Northern Lit Awards

SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR, by Roy Blomstrom, was shortlisted for the Northern Lit Awards, sponsored by the Ontario Library Service--North, in conjunction with Northern Ontario Public Libraries.

In its twelfth year, the award was developed to "recognize the outstanding contribution Northern Ontario authors make to Northern culture."

The winner in the English Fiction category, for which SILENCES was shortlisted, went to THE LIGHTKEEPER'S DAUGHTERS, by Jean E. Pendziwol. A story of family secrets, identity, sisters, and lighthouses, set on Lake Superior in both the past and present, the novel is an excellent choice to celebrate this part of Ontario.

Other winners: A HISTORY OF CANADA IN TEN MAPS, by Adam Shoalts (English nonfiction), and for French fiction, On n’sait jamais à quoi s’attendre by Hélène Koscielniak (Éditions Interligne).

Many congratulations to the winners, and heartfelt gratitude to Ontario Library Services North for recognizing the literature of this region.

Readers Rule

One of the best parts of having written work out in the world is connecting with readers. It's been really fun to hear from those who have been kind and generous enough to take the time to read our books.

CRADLE OF THE DEEP was very much a family memoir, which we were making available to extended family members, but it has appealed to a broader audience, in Northwestern Ontario and beyond. Readers regale us with their own family stories--summers by various lakes or the ocean, parents and grandparents living in a world with wood-burning stoves and train travel, their hopes for their own children or grandchildren.

SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR grew far beyond its own beginnings in a family mystery (for more, see Roy's explanation, here) while remaining deeply rooted in Finland and in northwestern Ontario. One reader recently emailed a friend to reminisce about building dams on the McIntyre River and who lived at the stop where Viktoria got off the bus in 1955's Port Arthur.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read our works. We appreciate your interest in historical fiction, Finland's history, memoirs, Northwestern Ontario, Lake Superior, or whatever else brought you to our doors.

Silences Available in Thunder Bay Library Book Club Bags

Thanks to Bookends, a longstanding local book club, and the Thunder Bay Public Library, copies of SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR will soon be available in the Book Club in a Bag program.

Book Club in a Bag makes it easier for a group to read and discuss a particular title. You can browse available books--bestsellers, local books, and more--and reserve specific titles for whatever month your group is interested in.

Each bag includes ten copies of a title, plus a reader's guide and author questions to help get discussion going.

We're so grateful to Bookends members for suggesting and sponsoring this donation, and to the library for hosting and maintaining this program! 

Finn Connections: Crossing Borders

One of the perks of publishing a book about the experience of Finnish emigrants (also immigrants) after the Finnish Civil War is finding connections with other descendants.

Recently, author Roy Blomstrom learned of CROSSING BORDERS, a memoir by Toivo Wasko, available at Amazon through this link. You can see his thoughts about the memoir at his website, here. (Spoiler alert: he found the on-the-ground perspective very interesting!)

Toivo's daughter, Lea (Waske) Springer, appears to have been motivated to preserve her father's memoir by the same impulses we are.

CRADLE OF THE DEEP is mostly a family story, but so many readers have shared stories of their own family's experiences "at camp" or during the summer. And Blomstrom wrote SILENCES in part to help him make sense of a conversation he had with his father when he was the age of Jimmy Mantere.

It's really fun to be part of these larger conversations--thank you to readers!

Follow-Up: Veljeni Vartija

Thanks once again to LU Professor Emeritus Raija Warkentin, we've had the chance to see the program from the premiere of Veljani Vartija, an opera by Olli Kortekangas with libretto by Tuomas Parkkinen. Commissioned by the Tampera Opera, the opera is about a brother and sister who end up on opposing sides of the 1918 Finnish Civil War.

Our earlier post about the opera is here.

The printed program is mostly in Finnish, of course, with a helpful list of cast and the opera's events in English as well. The photos of sets are gorgeous and striking. The break between the second and third acts--the Intermission--occurs as the brother points a gun at the sister. What a difficult moment for the characters, who must yet again confront the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

It's interesting to see how artists find hopeful moments in brutal events like civil war. The opera ends with new life for which a character is now responsible.

In SILENCES: A NOVEL OF THE 1918 FINNISH CIVIL WAR, adult characters must live knowing of their destructive actions. No matter what other life choices they make, for good or ill, they must eventually choose how they acknowledge the actions of the war to their descendants. In both cases, the next generations make their own choices about war, and about peace.

100 Years Ago... Run, Rabbit

Rabbit (Ivor Solbakken) is on the run, AWOL from his unit, running for his life from the army he joined as a volunteer.

Somewhere heading toward Russia, he falls in with hordes of Finnish-speaking Red refugees who believe they will be safe in Russia--that Russia will welcome them. As long as the way to Lahti and Karelia remains open.

Rabbit will eventually find another spot on the White side for himself. But he will be fighting for his life for some time.

Spring is coming to the countryside, and still the war is not yet over.

100 Years Ago... Tampere Falls

At 9 a.m. on April 16, 1918, the Red side in Tampere surrendered.

White soldiers are supposed to treat the soldiers and civilians as prisoners. However, without the resources to guard the captives, the White soldiers begin executions.

Jussi and his father tour the city their artillery has helped destroy--the buildings as well as the people and other living beings.

It must have been difficult to view their participation as a battle "victory." The war itself is still not over.