We are proud to see Malin Kivelä’s novel The Heart (Hjärtat) shortlisted for one of the most prestigious literary prizes in Finland, the 2020 Runeberg Prize. The winner will be announced 5th February 2020.
Runeberg Jury:
“Hjärtat by Malin Kivelä is a physical story that embodies trauma as a bodily and soulful experience. The narrator’s wandering in the corridors of the Children’s Hospital and the sparkling winter cold city of Helsinki are characterized by the detailed and intensive sensory perceptions. The physical presence flows through the language of the novel concurrently pulsating and tense as well as light and rhythmic. The text comes close to reader but it also has space. The scent of a newborn and writing, waiting and intensity are all dealt with the same sense of accuracy in the novel.”
The novel was recently chosen by HS Culture, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper as one of the best book of 2019:
“A compact and poetic novel that tells about a new-born’s heart defect and the author-mother’s emotional chaos. Set in Finnish winter and recognisable, modern Helsinki.”
The heart-rending beautiful novel has aroused great interest in Sweden receiving recognition both on radio and in review. Literary critic Lina Kalmteg on P1 Culture, Sweden’s Radio listed the novel as one of Best Foreign Novels of 2019.
The novel was also lauded by Expressen Newspaper in a recent review:
“Some novels make you look at the world from a new perspective… It’s astonishing how Malin Kivelä succeeds to include many basic living conditions in this short and well-structured novel, and in such a dense and delicate prose. The existential journey the woman undergoes during the crucial days consists so much: the bodily and the cerebral, motherhood, love and death.”
We wish the best of luck to Malin!