Latest News
A new residency programme for translators
9.3.2011
HIAP (Helsinki International Artist-in-residence Programme) and FILI have established a new residency programme for foreign translators of Finnish literature. FILI is offering two residencies at the Palmstierna studio on Suomenlinna in autumn 2011. Two-week residency periods are available from 17 to 31 October (during the Helsinki Book Fair) and 28 November to 11 December.
Accommodation in October is a guest room (with shower and kitchenette), in November a studio with work space downstairs and a living room, kitchen and a balcony upstairs. Both have internet connections and sleeping space for two.
The residency covers the cost of travel and accommodation plus a 500 euro stipend. Free-form applications should be sent by 26 April to Johanna Sillanpää at johanna.sillanpaa@finlit.fi. Applications should include a project plan and CV.
NB: translators can simultaneously apply for a residency place and a travel grant; FILI may approve one or the other.
Learn more about the Suomenlinna studios
Learn more about Suomenlinna
State prize for translation to Hebrew translator Rami Saari
25.8.2010
This year’s state prize for translation has been awarded to Rami Saari, in recognition of his distinguished and wide-ranging work transmitting Finnish literature to Hebrew-speaking readers. The monetary prize (10,000 euros) is a substantial one in international terms, and is a tribute to a translator’s important but often unheralded work. The prize is awarded annually by the Finnish Ministry of Education based on the recommendation of FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange.
Rami Saari (born 1963) is not only a translator, but also a linguist, literary critic, and the author of seven collections of poetry. Saari has taught Hebrew, Semitic languages, and Finno-Ugric Language Studies at universities in Helsinki, Budapest, Jerusalem, and elsewhere. In addition to Finnish literature, he has translated dozens of books of both poetry and prose from Albanian, Spanish, Catalan, Greek, Portuguese, Hungarian, and Estonian into Hebrew.
Saari’s first translation from the Finnish was an anthology of Finnish poetry and prose, in 1989. Following this, key Israeli publishers have regularly published high-quality Finnish literature in translations by Rami Saari – it is thanks to him that such works as Daniel Katz’s Kun isoisä Suomeen hiihti (‘When Grandfather skied to Finland’), Veijo Meri’s Manillaköysi (‘Manilla Rope’), three works by Timo K. Mukka, Arto Paasilinna’s Jäniksen vuosi (The Year of the Hare), and Mika Waltari’s Vieras mies tuli taloon (A stranger came to the farm) are available in Hebrew. Saari has translated the work of Finnish women writers in particular; the list of his translations includes works by Eeva Kilpi, Eila Pennanen, Raija Siekkinen, Eeva Tikka, and most recently Sofi Oksanen. Among poets, Eira Stenberg, Anni Sumari and Sirkka Turkka have received excellent interpretations in his translations. Since 2005, Saari has served as editor for an important Israeli publisher on a series of books focused on literature of the Nordic and Baltic countries.
For his work in the field of literature, Rami Saari has received the Israeli Prime Minister’s Award in 1996 and 2003, the Tchernikhovsky Prize for Translation in 2006, and the Hebrew Language Academy’s prize for poetry and translation in 2010.
Saari presently lives in Athens and works in several capacities, including as a Finnish language teacher.
Minister of Culture and Sport Stefan Wallin will present the prize on Wednesday, Aug. 25th, at 2:00 PM, in the auditorium of the Office of the Council of State (Eteläesplanadi 6).
For more information, contact:
FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange, www.finlit.fi/fili
Director Iris Schwanck, iris.schwanck@finlit.fi, tel. +358 201 131 290.
Interview requests and press photos: Leena Lahti, leena.lahti@lala.fi, tel. +358 50 352 16 99.
Nordic Countries focus of 2011 Paris Book Fair
5 November 2009
The Nordic countries have been invited to be guests of honor at the 2011 Paris Book Fair. The decision was made by the Syndicat National de l'Edition, or SNE, French Publishers Association , in an Nov. 4, 2009 meet-ing. The Nordic Council of Ministers has incorporated the project into their "Norden i världen" programme on globalisation.
The March Salon du Livre book fair is the world's largest French-language book-related event, a six-day fair that attracts about 200,000 people each year, 10% of them professionals in the literary field. The number of foreign visitors to the fair has grown rapidly in recent years. The French media follows the event closely: in 2007 there were 22 hours of French television programming and 61 hours of radio pro-gramming concerning the book fair, as well as coverage in other media.
