Out of Scandinavia - Finland is Fun, A Public Lecture by Antti TuomainenApril 24 at 7–8:30 p.m.

The 2024 Out of Scandinavia artist in residence is Antti Tuomainen, an acclaimed crime fiction writer from Finland known for the dark humor that pervades his novels, which have been translated into 25 languages.

Finland is Fun - Public Lecture by Antti Tuomainen 
Wednesday, April 24
7 p.m. 
Wallenberg Auditorium, Nobel Hall of Science

Antti Tuomainen
European critics have dubbed him “the king of Helsinki noir” and “the funniest writer in Europe,” and American reviewers describe his style as a cross between the Coen brothers and Carl Hiaasen. He spins stories of hapless protagonists caught in preposterous circumstances, echoing the precarity of a small Nordic country finding its way in a globalizing world.

All of his recent novels have been shortlisted for major prizes. The Healer (2011) won the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Fiction Novel, and Little Siberia (2020) won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. Amazon Studios and Mandeville Films are adapting his novel The Rabbit Factor (2022), about an insurance mathematician who gets in the crosshairs of criminals when he inherits an amusement park, into a major motion picture starring U.S. comedian Steve Carell. 

During his visit to Gustavus April 21-27, Tuomainen will visit classes, meet with students, and hold a public lecture, “Finland is Fun,” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 in the Melva Lind Interpretive Center in the Arboretum. His novels will be available for purchase and signing at his lecture and can also be purchased at The Book Mark campus bookstore.

The Gustavus Out of Scandinavia Artist-in-Residence Program is proudly supported by the Marguerite Olson Pratt Out of Scandinavia Artist-in-Residence Program Endowment Fund established by Charlotte (Pratt) '86 and Henrik '88 Nordstrom of Minneapolis, Minnesota in honor of Charlotte's late mother Marguerite, member of the Gustavus Class of 1953, life-long educator, and avid promoter of all things Nordic. Learn more about the history of Out of Scandinavia.

For more information about this year’s OUT OF SCANDINAVIA WEEK, please contact visit coordinator Ursula Lindqvist, Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Director of Comparative Literature at Gustavus, at ulindqvi@gustavus.edu