Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

On the shortlist of the Runeberg Prize 2014 are eight books. Four of them are novels: Lapset auringon alla (‘Children under the sun’, WSOY) by Miki Liukkonen, Jokapäiväinen elämämme (‘Our daily life’, Teos) by Riikka Pelo (which was awarded the Finlandia Prize for Fiction in December), Pintanaarmuja (‘Scratches’, ntamo) by Maaria Päivinen and Terminaali (‘The terminal’, Siltala) by Hannu Raittila.

The other four books on the list are two collections of poetry, Pakopiste (‘Vanishing point’) by Kaisa Ijäs (Teos) and Öar i ett hav som strömmar by Henrika Ringbom (Schildts & Söderströms). Ahtaan paikan kammo (‘Claustrophobia’, Robustos) by Riitta S. Latvala is a collection of short stories, and Kopparbergsvägen 20 (‘Kopparbergsvägen Road 20’, Schildts & Söderströms) by Mathias Rosenlund is an autobiographical work.

The list was compiled by a jury of three: cultural editor and critic Elisabeth Nordgren, author and critic Irja Sinivaara and author Jouko Sirola.

The prize, worth €10,000, was founded by the Uusimaa newspaper, the City of Porvoo, both the Finnish and Finland-Swedish writers’ associations and the Finnish Critics’ Association. On 5 February, on the birthday of the national poet J.L. Runeberg (1804–1877), it will be awarded for the 28th time in his native town of Porvoo.