A new sfnal activity in Turku: some families have been discussing a regular playdate for parents with small children. The goal is for the parents to be able to engage in sfnal discussion while the children play with each other.
The meetings will take place on the last Friday of the month, and the plan is to rotate the place among the participants. The first mukulamafia is tomorrow at Tomi & Hanne’s place. All interested parties are welcome. More info from Hanne.
Due to its popularity last spring, the Tikkurila theater brings back their H.P. Lovecraft play Charles Dexter Wardin tapaus this autumn. The premiere is on Saturday, November 16.
The Nuori Aleksis award (“Young Aleksis”), named after Finland’s national writer Aleksis Kivi, is an award founded by the Finnish teachers’ union, given each year to one outstanding and significant book, selected by a jury comprising senior high school students from around Finland.
This year’s shortlist has been announced and I’m happy to report that three of the six nominees are sf. Among the nominees are Teemestarin kirja (Memory of Water) by Emmi Itäranta, Unikoira (Seeing Eyes) by Marko Hautala, and Näkijän tytär (The Prophet’s Daughter) by Kristiina Vuori (more info about the nominees).
A curious thing I noticed in the announcement: the nominees are selected by a large jury of high schoolers, but from a long list (around 100 books) given to them, I guess determined by the working group administering the award. Included are novels, short story and poetry collections, plays and essays. But, even though this is an award for young people by young people, YA books are specifically excluded from eligibility. This feels very stupid to me, especially since nowadays there are (in my opinion) larger amounts of very good quality Finnish YA literature than ever before.
There’s a new Facebook group called Suomalainen fandom. The purpose is to share information and discuss finndom-related things (I expect the overwhelming majority of the discussions to be in Finnish).
This is a public Facebook group, so it should be possible to read the discussions without signing onto Facebook (at least for the moment). You can also follow new topic posts via an RSS feed.
Publisher's Weekly likes Jyrki Vainonen’s collection The Explorer and Other Stories, coming soon from Cheeky Frawg.
Update: Also the Norwegian rights have been sold. Heinesen Forlag will publish the pub in Norway in 2014.
This month’s Turku sf pub meeting is tomorrow (Friday the 6th) at Cosmic Comic Cafe starting at 6. Welcome!
If you had your heart set up on a Thursday meeting, today is the last Varjomafia at the Terrakoti club house before the move, also starting around 6. Should be plenty of people there, especially as today has also been open house there due to the University season start. Or, if you’re more interested in having a pint, a couple of fans from Helsinki are visiting today; text me for details (040 576 6450).
