Heli Pauliina Laaksonen (born 28 September 1972, in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

) is a Finnish poet. She writes poetry in the dialect of south-western Finland, and performs her poetry on tours. She was said in 2011 to be "Finland's best-selling poet" and "at the moment the only Finnish poet who can survive on the proceeds of her poetry without financial assistance". It is said that the majority of her readers and listeners are "women who have reached retirement age".

Personal life and education

Laaksonen spent her childhood in

Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is inland wate ...

. Her mother's family originated from Halikko outside

Salo Salo or Salò may refer to: Places Finland *Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland **Salo sub-region, a subdivision of Finland Proper and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009 *An old name of Saloinen, a former municipality in Ostroboth ...

, while her father's family was from Lokalahti outside Uusikaupunki. She studied at the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

, majoring in Finnish language and graduated with a Master of Arts in 2000. She also studied at the Estonian University of Tartu in 1992 and 1999. Laaksonen has lived in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and in 2011, she moved to

Lappi Lappi is the name for several geographical areas. In Finland: * Lappi is the Finnish name for Sápmi (area), Lapland and the Lapland (Finland), northernmost region of Finland. ** Laponia (historical province), a historical province of Sweden (inclu ...

Career

From 1996 to 2000 Laaksonen worked in Helsinki as an Estonian social communication school language teacher while also teaching at

Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia ( fi, Helsingin ammattikorkeakoulu Stadia) was a multidisciplinary institution of higher education, at its time one of the biggest polytechnics in Finland. Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia offered students an internation ...

from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004 she led a

Laitila Laitila (; sv, Letala) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, and it is from Laitila to Turku. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population de ...

cultural project and in 2004 she founded her own communications company, Sanatoimisto Hulimaa. Inspired by Estonian poets, Laaksonen became interested in using dialect in poems. After getting to know Jan Rahman, she translated poems written by Rahman in 1997 in the Võru dialect into the dialect of southwestern Finland. The experiment encouraged her to continue with dialect poems. Laaksonen also uses her home dialect typical of southwest Finland. Her work and performance often make use of humour as well as features of different dialects for commentary on Finnishness. She also performs with , a dialect writer from

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

Awards

In 2007 Laaksonen was elected Alumna of the Year at the University of Turku. In 2009 she received the Larin Paraske Award from the Kalevala Women's Association.

Selected publications

She contributed a translation to the book ''Intiimejä avaruuksia : XXV skotlantilaista runoa 1978-2002'' (''Intimate Expanses: XXV Scottish Poems 1978-2002''), a collection of Scottish poems translated into Finnish, published in 2006 by Finnish publisher Like (), the original having been published in 2004 by

Carcanet Press Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt. In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year. History ''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...

and the Scottish Poetry Library (). Among her books are: * * Laaksonen has recorded audiobooks of some of her works, specifically achieving a gold record for the poetry collections ''Jänes pussis'' (2003, Frog) and ''Ratio Sulavoi'' (2007, Otava).

References

External links

* 1972 births Living people 21st-century Finnish poets Finnish women poets {{Finland-poet-stub