Saara Pääkkönen

Juhani Lindholm

Juhani Lindholm (b. 1951). Literary translator, president of the Eino Leino Society, Event Manager of the Lahti International Writers’ Reunion, has translated e.g. Shakespeare, Ian McEwan, Michael Ondaatje, Daniel Defoe, Emily Brontë, Frank McCourt, Herman Melville, Paul Bowles, David Foster Wallace – and Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

He has been awarded the State Art Prize in Literature for his work as a translator, the Finnish J.A. Hollo Prize for his translation of Bengt Jangfeldt’s biography of Mayakovsky from Swedish, the Agricola Prize for his translation of Gravity’s Rainbow, and the Pro Finlandia Medal in 2015.

Chia Koskinen

Chia Koskinen has been the press officer of LIWRE in 2013 and 2015, and after that served as an assistant secretary. Long walks to the forest and seaside with dogs and family both stimulate and calm her.

She was nominated the general secretary of Lahti International Writers’ Reunion in January 2022.

Laura Lahdensuu

Laura Lahdensuu (b. 1968) lives and works in Helsinki. She translates literature from Italian, English and Latin. She has received the Premio Flaiano (italianistica) in 2011 for her translation of Quer pasticciaccio brutto de Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda and is currently working on a translation of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso. Laura uses her spare time trying to keep the bichon bolognese Apollo free of worries and tangles.

Reetta Ravi

Reetta Ravi is the press officer of the International Writers’ Reunion. She has been participating in the Reunions since 2001, first as a cultural journalist of the Finnish News Agency (Suomen tietotoimisto, STT) and in recent years as the press officer of the
publishing house Siltala.

Ilari Väkiparta

Ilari Väkiparta (b. 1994) is Helsinki based poet and writer and a member of Helsinki Poetry Connection. He enjoys writing and performance poetry and has a passion for spoken word and slam poetry on both text and performance.

Saara Pääkkönen

Saara Pääkkönen (b. 1970) works in publishing as editor of translated fiction. As a side job she translates comics, graphic novels, and children’s books into Finnish. Pääkkönen acted as LIWRE’s International Secretary for the Reunions of 2013 and 2015. She devotes her spare time to music and theatre-going.