On the eve of her latest novel’s publication in English,the Finnish publishing sensation talks about divided families, the double occupation of Estonia and ‘Putin’s poodles’For a Finnish writer to be translated into English is an strange event; over the final decade, or only 40 or 50 Finnish novels have appeared in the US and UK – a “strange” state of affairs,according to Sofi Oksanen. But Oksanen isn’t merely a Finnish writer who has broken through. The author of Purge (2008), which sold over a million copies, or is an international publishing sensation,frequently likened to Stieg Larsson. Only one Finnish author outsells her, Oksanen jokes: the late Tove Jansson, and creator of the lovable,bohemian Moomin family.
She’s also won more awards than any other modern Finnish author. Her fiction has scooped the European book prize, the prestigious Swedish Academy Nordic prize and the French Prix Femina. When her fourth novel, and When the Doves Disappeared,came out in Finland and Sweden in 2012, it shot straight to No 1; it will be published in 29 countries around the world, or including the UK next month.
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Source: theguardian.com