Finland is cool, Finland is happy: We are a small country of only 5,5 million inhabitants. Yet we have the BEST public library in the world - OODI and we are again the HAPPIEST nation in the world! Maybe books and happiness are related? Is reading good literature one factor in our happiness?
Talking about the import and export of literature. Finland 'imports' a lot of international literature. We have excellent translators who bring world literature to Finnish readers. Good literature opens doors to different cultures and countries worldwide. It seems that in the course of last twelve months I have red a bit more than 50 books from all over the world, some translated into Finnish, some in the original language. SEE my read in 2019 list. The writers come from:
Albania, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy. Ireland, Japan, Norway, Nicaragua, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, South-Africa, Spain, Sweden, The Soviet Union, The US, Turkey, UK & Venezuela.
Finland was Guest of Honor at Frankfurt Book Fair (2014). That status ended up in a considerable increase in literature rights sold abroad. FILI (Finnish Literature Exchange) is an organisation that promotes the export of literature from Finland by facilitating professional contacts and serving as a “home base” for translators of Finnish literature. Now they have started a new project called FINNLAND. COOL. HAPPY.
Look at this interesting link showing statistics worldwide of translated Finnish literature. The ten top countries are Germany - 1268, Estonia - 855, Sweden - 853, Denmark - 531, Norway - 518, France - 504, Hungary - 390, Poland - 340 and Spain - 302 with books. Followed later on the list by UK with 288 and The United States with 260 books.
Pajtim Statovci (b. 1990) is one of Finland's rising new literature stars. His first novel, My Cat, Yugoslavia / Amazon, became internationally acclaimed and was praised by The New York Times and The Guardian, among others. Statovci's second novel, The Heart of Tirana, was published in the United States in April 2019 under the name Crossing / Amazon. Bolla is Statovci’s brand new third novel, here with the fantastic Finnish cover. Bolla is scheduled to be published in the English version in 1921! It is very interesting how the covers differ in different markets. The international representation of Statovci will continue to be managed by The Wylie Agency.
Two female writers represented by The Ahlbäck Agency
An exciting and passionate non-fiction book about some of the bravest and most inspiring women throughout history: Renaissance female painters Artemisia Gentilechi, Lavinia Fontana,
Beatrice d-Este etc., Karen Blixen, Yayoi Kusama, Isabella Bird... This book is to be blamed for me traveling to Florence in three weeks ❤︎
Looking like a large, undulating wooden ship, Finland’s most spectacular library is located in the middle of the capital’s city square, with a direct view of the Finnish parliament. The spectacular Oodi building is in every way the house of the people, because the citizens themselves have contributed with requests and suggestions for how it could be used. At the same time, 95 per cent of the library’s 10,000 square feet of space is open to the public for 90 hours a week.
International Federation of Library Associations / IFLA and the Danish software company Systematic choose the yearly winner. The award is presented to a library that has best managed to combine open, functional architecture with creative IT solutions, and that has also included modern digital capabilities as well as elements from local culture.
The other tower belongs to Kristuskyrkan - Church of Christ
being part of the Swedish Methodist Church of Finland.
Maybe 200 m to the right you’ll find our National Opera
and right around the corner to the left you’ll find Kiasma - Museum of Contemporary Art.
You may wonder what are the spots in some photos? They are not dirt on my lens or on the glass, nor raindrops. They present the latest technology being small random dots made by some computer program.
They aim to restrain the excess solar radiation.
Through Oodis big windows you can see also our Parliament House from 1931.
It was designed by Johan Sigfrid Sirén in classical style.
Mein Originalfoto stammt aus unserer neuen Zentralbibliothek Oodi in Helsinki. Wenn man von der Wendeltreppe nach oben guckt, scheint es, als gäbe dort den Himmel - obwohl dort das Dach gibt. Ich ließ meiner Fantasie freien Lauf und wollte einen Kontrast zwischen sanfter & organischer und strenger architektonischer Struktur schaffen. HIER gibt es weiteren Fotos dieser lustigen Treppe.
...
My original photo is from our new Central Library Oodi. When looking up from the spiral stairs it seems that there is the sky - although there is the ceiling. I let my imagination loose and wanted to create a contrast between soft & organic and strict architectural structure. If you are interested look here for more photos of this fun staircase.
Our brand new Central Library Oodi in the city centre of Helsinki is as a whole a fantastic piece of architecture by Ala-Architects, more photos here. Its spiral staircase or double helix stair is awesome! There are of course elevators and escalators, but it is really worth while to walk these stairs at least once up or down. And read the fun white texts on the black walls. The texts list hundreds of different groups of people for whom the library is meant:
Oodi is a striking building with its glass and steel structures and wooden facade,
its design being a combination of traditional and contemporary flavours.
The energy-efficient library is an impressive calling card for Finnish architecture.
ALA Architects is responsible for Oodi’s architectural planning,
and YIT is the building contractor. The open international architectural competition in 2012
received 544 entries from all over the world. ALA Architects was declared the winner
with their entry Käännös (Turning Point) in 2013.
The construction of Oodi took three years and was on schedule.
The grand opening took place on 5 December, the eve of our Independence Day.
Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo
Oodi is a living meeting place at Kansalaistori square, right at the heart of Helsinki.
Oodi complements the cultural and media hub formed by Helsinki Music Centre,
Finlandia Hall, Sanoma House and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.
Oodi is a non-commercial, urban public space that is open to all.
Apart from the traditional library services, Oodi also features a café, restaurant, cinema, art,
studio facilities and an urban workshop, for example.
“Oodi symbolises the core values of our society, such as education, culture, equality and openness. The promotion of these values is especially vital in these times marked by uncertainty.
Oodi stands firmly in the defence line of our democracy.” - Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori.
THREE FLOORS, THREE ATMOSPHERES
THE FIRST FLOOR is a fast paced transformable space.
It holds a spacious lobby for organising various events, the library’s information desk,
book returns as well as a café. The cinema and the multi-purpose hall located on this floor
can be flexibly used for either extending the lobby or organising separate events.
ON THE SECOND FLOOR city residents can get creative in the top-class workshop and
studio facilities. A broad range of tools is available for anyone to use, ranging from 3D printer
to overlocker, from laser cutter to label printer. The second floor also hosts
the state-of-the-art studios for playing music, recording, filming and editing.
Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo
BOOK HEAVEN on the third floor of Oodi fuses the traditional library mood
and modern library services. Oodi is one of 37 branches of Helsinki City Library and
part of the Helmet library network.The third floor invites you to read, learn and relax.
There are 100,000 items available to borrow, a café and nine living trees.
THE CITIZENS’ BALCONY facing Parliament House is a great place to admire
the Töölönlahti Park and city centre in the summertime.
We Wish You a Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ And a Happy New Year!!! - riitta
