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| Salaisuus by Heljä Laukkanen-Karala |
Today I spent many hours at the fair, digesting not only all-natural yogurt and fresh bread samples, but the general milieu of thousands of people interested in authors, literary works and fine foods.
I began with Heljä's paintings. She enjoys using bright colors and pointillism in her multi-layered paintings to tell stories. Here on the left is Secret. I particularly love how she talks about her work, "I don't know where that came from! It just showed up!" She says about the details of her paintings as if she has no say in the final outcome.
Taking a load off my feet, I listened to my former professor's wife, Virpi Hämeen-Anttila, tell about her most recent book. I find it interesting to meet people's spouses, it kind of rounds out the picture I have of them. Virpi was more ordinary than I expected her to be, but by the amount of audience present, I could tell she's a popular author. "Every writer has a recurring rash that they scratch in their works, " she commented about the themes that run through any author's repertoire. "Mine is the relationship of parents and children; what happens when a child is not loved, its consequences."
It goes without saying that I didn't leave empty-handed from the fair. In addition to a work of non-fiction, I found a delightful voice from the music section: Mor Karbasi. I had never heard of her before I picked up her CD, but with a brief description from the enthusiastic vendor and a bit of intuition, I brought her home and have been listening to her beautiful voice interpreting rhythms of Morocco, Israel and Spain all rolled into one poetic presentation. I am enchanted:
