Liv!, the latest novel by Helmi Kekkonen, is nominated for this year’s Finlandia Prize.
Amazing news for our author Helmi Kekkonen: Liv! has been nominated for the Finlandia Prize.
Liv! is the latest novel by Kekkonen, one of Finland’s strongest contemporary voices. In Liv! readers follow Liv, a 22-year-old woman on holiday with her family in the archipelago as she agrees to meet up with a stranger who approached her on the beach. What awaits seems inevitable, even though it shouldn’t. The women on the island all want the best for Liv, but each seems to have a different opinion of what that is, and they enter a collision course. The result is a touching, incisive narration and reflection on the definition of sexual violence, and the victim’s responsibility, that poses a poignant question: what would you do in this situation?
The jury have motivated their choice as follows:
“The work is a carefully composed, defined, and skillfully constructed account built from contrast about an important subject: sexual violence and its impact on everyone affected. It encourages the reader to look into the ingrained gendered boundaries of our culture as well as one’s own position in relation to them. The work also portrays in detail the subtle dynamics of family relationships, where what is left unsaid is more important than what is actually said.”
Helmi Kekkonen‘s previous works include This Woman’s Life, The Guests, and Topsy-Turvy Anna. In Finland, Liv! is published by Siltala.
The winner will be announced on November 27th.
Warmest congratulations to the author, and fingers crossed!