Long Live Literature!

I was happy to attend this exciting literature evening on Wednesday evening at the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki.

Kirja vieköön! - Let the books enchant! was the first literature evening of six in honor of our celebration year Finland 100.

The well-known tv-person Baba Lybeck was the radiant hostess and her guests were persons of great charisma and prestige! The evening was a great success and the house was full.

The first guest was Anu Partanen whom you may have heard of. She is a Finnish born journalist based in New York City and the author of the  book The Nordic Theory of Everything, published by HarperCollins. The book debunks some of the most common myths about Nordic societies and discusses what America might be able to borrow from aspects of Nordic success in the twenty-first century, in order to help restore the American dream. Anu is now a U.S. citizen and writes all sorts of articles for all sorts of magazines and newspapers in both Finnish and English.

Anu says that our Nordic welfare society sets us free. We have public health care, public day care and education free for all. This spares us from logistic problems and saves time: because the state takes care of so many things, we don't have to arrange these ourselves. And not be afraid whether our insurance covers this or that.

As to younger writers there was Petri Tamminen who has just released a book History of Finland.  The book includes short stories told by quite ordinary Finnish people throughout the country.

Then there was Jörn Donner, the iconic writer and cinema and theatre man. He has just released a new book that I'm just about to read - in Swedish!


Donner at his 83 years is still sharp as a razor blade. The audience had such fun listening to his jokes.

Finally it was time for two charismatic ladies. First of all there was the beautiful Ms Tellervo Koivisto, 88 years, the spouse of president Mauno Koivisto. Her biography has just been released, written by Anne Mattson.

Ms Koivisto is not only the spouse of the president. She was active in municipal politics, was a member of the Finnish Parliament for four years and wrote for years columns for Suomen Kuvalehti, a magazine of prestige. She is an early feminist and worked hard to get us public day care for children.

At this high age she was so elegant, sharp and had such a good sense of humour. Wow what a lady!

Then there was president Tarja Halonen! It was fascinating to listen to these two extraordinary ladies to discuss about the Finnish society and other contemporary subjects.

They discussed how women's position has changed over the years, motherhood and even clothes.

The audience gave furious standing ovation - and they really deserved it.

There were also three famous Finnish actors reciting samples of these newly released books - what a wonderful experience! It was a great evening and I'm expecting eagerly for the second Let the books enchant! -evening in February. Thank you Baba for this wonderful experience!

Five on Friday

I'll add some summer pastels for 

Mosaic Monday

Long live literature! Have a great week.