MAY
Monday 12th May 8pm
INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL: FESTIVAL FINNISH
The Quadrant, Air Street, Brighton (near the clock tower in the centre of Brighton)
Donation of £3 recommended
THE SOUTH is delighted to welcome three leading, prize-winning poets from Finland to read as part of our Poetry South Spring Series line-up. A unique opportunity to encounter Finnish poetry - with readings in the original and in translation, introduced by Maria Jastrzebska with John O'Donoghue. With music from Katarina Holmberg.
 Johanna Venho was born in 1971 and lives in Espoo, Finland. She has studied comparative literature and biology in the universities of Helsinki and Jyväskylä. A former editor-in-chief at Tuli&Savu poetry journal, she is now a full time writer. She has published three collections of poetry, four novels for children and a collection of nursery rhymes. She won the Kritiikin kannukset Prize for the best literary debut of 2000 and the Katri Vala Prize for her latest collection of poems in 2006.
photograph by Veikko Somerpuro
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 Jouni Inkala was born in 1966 and lives in Helsinki. He studied foreign literature and philosophy at Helsinki University. He has published seven poetry collections and also written essays and columns in different forums. Winner of J.H Erkko (1992), Kallioniemi Saatio and Einari Vuorela (2005) poetry prize. His Selected Poems 1992-2007 were published in Spring of 2007. His poetry has been translated into several languages. Read a poem by Jouni Inkala below. |
 Merja Virolainen was born in1962 in Lapua, and lives in Helsinki. She has worked as a visual designer in circus and puppet theatre and has an M.A in philosophy. She graduated as costume designer from the Lahti College of Arts and Crafts in 1986. After that she worked as visual designer e.g. in circus and puppet theatre, until she started to study philosophy and literature in the University of Helsinki in 1988. She did her M.A. degree in 1998, majoring in philosophy. Poet, essayist, critic, editor, translator and tutor, her collection Olen tyttö, ihanaa! (I’m a Girl, Wonderful!) won the Tanssiva karhu (Dancing Bear) Poetry Award 2004 and was nominated for the Runeberg Litarary Award 2004 and the Einari Vuorela Poetry Award 2005. Her collection Tervapeili (Tar Mirror) was nominated for the Einari Vuorela Poetry Award 1997. She has also written a book about shamanism and witchcraft and a play called Täyttymyskomedia (Fulfilment Comedy).
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Tail references
Mice don’t know that in the case of a human being
the death of a dear one may paralyse
a person’s capacity for years and years.
But in two things they’re more experienced than we.
They understand they’re in constant mortal danger.
That the trap is swift and silent.
That poison is a tear of awareness rising from the heart.
They also realise that in a cat’s claws they fly
like jackknives in the hands of a knife thrower.
And that when the audience finally gets round
to wakening up their hands in a rising storm of applause,
they won’t be distinguishable from the arena spotlights
or the ringmaster’s tails.
After their full term of service the mice pass out
from this time to the other side, and there see a miracle:
the sun’s heart beating six hundred times a minute.
Jouni Inkala
Indebted to the centuries
Poems from Minuutin ja sen puolikkaan laajenevassa universumissa. Valitut runot 1992–-2007 (‘In a minute and its half’s expanding universe’, WSOY, 2007)
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Sunday 11th May 6pm
FINNISH-BRITISH POETRY
If you can't make it to Brighton on Monday come and see the poets at the Finnish Institute in London the day before, Sunday 11th May 2008 at 6pm.
The Finnish Institute /Suomen Lontoon Instituutti
35-36 Eagle Street
London WC1R 4AQ
for more details please visit their website at
www.finnish-institute.org.uk
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