The English translation of a Finnish novel Nälkävuosi by Aki Ollikainen (2012) is one of 13 books nominated as candidates for the Man Booker International prize. The Finnish novel in English is titled White Hunger and the publisher is Peirene Press. It has been translated by Emily and Fleur Jeremiah. The book is about the […]
Finnish culture
Tips for the sauna I: Snow fun with the sauna
A traditional way to enhance your enjoyment of the sauna is to go and roll in the snow. The way it works is as follows: 1) Warm yourself properly in the sauna 2) Run outside, use flipflops to protect your feet if you like 3) Dive in the snow and roll around quickly 4) Run […]
Finns do it naked: Or, what to expect in a Finnish sauna
In March 2015 the student newspaper of Turku University published an article titled Dear Finland, 12 things we don’t understand about you. In the article, which I found both fun and informative, the writer laments that no-one had warned her that Finns go to the sauna naked. In order to avoid this kind of confusion […]