Runeberg award goes to Katja Kettu
Katja Kettu’s Kätilö (Midwife) has won this year’s Runeberg literature award. The award was announced on February 5, Finland’s national day commemorating the 19th century writer J.L. Runeberg.
A Rovaniemi native, Kettu (born 1978) also directs animations.
Set in Paltamo in the autumn of 1944, the book tells the love story of a Finnish midwife and German Nazi officer.
According to the jury that picked the winner, Kettu gives a detailed depiction of the position of women in Second World War prison camps. The jury also praised Kettu’s enchanting language, adding that Midwife had a touch of magic realism.
Midwife is Kettu’s fourth novel. Director Virpi Suutari is currently preparing a film adaptation of the book.
The jury for the Runeberg literature award included writer Mikaela Strömberg, writer, script-writer and teacher Vuokko Tolonen, and critic Ville Hänninen, who was the head of the jury.
The literature prize, worth 10,000 euros, is awarded by the Uusimaa newspaper, the city of Porvoo, the Union of Finnish Writers, the Finnish Critics’ Association, and the Society of Swedish Authors in Finland.
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