Black Hole 11.-12.2.2022 | Speakers

Lauri Ahtinen is a comics artist, surface pattern designer, painter, and illustrator from Oulu who has published seven books: three comic strip collections, one children’s book, and three graphic novels. Ahtinen’s paintings and drawings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions, and his patterns have been used in clothing. Ahtinen’s style, characterized by an intuitive and free visual language, has developed at the interface of visual art, visual poetry, and art comics. Rather than addressing larger phenomena, Ahtinen seeks to examine the individual, exploring emotions and one’s way of being in the world. His first three comics publications were collections of strips that combined a naive style with off-color social critique and a darkly humorous trampling of taboos.

Nick Barley is the Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, a post he has held since 2009. He has been responsible for the growth of the festival into one of the best-respected and most international literary festivals, winning many prizes including a Fringe First for a theatre production ‘Letters Home’ in 2014; a Herald Angel for a writing project ‘Outriders America’ in 2017, and a Herald ‘Little Devil’ in 2018 for Barley’s work in campaigning for a better visa system for visiting artists to the UK. Barley has judged many literary prizes, and was the chair of the judges for the 2017 International Booker Prize. He has also been a trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation since 2018. In that year he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded the Chevalier de L’Ordre du Mérite by the French government for services to French literature. Most recently, Barley has been responsible for overseeing the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and for its transition to a new hybrid event format.

I have worked at FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange since 2010. FILI promotes Finnish literature abroad, provides translation and promotion grants and collaborates closely with foreign publishers and translators of literature from Finland. My main responsibility is to coordinate FILI’s presence at international book fairs and events. I am also in charge of organizing Editors’ Week, our fellowship for international publishers to come to Finland to get acquainted with our literature and agents and to meet their Finnish colleagues. Prior to joining FILI I worked in a publishing house for 21 years.

Simo Hiltunen writes by night and is a journalist by day. Is at his boldest and most authentic at the keyboard. In his element. Being a journalist was the back-up plan, in case being an author didn’t work out. Hiltunen lives for his family and to write. Isn’t scared of humor or dark topics. Lives in earnest but doesn’t take life seriously. Wants to take on big topics but make them as appealing as possible in his writing. Believes the flow of a book is more important than saying everything you can. Knows that if an author is well-versed in his subject, his knowledge will flow naturally into the text and the book’s appeal will not be eroded by excessive lecturing. Hiltunen is currently writing his third Lauri Kivi novel, which deals with justice. Lauri has ended up in prison, suspected of murders committed in the name of justice. As the investigation progresses, police recover evidence from the cold crime scenes, and the fingerprints and other items all point to Lauri. Is Lauri guilty of the crimes he’s accused of, or has he been framed?

Niillas Holmberg is a Sami poet, musician, actor, and cultural and environmental activist living in his native Utsjoki in Lapland. He combines spoken word with singing and joik, traditional chanting, and performs his work with various bands. His poetry collection Lest the Weird Become Weirder (Amas amas amasmuvvat, 2014) was awarded the Saami Council’s Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Also, his latest collection Underfoot (Juolgevuođđu, 2019) was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Halla Helle (2021) is Holmberg’s first novel.

Jensen & Dalgaard is an independent publishing house who over the last decade has published approximately 12 Finnish authors (more than 20 titles) in Danish, mainly within the range of contemporary – and somewhat experimental – literary fiction, e.g. Leena Krohn, Johanna Sinisalo and Juhani Karila. Though we do publish novels from all over the world, we must admit that we have a certain heartfelt love for Finnish literature, because of its own great confidence in ‘the power of fiction’.

Elina Kritzokat, born 1971, German and Finnish nationality, Germanist, translates from Finnish since 2001: Jussi Valtonen, Miika Nousianen, Leena Krohn, Minna Lindgren, Sami Toivonen & Aino Havukainen, Minna Rytisalo, Timo Parvela, Siri Kolu, Tuutikki Tolonen – among others. Her work includes the genres of novels, books for children and young people, theater and film, comics, poetry and also nonfiction. She moderates and interprets regularly, leads seminars for beginners and travels to Finland at least once a year. In 2019 she received the Finnish State Prize for Translation into Foreign Languages. She lives and works in Berlin.

