Mike in Finland

Tuesday 31 May 2011

Article about The Finn´s Tale




I´ve just heard that Tampere´s local newspaper, Tamperelainen, would like to publish an article about my new novel, The Finn´s Tale. What a good idea, I thought, so I´m meeting them, either later this week or the start of next week. The article should appear soon after that.

I´ll put more information on my blog when I know the details. Everyone who lives in Tampere can read the paper, of course, but if the article goes on Tamperelainen´s website, I´ll post the link here. It´ll be in Finnish, of course.

There are details about The Finn´s Tale, including the opening paragraph, at the top of the right-hand column of this blog.


Monday 16 May 2011

Homecoming


I got back from my trip to London yesterday. The reading in Swiss Cottage library was a very enjoyable event. Many thanks to Adele Ward and Abul Kashim for organising the event and to all those who came along to listen and to read their work in the open mic part of the evening. It was certainly a lively event.

As one part of my reading, I read from the scene where Len visits the Finnish National Gallery and views several works by famous Finnish artists. As these painters are often not well known outside Finland, except to people with a special interest in visual arts, I showed slides of the paintings Len describes. For anyone who has read, or is reading, the novel and who doesn´t know the paintings, they can be found on the Ward Wood website at this address:


Actually, they will be interesting for people who haven´t read the novel, too. If you don´t know these artists, they´re well worth getting to know.

Since the titles and artists are not given on the website, I´ll give them here, in order, starting from the top:

Albert Edelfelt: Boys Playing on the Beach, 1884.
Hjalmar Munsterhjelm: Forest Pond by Moonlight, 1881.
Ellen Thesleff: The Echo, 1891.
Helene Schjerfbeck: A Wounded Soldier, 1880.
Eero Järnefelt: Children Playing, 1895.
Verne Thomé: Boys Playing on a Sandy Beach, 1904.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Parisian Street Scene.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Rotting Fish, 1884.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Wild Angelica, 1889.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Marjatta by the Waterside, 1896.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Lemminkainen´s Mother, 1897.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Ad Astra, 1907.

I arrived home early on Sunday evening, just in time to watch Finland win the ice hockey world championships. I refrained from dancing naked in the town square in celebration, though, and a lot of people are very glad that I did.....refrain, that is.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Reading from The Finn´s Tale in London

I will be reading from my novel, The Finn´s Tale, in the art gallery of Swiss Cottage library in London on Friday, 13 May as part of the Friday Night Writers series. Doors open at 18.00 and the reading begins at 18.30. The address is 88, Avenue Road, London NW3. Entrance is free and wine will be available.

There will be an open mic session, too, and readers can submit their work to be considered for an anthology of poetry and prose from the series which will be published in June 2012.

I would love to meet anyone who is able to get there.