Jukka Rislakki (1945 in Kuusankoski,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a Finnish journalist, non-fiction writer, and political cartoonist who has published a number of books, mostly on recent history of

, the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

, and books on intelligence activities. Rislakki spent his childhood and youth in Jämsänkoski, completed a BA in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

and worked as a journalist at the

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

. Rislakki has worked as a foreign desk writer of Helsingin Sanomat and as Sunday issue reporter, most recently as the correspondent in the Baltic states. Since the beginning af 2002 Rislakki lives in the Latvian coastal resort town Jūrmala, where he works as a freelance journalist, non-fiction writer, and cartoonist. Rislakki is married to the former Latvian ambassador to Finland and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, Anna Žīgure.

Bibliography

Rislakki has written several books in his native

Finnish language Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedish ...

; some of them have been translated into English, Latvian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Estonian, and Russian. Three books are available in an English translation: No Home For Us Here (2002), which he co-authored with Eila Lahti-Argutina, and The Case for Latvia (2008), the latter was also translated into Latvian and Russian; his book of cartoons A Handbook for Penguins and Yappers (2009) has also English texts. His new books in Finnish are about atom bomb, Cold War and Finland, and about Vorkuta prison camp uprising in 1953. The Vorkuta book was translated into Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian. Rislakki won the 3rd prize in the Virginia Military Institute Cold War essay competition 2011 with his article "Without Mercy" – U.S. Strategic Intelligence and Finland in the Cold War. He received an acknowledgement award at the Lviv book fair (Ukraine) in 2015. Presently he writes spy novels and a book about Soviet agent Opperput. His memoirs were published in Finland in 2018.

Awards and acknowledgements

Jukka Rislakki was awarded as Knight of the

Order of the White Rose The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. T ...

by the Finnish president Tarja Halonen on 16 March 2010 for his "''work as a journalist and publicist''", an award that was presented to Rislakki at the Embassy of Finland in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

by ambassador to Latvia Maria Serenius. Rislakki was awarded the Latvian Cross of Recognition for "''selfless promotion of the Latvian image abroad and national patriotic education of youth''". The Case for Latvia is the only book by Jukka Rislakki about Latvia, that has been translated to English. Jukka Rislakki received the Cross of Recognition in Riga on 4 May 2009, the day of restoration of independence of the Republic of Latvia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rislakki, Jukka 1945 births Living people Finnish journalists Finnish writers Recipients of the Cross of Recognition Finnish expatriates in Latvia