Sofi Oksanen commissioned to write new play for National Theatre

Writer Sofi Oksanen has agreed to writing a new play for the Finnish National Theatre. The premiere of the piece will be on the large stage of the theatre in early 2012, says Mika Myllyaho, who begins as the National Theatre’s director-general in August.
      Oksanen does not want to talk about her future works, but denies that she is writing a sequel to her hit play and novel Puhdistus ("Purge").
      “My next novel, like the previous one, will be set in recent Estonian history, but the play probably will not.”
     
With the international success of Puhdistus, the writer has become the focus of a media frenzy. Now she is trying to find time for writing. In addition to a novel and a play, she is also working on a television series.
      Puhdistus, Oksanen’s first drama, got its premiere in 2007 on the small Willensauna stage of the National Theatre. The author had published two novels at that point, Stalinin Lehmät ("Stalin's Cows", 2003) and Baby Jane from 2005.
      Puhdistus re-appeared in 2008 as a novel of the same name, which won the Finlandia Prize, and later the Runeberg Prize, and most recently the Literature Prize of the Nordic Council.
     
The Finnish publisher WSOY has taken out 22 editions of the book, and over 150,000 copies of the novel have been sold.
      In April, Purge appeared in the United States, translated into English by Lola Rogers.
      The first edition of 10,000 copies was sold out, and the second edition is in shops now.
      Translation rights have been sold to 28 countries, and the book has also appeared in Estonia, Norway, Denmark, Israel, and The Netherlands.
     
In February next year the stage version of Purge will premiere at the La MaMa Theatre in New York. The Actors without Borders–ITONY performance will be directed by Zishan Ugurlu.
      This would be the first time that a Finnish play is performed in an important US theatre.
     
The Estonian-language premiere (Puhastus) is in September at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu. The play’s theatre rights have been sold to the other Nordic Countries as well.
      In Finland, the play has been performed in several theatres around the country.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sofi Oksanen named Person of the Year in Estonia (18.12.2009)
  Finlandia Prize goes to Sofi Oksanen and portrait of Estonia under Soviet occupation (5.12.2008)
  Sofi Oksanen novel to be translated into Russian (6.11.2008)

Links:
  NPR website (book review of Purge novel)
  Sofi Oksanen (Wikipedia)
  Sofi Oksanen (WSOY Publishers website)