This'n'that
The 100 most beloved Finns; Miia Toivio on poems by Sanna Karlström, Mervi Kantokorpi on Helena Sinervo's first novel; Petter Lindberg on the first novel by the Russian-born writer Zinaida Lindén, who writes in Swedish; books and prizes; the poet Eila Kivikk'aho in memoriam

Sanna Karlström
Where we are now
Poems from Taivaan mittakaava ('The scale of the sky', Otava, 2004), translated by Herbert Lomas
The architect, capable of planning cities, can hold fields between his thumb and forefinger - and yet anything man creates is transient. In her poems Sanna Karlström (born 1975) sketches fragile human encounters

Helena Sinervo
A greater solitude
Extracts from the novel Runoilijan talossa ('In the house of the poet', Tammi, 2004), translated by Herbert Lomas
A Finnish poet and translator stays alone in her crumbling house in Spain, in the company of memories. Time is a landscape, she concludes. Helena Sinervo's planned biography of Eeva-Liisa Manner (1921-1995) - a solitary writer par -excellence - turned into a novel instead

Zinaida Lindén
For the love of a city
An extract from the novel I väntan på en jordbävning ('Waiting for an earthquake', Söderströms. 2004), translated by Silvester Mazzarella
A meeting on a train results in a novel about love in the 1970s. A Russian weightlifter turned sumo wrestler tells his life story to a writer living in Finland - his first love for a Jewish girl, and for Leningrad, the great golden city

Markus Nummi
Conversations with a horse
Extracts from the novel Kiinalainen puutarha ('The Chinese garden', Otava, 2004), translated by Hildi Hawkins
An early 20th-century photograph that Markus Nummi saw was the starting point for a novel set in Turkestan, China. It is a winding story about the love and religion that unite and separate people; one of the characters is C.G.E. Mannerheim, a cavalry officer, later Marshal and President of Finland
Interview by Anna-Leena Nissilä

Jarmo Papinniemi
Of Russia, with love
Russia and the Soviet Union have featured in several works of Finnish fiction -recently; Jarmo Papinniemi introduces a Russian theme with a discussion of three new novels. Illustration by Adam Korpak

Ritva Heikkilä
Karelian memories
Extracts from articles published in Terijoki, kadotettu paratiisi ('Terijoki, paradise lost', Tammi, 2004), translated by Jill G. Timbers
The small town of Terijoki on the Karelian isthmus used to be a beach paradise for both Russians and Finns, first before the First World War and, after the -Russian revolution, again in the 1920s and 1930s when the resort was a part of Finland. In her new book on Karelia, Ritva Heikkilä (born 1920) has collected the photographs and memories of Finnish artists who fell in love with the -golden sands

George de Godzinsky
Moments musicaux
The young pianist George de Godzinsky got a summer job in Terijoki in 1931, -accompanying the dancers of the Finnish Opera. For the 17-year-old everything was sheer magic

Pentti Linkola
Mankind and the new millennium
An essay from Voisiko elämä voittaa - ja millä ehdoilla ('Could life win - and on what terms', Tammi, 2004), translated by Jüri Kokkonen
In his polemic essay the biologist and writer Pentti Linkola (born 1932) claims that man is a miserable species who is capable of destroying the planet - and that the Finns are particularly evil champions of waste. Is there any hope in the future?
Introduction by Pertti Lassila; illustration by Adam Korpak

Ilkka Rekiaro
Flies in the ointment
A translator writes an 'adaptation' of a novel for a different language and culture, in much the same way as a screenwriter adapts a work for the screen. The translator Ilkka Rekiaro (born 1956) ponders the nature of translation, particularly of popular Anglo-American fiction
This is the fourth article in a series in which literary translators from English into Finnish write about their work

Reviews

Minna Sarantola-Weiss
From milk to bones
Hannele Nyman & Tuula Poutasuo: Muovikirja. Arkitavaraa ja designesineitä [The plastic book. Everyday goods and design objects]

Juhani Seppänen
By the sweat of one's brow
Juha Siltala: Työelämän huonontumisen lyhyt historia [A short history of the deterioriation of working life]
Illustration by Adam Korpak

New translations

Select bibliography

Letter from the house of night
Language is a place for the writer Katri Tapola (born 1961; see Books from Finland 2/2003; her latest novel is Satu rakkaudesta, 'The tale of love', Tammi, 2004). In the poetic house of night, socialising with pumpkins, spiders and words, she shares her language with an unnamed someone