Veli-Pekka Lehtola is Professor of Sámi Culture in the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu, Finland. Lehtola is a (North) Sámi from Aanaar or Inari in Northern Finland. As a researcher, Lehtola is specialised in the history of the Sámi and Lapland, in modern Sámi art, especially literature, as well as in the Sámi representations by outsiders and the Sámi themselves.

An author and a family man, a mathematician by education, studied also literature, philosophy and business administration. Writes funny but weird novels about offices and goblins.

Urtė Liepuoniūtė is a literary agent at Helsinki Literary Agency and a translator of Finnish literature into the Lithuanian. Her long-lasting interest in Northern Finnish literature and history was summed up in the awarded MA Thesis on the subject, and since then she has contributed numerous articles and translations in order to promote Finnish literature in Lithuania. She also hosts the agency’s podcast Literature from Finland, created to illuminate the exceptionality of the country’s literature and culture

Sami Lopakka is a writer from Oulu who immediately established his place in Finnish literature with his debut novel, Spectral (Marras). Published in 2014, Spectral was Lopakka’s breakthrough novel and a critical and commercial success, selling over 5,000 copies. In its review of Lopakka’s second novel, Mud (Loka), which was published in 2019, the largest newspaper in the Oulu region dubbed Lopakka Northern Finland’s leading male writer. Mud was nominated for the Botnia literature prize and lavished with praise from readers.

Pia Kaitasuo, Master of Arts and Master of Arts and Cultural Management, has been working as a journalist in Kaleva Media for over 20 years. She is focusing her writing mainly on arts and culture and specializing in creating profiles on people of that area. Pia Kaitasuo is a member of the jury of the Botnia Literature Prize.

PhD Jyrki Korpua is a researcher of literature and cultural studies. Since 2005, Korpua has acted as lecturer and researcher of literature in the University of Oulu, and in the University of Turku (2014‒2015 & 2020). He has edited many special issues of journals and published articles on literature, digital games, graphic novels, and film studies. He is the author of nonfiction books *Alussa oli Sana – Raamattu ja kirjallisuus (“The Bible and Literature”) 2016, in Finnish, published by Avain), *Lajivirren laulamaa – Kalevala ja kirjallisuus *(“Kalevala and Literature” 2017, in Finnish, Avain), one of the editors with Saija Isomaa & Jouni Teittinen of the anthology *New Perspectives to Dystopian Fiction* (2020, Cambridge Scholars Publishers), and the author of the forthcoming monograph *The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien: A Christian Platonic Reading of the Legendarium* (2021, McFarland).

Katri Rauanjoki is a writer, creative writing instructor, and Finnish and literature teacher from Oulu. She’s interested in fragile families, solitary places, and changing societies. Rauanjoki’s own family lives in a wooden house and is made up of tall Northern men and cats. Rauanjoki has written and performs in a one-woman show called Bodily Stories (Ruumiillisia tarinoita) as her burlesque alter ego Palma de Mallorca. Bodily Stories is a story about body positivity, sisu, accepting oneself, and the joy of dancing. Rauanjoki loves books that are keenly observant and have a slightly skewed point of view. Her own books share a desire to study and understand people, the nature of the North, and the coexistence of realism and fantasy. Rauanjoki enjoys traveling when she can, but above all, prefers to simply write.

PhD Johanna Tuukkanen leads the general cultural services and is the director of Cultural Centre Valve in the city of Oulu. She has an extensive career in the cultural field as a curator, expert in diverse specialist positions in arts management nationally and internationally, and freelance artist. Tuukkanen is one of the founders of ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio, Finland, where she worked as the artistic director and senior manager being responsible for programming and managing the finances, staff, and strategic development and had a key role in developing the festival into an internationally acknowledged, award-winning art organization between 2002-2021

Viivi Arela is a literary agent at Helsinki Literary Agency, an agency with a broad selection of Finnish fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature, representing over 120 authors and illustrators. Viivi’s background is in the design industry with years of experience in marketing, brand management and sales. In the agency, her focus is on strengthening the visibility and reach of the authors and titles in international markets. In Black Hole she has a dual role as an agent and a producer of the event.

Tuomo Heikkinen is an organizer of Black Hole and many other events of Oulu Writers Association. Oulu Writers Association organizes events around the year, admits Botnia Literature Prize, maintains Oulu House of Literature, and publish Stiiknafuulia online magazine. Association is open-minded for different kind of books: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics and children’s books. Heikkinen has worked as a regional artist in The Arts Promotion Centre Finland.