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Editorial

This'n'that
Silja Hiidenheimo on the short-story writer Jouko Sirola; Soila Lehtonen on foreign life in Finland; literary prizes; Joan Tate in memoriam

Jouko Sirola
The path-walker
A short story from the forthcoming collection, Sisustus ('Interior decoration', Tammi, 2000), translated by Hildi Hawkins
How much does anyone know of what lies beyond the next bend in the road? What is destiny? Does free will exist? In this short story, Jouko Sirola (born 1963) takes both his subject on an excursion to strange regions

Ecstasy and silence
Poems by Ralf Andtbacka, Panu Tuomi, Markku Paasonen and Hannele Huovi, translated by Anselm Hollo
Peter Mickwitz, poet and editor, surveys the poetry of 1999 and offers selection of pastorales, almost singable lyric poetry, the kingdom of objects and runnign water in the new collections of four poets

Kjell Westö
Notes related to pharmacist Pemberton's holy nectar
Extracts from the novel Vådan av att vara Skrake ('The perils of being Skrake', Söderström & Co.; Isän nimeen, Otava, 2000)
The Finland-Swedish writer Kjell Westö (born 1961) is in love with his home city of Helsinki: in his new novel, to be published this autumn, he traces the story of the members of the Skrake family through a number of decades. In this extract, the innocent Finnish capital encounters the might of American advertising in the year of the Helsinki Olympics, 1952
In a lecture given as part of the University of Helsinki's Studia Litteraria series this spring, in which authors describe how they came to write their books, Westö was interviewed by one Anders Hed, a bitter ex-poet who was nevertheless closer to the author than one might imagine (see page 105).
This is the second in a series of articles on the theme of Helsinki to mark Helsinki's participation in the European Cities of Culture celebrations

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen
Life on the beach
Extracts and photographs from Writing in the Sand/Hiekkaan kirjoitettu/Skrivet i sanden/ Écrit dans le sable (Amberside; Pohjoinen; Barbro Schultz, 2000)
The Finnish photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen has made her home in the north-east of England, close to the sandy beaches of the North Sea - the landscapes of Whitley Bay and Tynemouth. Her subjects there include whales, the rhythmic tides, people and dogs

Tuomas Alatalo
Existence into life
Extracts from the book Olen ja saan sanoa ('I am and I can say', WSOY, 1999, edited by Jukka Parkkinen)
For the first 16 years of his life, medical science regarded the severely handicapped Tuomas Alatalo (born 1977) as a hopeless case, unable to speak. But Alatalo had taught himself to read - and last year he published his first book. Interview by Jyrki Kiiskinen

Reetta Räty
Switched on
With two million text messages sent daily, in a country of five million people, Finland - Nokialand - is the promised land of the mobile phone. Reetta Räty examines the mobile life around her, as well as two new studies written on the lifestyle that the mobile phone has instigated

Reviews
Christopher Browning

Northern dimensions
Europe's Northern Frontier: Perspectives on Finland's Western Identity Edited by Tuomas M. S. Lehtonen

Jan Blomstedt
Letters from a small country
Suomen kirjallisuushistoria 1-3 [A literary history of Finland 1-3] Editor-in-chief: Yrjö Varpio