Sofi Oksanen

Young characters allow their creators to explore the world and its very grownup problems with a unique innocence and honesty. The characters from David Almond’s many award-winning books including Skellig and Sofi Oksanen’s Purge move through harrowing times, managing to survive and tell their particular ... (more)tales, growing from their woes along the way. What kind of freedom do these characters allow their authors? What challenges are there in writing them? Do child protagonists provide less, as much, or more wisdom than adults? Rakesh Satyal, author of the acclaimed novel Blue Boy, moderates a conversation about all this and more.

With Alina Bronsky, Rodrigo Fresán, Mohsin Hamid, Aleksandar Hemon, Randa Jarrar, Irakli Kakabadze, Elias Khoury, valter hugo mãe, Sofi Oksanen, Peter Schneider, and special guests. The discovery of a subterranean CIA dungeon at a former riding academy in Lithuania, the flight records of thousands ... (more)of secret U.S. rendition flights, the testimonies of a growing number of released detainees describing their abuse in American custody—as the evidence around the globe mounts that the United States tortured hundreds of captives in the “War on Terror,” people of conscience everywhere are watching to see if those who ordered and carried out the abuse will be held accountable. Many of those watching are in countries that have successfully confronted their own legacies of torture and human rights abuses. Join us for an evening of readings from documentary and imaginative literature from around the world, in which people have stood face-to-face with their torturers.

With Mohsin Hamid, László Krasznahorkai, Andrea Levy, Yiyun Li, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, Sofi Oksanen, Atiq Rahimi, Salman Rushdie, Alberto Ruy-Sánchez, Patti Smith, Andrzej Stasiuk,and Miguel Syjuco. Celebrate the official opening of the sixth annual PEN World Voices Festival with an extraordinary ... (more)lineup of internationally acclaimed writers from Pakistan, Hungary, China, the United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, Afghanistan, India, Mexico, the United States, Poland, and the Philippines. Readers include the winner of the Booker of Bookers, a journalist who was kidnapped in Afghanistan, and Estonia’s Person of the Year for 2009. The writers will read in their own beautiful languages—with an English translation projected on the screen behind them, so you can read along. Don’t miss an unforgettable celebration of literature from around the world.

Currently (April 14) event is only listed at the Grove/Atlantic website. Check with the embassy in advance to confirm further details if you are interested in attending.

Grove Atlantic website lists event as scheduled for 3 to 5pm on April 25, 2010. The Albright-Knox Gallery website does not yet have further details listed as of April 12, 2010. Please check back or phone the Gallery for further details.

Start: Fri, 04/23/2010 - 7:00pm For the sixth year, New York City will host the PEN World Voices Festival, this year April 26 – May 2. Featured will be over 130 writers from over forty countries (see www.pen.org). We are pleased to be able ... (more)to help present this Elliott Bay reading by three featured writers at this year's festival—part of a PEN and publisher initiative to get more of this richness around the US. Coming here will be three highly regarded fiction writers: each known in her/his countries and beyond, each with multiple books published (although each is traveling here on behalf of a first book published in the US), and each the recipient of major literary awards. A special treat tonight is that SHERMAN ALEXIE is expected to help host the reading. He will himself be going to New York to participate in the PEN World Voices Festival, as is he to give its keynote address. Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright SOFI OKANSEN is here with her novel Purge (Black Cat/Grove, translation by Lola Rogers), winner of the Finlandia Award, and an international bestseller, published in 25 languages. Purge is the story of two women who have survived trauma, much of it taking place in the late days of Estonia's Soviet occupation. "Cruel, compelling, and nuanced, Purge vibrates with suspense." – Hufvudstadsbladet (Finland). Here from Melbourne is Australian novelist, playwright and essayist CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS. The Slap (Penguin), which received the Commonwealth Writers Prize, is the first of his four novels to be published in the US. "A controversial and daring novel, The Slap uses the iconic scene of a suburban Australian barbecue to examine identities and personal relationships in a multicultural society ... This book is sure to challenge readers and provoke debate." – Committee for the Commonwealth Prize. Dutch novelist TOMMY WIERINGA visits with his most recent novel, Joe Speedboat (Grove/Black Cat, translated by Sam Garrett). One of his two earlier novels received Holland's Halewijn Prize. Joe Speedboat is a vivid variation on the coming-of-age novel, the story of what happens to a slumbering small town when a highly charged young man arrives, seemingly out of nowhere. "A sparkling bildungsroman ... that recalls The World According to Garp." – NRC Handelsblad (Holland). These should be very special evenings. Please join us. Special thanks to PEN, Grove Atlantic, and Penguin Books for their part in making this visit possible. This evening at Elliott Bay is free-of-charge. These three authors also read (without Sherman) at the the Bellevue Regional Library on April 22.

[at the Event URL, change the library name to Bellevue, in order to see this event] Event Type: Author Event (Meet the Author) Date: Thursday, April 22, 2010 Start Time: 7:00 PM Library: Bellevue Library Description: Meet three authors from around the world who have their work translated into English ... (more)for the first time this year. Purge by Sofi Oksanen Estonia and Finland When Aliide Truu finds a... Age(s): Adults

Sofi Oksanen, Tommy Weiringa, & Christo Tsilokis in conversation with Oscar Villalon. PEN American Center brings international writers of distinction together in New York City every April, for four glorious days of vibrant talks and readings. This year, PEN expands its World Voices programming into ... (more)various other areas of the US – and we’re thrilled that Berkeley is one of those places. Three young writers – one from Finland, one from the Netherlands, one from Australia – will talk about their work and their lives with critic and writer Oscar Villalon and will read from their current work. This evening is an opportunity to hear new voices, to discover literature from other countries and cultures, and to celebrate the written word in all of its voices.

7.2.2009 klo 10-17; 8.2.2009 klo 10-16.

Kirjailijavieraana Sofi Oksanen. Haastattelijana toimittaja Nadja Nowak