Hannu Marttila
Black and white
I.K. Inha. Unelma maisemasta [I.K. Inha. Dream of a landscape]

New translations

Select bibliography

Claes Andersson
On writing and not writing
In this new series guest writers ponder the difficulty of writing. Claes Andersson, a poet and a psychiatrist, analyses the pre-conscious and sub-conscious layers of the mind — as well as the bad old writer's block, and possible ways of getting rid of it