Sofi Oksanen invited to St. Petersburg poetry evening after all

Foreign Minister Stubb intervenes on behalf of writer

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According to Olli Perheentupa, the Finnish Consul-General in St. Petersburg, writer Sofi Oksanen is welcome to participate in a Finnish-Russian poetry evening in St. Petersburg. Last week Perheentupa said that Oksanen would not be an appropriate person for the event, which is scheduled for December.
      Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) informed the Consulate-General during the weekend that he hopes that Oksanen would be given the opportunity to take part in the event.
      “Naturally we will do as the minister wishes”, Perheentupa says now.
     
According to Perheentupa, discussions will be held with the Finnish PEN organisation, which is organising the event together with the consulate.
      “I will not comment on the minister’s statement in any way, but often in a preparatory phase, views of civil servants and ministers differ. In these cases it is the view of the minister that ultimately prevails.”
     
Last week Helsingin Sanomat reported that the Consulate-General did not want Oksanen to take part in the poetry evening.
      Finnish PEN accused the consulate of rejecting Oksanen for political reasons. The consulate denied this, and said that the reason for the decision that Oksanen is not a poet.
      Oksanen’s most recent novel takes a critical view of the period of Soviet occupation in Estonia.
     
Sofi Oksanen herself had not yet received the invitation to the event, but said on Monday that she is ready to participate.
      She also welcomed the support that she got from the Foreign Minister, but said that the affair as a whole was a sad one.
      “Naturally it is unpleasant that civil servants engage in this kind of advance censorship.”
     
According to Jukka Malinen, the chairman of the Finnish PEN organisation, arrangements for the poetry evening will continue normally, and the group is not considering any boycotts.
      In its October issue, the literary journal Tuli & Savu will publish Oksanen’s prose poems, which she might recite in St. Petersburg. Oksanen does not want to speak about her unfinished works, and she also does not say what the topics of her ready poems cover.
      Mallinen says that he hopes that Foreign Ministry's civil servants would, in the future, leave the evaluation of the content of cultural events to those who know something about it.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish PEN organisation considers withdrawing from St. Petersburg poetry event (7.8.2008)
  Writer Sofi Oksanen dropped from poetry evening in St. Petersburg (6.8.2008)

Links:
  Wikipedia: Sofi Oksanen

Helsingin Sanomat