This will be the first time that the five Nordic countries will be presented together as a theme region at an international book fair. The Paris Book Fair will offer a unique opportunity to introduce Nordic literature in all its breadth, the Sami regions, the Faroe Islands and Greenland included, to a French and international audience. It will also be an effective way to present Nordic literary culture to French publishers and to support Nordic publishers' efforts to sell publication rights in France for many years to come.
In the past few years, numerous Nordic authors have been on French bestseller lists, including mystery writers Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, and Arnaldur In-driðason. Books by Per Pettersson, Arto Paasilinna, and classic authors such as Karen Blixen have also sold well. In 2008, Nils Aslak Valkeapää's trilogy of poetry was published in French, translated directly from the Sami. There is great interest in Nordic literature and the number of publications is clearly growing: from 2006 to 2009, 300 works of Nordic literature were published in France.
The trans-Nordic project will be coordinated and directed at FILI - Finnish Literature Exchange by its director Iris Schwanck, who was the manager for France and Finland for the implementation of the 100% Finlande en France project in 2008. The project coordinator is journalist Nina Paavolainen, MA.
Contact:
Iris Schwanck
Tel. +358 40 5080 331
http://www.salondulivreparis.com/
Finland as Guest of Honour at the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair
16-06-2009
Finland has been invited as Guest of Honour to the Frankfurt Book Fair 2014. The Director Jürgen Boos, representing the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Finnish Literature Society and the Ministry of Education signed the agreements on the project on Tuesday.
Minister of Culture and Sport Stefan Wallin sees this as an exceptional situation: −The situation is unique in that this is a commitment to a large-scale cultural export project which will see its realisation after the current government term. For Finland to be able to take part in international projects of this magnitude, this kind of planning beyond government terms must be possible − vast projects are not realised in a year or two to the standard our culture deserves, he said at the information event publicising the Guest of Honour project.
– The status as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair is one of the spearhead projects recorded in the Finnish Cultural Exports Promotion Programme. Now, being a certainty, it is an opportunity for the Ministry of Education to cooperate with other ministries, especially with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The Guest of Honour project will also bring together different art forms and those operating within them to work under the same flag.
– Because Germany is the foremost importer of Finnish literature, it is natural to invest in growth there. As the largest international event in the book industry, the Frankfurt Book Fair offers the best possible impetus for a wider breakthrough of Finnish literature abroad, Mr Wallin said.
– The Guest of Honour project will be realised in five years. In the intervening years we can concentrate on training translators, visiting publishers and making other preparations needed to promote the publication of Finnish literature in Germany.
According to Minister Wallin, the foundation is already being laid: Finland has been invited as the first theme country in the programme of the German-speaking House of Literature network in 2010. − The aim is to launch 20 new authors on the German-speaking market and arrange a large tour of 30 authors in all the eleven Houses of Literature in April 2010. At present the Directors of these Houses, three German publishers and four journalists are visiting Finland to learn about Finnish literature and meet authors, Mr Wallin said.
The Guest of Honour project will be realised by FILI − Finnish Literature Exchange. The project will also have a steering group, with representation of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Finnish Literature Society, publishers and authors.
The Guests of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2009 will be China, in 2010 Argentina and in 2011 Iceland, which is the first Nordic country to have this honour.
For more information:
- Director General Riitta Kaivosoja, Ministry of Education, tel. 09- 160 77053
- Counsellor for Cultural Affairs Mervi Tiensuu-Nylund, Ministry of Education, tel. 09-160 77266
- Director Iris Schwanck, FILI − Finnish Literature Exchange, tel. 020-1311 290; 040- 5080 331.
- European House of Literature network http://www.literaturhaus.net
- Frankfurt Book Fair http://www.buchmesse.de/en/
Finland brings an abundant variety of programs
to the Moscow Book Fair 2008
Finland will be a theme country at the 10th annual Moscow Book Fair Non/fiction from November 26th-30th.
The strong Finnish program will offer a total of about 50 authors, publishers, translators, actors, and comic book artists. The program will kick off on Thursday, Nov. 27 with a seminar on Finland’s period of autonomy from 1809 to 1917, and culminate with presentations of a range of new futuristic and “automatic” Finnish poetry. Exhibits will include non-fiction, history, and travel books as well as contemporary novels, lyric poetry, plays, and comics. Children’s literature will occupy a central place in the program.
