Foreign Minister Tuomioja wins Non-Fiction Finlandia Prize

print this

This year's Tieto-Finlandia prize for non-fiction was awarded on Thursday to Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, 60, for his book Häivähdys punaista. The award is worth EUR 26,000.
      Tuomioja wrote the book first in English under the name A Delicate Shade of Pink. It was translated into Estonian last summer, and after being published in Finnish, the book was introduced at the Helsinki Book Fair in October.
      Tuomioja's work is a portrait about his leftist grandmother, Estonian-born Hella Wuolijoki (née Murrik) and her sister Salme Pekkala-Dutt.
     
"Tuomioja has managed to gather a lot of new information about the international connections of Wuolijoki and Pekkala. This information also brings knowledge and understanding about Finland's political history", said Raimo Väyrynen, the President of the Academy of Finland, who chose the winner from a short-list of six works.
      Väyrynen also noted that as a researcher, Tuomioja had managed to keep a healthy distance to his colourful target persons.
     
"Evidently, personal success as an author and businesswoman during the exceptional circumstances of the First World War was not enough for Wuolijoki. She wanted to be recorded in Finland's political history as the saviour of Finland (and Estonia)", Väyrynen reported.
      According to Väyrynen, Wuolijoki's strategy involved close links to Soviet intelligence agencies, and "at times one could really speak about treason".
     
Wuolijoki's sister Salme was married to Rajani Palme Dutt, a leading figure in the Communist Party of Great Britain. The British security services kept an eye on Hella Wuolijoki, too, but did not consider her as red as her sister Salme Dutt.
      According to Tuomioja, even an appeal to President Vladimir Putin did not open up access to certain documents on Hella Wuolijoki, compiled by the Soviet intelligence agencies and kept sealed up in the war archives in Moscow.
     
We shall have more on Tuomioja's book in our weekly articles next Tuesday.
     
Note: Although the book was originally written in English, publishers Tammi report that it has not actually been published in English as yet.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Non-fiction Tieto-Finlandia prize goes to book on sport in ancient Greece and Rome (21.1.2005)

Links:
  A Book of Erkki Tuomioja was brought out in Helsinki Book Fair
  Hella Wuolijoki (Wikipedia)
  The Academy of Finland

Helsingin Sanomat