The shortlist for the 2021 Lapland Literature Prize was revealed today and we are delighted to share the news that Petra Rautiainen is among the list of nominees.
The multilayered debut LAND OF SNOW AND ASHESset in the barren beautiful Lapland landscape brings to light untold difficult themes of Finland’s wartime history and the assimilation of the Sámi. The novel is one of the six nominees for the Lapland Literature Prize that is awarded every second year to the best fiction title that is either set in Lapland or written by a local author or an author born in the region. In 2019 author Rosa Liksom won the prize.
The winner will be announced on 19 March 2021. For the entire list of nominees click here.
Jury’s motivation:
“Both wartime and post-war events flow side-by-side in Rautiainen’s debut novel. In Spring 1944 interpreter Väinö Remes writes about prison camp life in his diary. In summer 1947 photographer Inkeri Lindqvist arrives at Enontekiö to find out the fate of her husband, who disappeared during the war. The novel is a description of the reconstruction of Lapland, the cruel conditions at the prison camps and Finnish racial projects. It also highlights the assimilation of the Sámi by Bigga-Marja’s story.”
Petra Rautiainen was shortlisted for the 2020 Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and the Book of the Year by Finnish bookstore Suomalainen Kirjakauppa. She won the 2020 Savonia Prize for her debut novel in December 2020.