Visiting author: Mirva Karkinen (in Finnish)

Author Mirva Karkinen will visit Iso Omena Library to discuss her debut novel Leviatan. The event will explore the origins of the work, its central themes, and the writing process. Karkinen will also read excerpts from the novel, and audience members will have the opportunity to join the discussion and ask questions. Leviatan tells the story of women waiting for something to burst. Before a breaking point is reached, however, a person must be pushed to their limits, and so the women’s restrooms creak and groan. Written with an aggressive and highly original voice, the novel examines the position of women in contemporary society, the invisible structures of power, and the misogyny that runs through the deeper currents of society. Leviatan is a story about inequality, but above all it is a plea for empathy. Mirva Karkinen (born 1994) is a Helsinki-based Master of Arts in Literary Studies and Philosophy. Her interests include literature, power, and gender, and she has published feminist literary criticism as well as essays on the book industry.