Sofi Oksanen, celebrated finnish writer, known feminist and goth, just won the biggest nordic prize you can win for litteratur. As a person with finnsih roots, I’m proud and overjoyed that a finnish woman has gotten such an honor. She won it for her book “Puhdistus” (Purge), a book that explores dark themes as Estonias years under the Sovjet Union and sexual violence towards women. Miss Oksanen is the second finnish woman to win this prize. She is also one of the few writers that write in finnish get such high prays from Finlands “neighbours”. What makes me extra happy as not only is it written in finnish and written by a outspoken woman, but the novel it’s self is so blissfully “finnish”! Meaning that the book has some characteristicks that are typical in finnish litterature: it’s set during war time, it has strong brave female protagonist and the story is beautifully, brutally melancholic.
Congratulations, Oksanen! Way to go, sister!
Hey,
Will be picking up her new novel Purge, just because of this clip!
Summary: Finland isn’t so interesting, and the only good things about Helsinki are: you can walk and, at least recently, you can get some good food. Strange, awkward, and in the end, extremely fascinating, as she avoids the deadly reserve of “normal answers” (to an interviewer to appease your audience). Or does this just reflect the ambivalence of the Finns?
Her site: http://www.sofioksanen.com/