Could you introduce Tapiiri group?
The group was founded by Timo Harju in 2002. It is a group of 10 people, who are meeting once a month. We usually read our poems or prose and then we discuss. We also do different kinds of performance, community projects and other. We communicate with public through our blog. In our group, there are different kinds of people - teacher, students, psychologist...Only one of us has published - Timo Harju.
What do you see as a main meaning of Tapiiri?
If you have a possibility
to read your things and discuss it, it is more fun to write something. We trust each other and during reading, there is very intimate feeling. For example I might not know much about somebody, but I can know him through his readings. It also helps us to improve. We are sometimes very critique to each other.
Do you read Finnish literature?
I read a lot. In a good motion. I think Finnish poetry is something really good. I don´t see prose that interesting. I trust poetry. It is good that there started to be also smaller publisher, gives space for experimental works.
Do you think, that is good to combine two different kinds of art?
It is definitely plus. But we don´t see it that much. We also want to do something like that. We want to combine dance and poems - more info about the project
here.
What are main topics in Tapiiri group?
We write about relationships, family, psychological issues, communication and lack of it.
Is there any interaction between world´s literature and Finnish?
One thing is of course that Finnish literature is much younger - the first novel written in Finland (in swedish!) is from year 1840. Because of that many things came later to Finnish literature, for example modernism. There have still always been connections with and influences from other countries (for example the group Tulenkantajat was very interested in European thoughts and arts in the 1920´s). And now we have Sofi Oksanen, who writes about Estonia, of course. Finland is also quite a young nation, so it isn't a miracle that we still have to write about national things and consider who we are. Maybe that isn´t so interesting to read in other countries.One thing that shouldn´t be forgotten is, that we have two languages, Finnish and Swedish, in Finland. Finnish Swede literature has it´s own themes and it's own history... So we have all the time like two lines of literature here which also discuss with another. About new literature: there are such (at my opinion) terrible but very popular writers as Reijo Mäki and Ilkka Remes, but there are also young, interesting writers, who dare to experiment with language and take new perspectives. Then there are those dark subjects and books that tell about the emptiness of life and how everything is for sale. But I want to say that there is also such themes as the possibility for people to meet and to exist for each other...
What are contributors of a "good literature"?
I would say language - innovative, some freshness, not too experimental, but something interesting, written some special way. Should be close to human beings.
What does it mean "tapiiri"?
It is game of letters. In Finnish - ta / piiri - writing cyrcle. But it also mean an animal -
tapir, and it is sympathetic animal :-).
Can you imagine your life without literature and writing?
Would be impossible to live without it! It is better place - literature world - where to live.