Thursday the 27th in particular will be a Finnish theme day, and Finnish writers will present numerous seminars, workshops, and Literary Café readings from morning till evening. Professor Henrik Meinander, whose work of Finnish history has just been published in Russian, will discuss the period of Finnish autonomy with journalist Fjodor Lukjanov. Following the panel, the Finnish National Archive database will make its debut. With the help of the database, the archives of the period of autonomy will be available to the wider public over the internet. Another theme of the Thursday program will be Finnish explorers in Russia, discussed by Docent Lauri Harvilahti, a folklorist who has conducted abundant field work in Russia, academic A. B. Kudel and Russian translator Alla Aliyeva, who translated J. G. Granö’s Altai – Vaellusvuosina nähtyä ja elettyä (‘Altai – Things Seen and Experienced in Years of Wandering’). The panel discussion on comics will be led by Moscow comic artist and activist Hihus.
On Saturday, Nov 29th, Sofi Oksanen, Zinaida Lindén, and Roman Schatz will discuss the role of multicultural literature in Finland, with journalist Kristina Rotkirch as facilitator. Another event to look forward to on Saturday the 29th is a fishing-themed seminar in which writer Eeva-Kaarina Aronen and philosopher Jukka Relander join photographer and non-fiction writer Martti Lintunen to consider the philosophy of fishing as well as its place in both fiction and non-fiction, with journalist Anna-Lena Laurén leading the discussion.
Contemporary Finnish poetry will likewise be on offer at the book fair. Agneta Enckell, Saila Susiluoto, and Henriikka Tavi will be on hand to discuss new Finnish poetry in a seminar as well as at the Literary Café. Leevi Lehto will be producing an event presenting the spirit of futurism and the resonance of new technologies in recent Finnish poetry, once again featuring young artists like Tytti Heikkinen, Marko Niemi and Miia Toivio.
A lot of interest will be generated by the many children’s writers at the book fair, especially the creator of Herra Huu (Mr. Boo), Hannu Mäkelä, who will meet his friend and fellow writer, Russian author Eduard Uspenski, in a large conference event for 600, as well as Mauri Kunnas, who will have two new Russian translations of his work published just in time for the book fair. Other artists featured in the children’s program include Markus Majaluoma and Timo Parvela, as well as the creators of the Siiri books, Tiina Nopola and Mervi Lindman, all of whom have Russian translations appearing this year.
A taste of the very latest Russian translations of Finnish drama will also be featured at the fair: both Aleksis Kivi’s classic play Kihlaus (‘The Engagement’) and selections from a new Finnish anthology of contemporary drama will be performed by Russian actors. Renowned Finnish puppet theatre Sampo will conduct a puppet workshop for children. The fair will also feature three children’s films: Mauri Kunnas’ Noitarumpu (‘The Magic Drum’), Pelikaanimies (English title Pelican Man), based on the book by Leena Krohn, and a film based on Hannu Mäkelä’s Herra Huu (Mr. Boo) books.
Two large exhibits will be on display throughout the weekend of the fair. An exhibit featuring the work of 25 comic book artists, which received a very positive response when it was exhibited over the summer in France, will now continue at the Moscow Book Fair in a new version produced by Kalervo Pulkkinen. Two artists represented in the exhibit, Ville Ranta and Marko Turunen, will also be on hand at the fair giving a comic book workshop. Jan-Erik Andersson’s Moomin-themed exhibit, for its part, was on display earlier in St. Petersburg at the Anna Ahmatova Museum. Original Tove Jansson illustrations for the exhibit are on loan from Muumilaakso, part of the Tampere Art Museum.
Book Fair programming and organisation has been arranged by FILI - Finnish Literature Exchange, in collaboration with the Finnish Embassy in Moscow.
Russian publishers will release approximately 10 new Finnish titles in the autumn of 2008 in various areas of literature – indicative of a tremendous growth in interest in Finnish literature in Russia. The Russian market for translated literature has long been an especially important area of growth and point of emphasis for promoters of Finnish literature. Among the most recent translations are Tove Jansson’s Kuinkas sitten kävikään (English title The Book About Moomin, Mymble, and Little My), Henry Parland’s Sönder (Asunder), Henrik Meinander’s Suomen historia (A History of Finland) and, especially in the last few years, many children’s books such as Sinikka and Tiina Nopola’s Heinähattu ja Vilttitossu (Hayhat and Fluffshoe) series, Markus Majaluoma’s Isä (Dad) books, and Tove Appelgren’s Vesta-Linnea series. Added to the ranks this year are Mauri Kunnas’ Joulupukki (English title Santa Claus) and Viikingit tulevat! (English title The Vikings are Coming!) .
More information:
FILI’s Director, Iris Schwanck, iris.schwanck@finlit.fi, tel. +358 20 11 31 290
Interview requests: Communications and Project Assistant Leena Lahti, leena.lahti@finlit.fi, tel. +358 20 11 31 291
