Six short stories compete for the new Maria Jotuni Prize

Six short stories have been chosen as finalists for Finland’s first Maria Jotuni Short Story Prize, selected from 68 entries by a preliminary jury.

The finalists are Siiri Enoranta’s “Lissut,” Magdalena Hai’s “Neidonkampa,” Marko Järvikallas’s “Saattue,” Anne Leinonen’s “On suuri sun rantojen autius ja ikäväkin on täällä tosiasia,” Juuli Niemi’s “Ihme lähiö,” and Harry Salmenniemi and Jaakko Yli-Juonikkaan’s “Mitä Jordan B. Peterson tarkoittaa.”

The prize is worth €25,000. Theater director Lauri Maijala will select the winner, which will be announced on December 10.

The Finnish Literature Society founded the prize and will award it every two years for the next decade, with support from the Kone Foundation. Its stated aim is to raise the status of the short story as a literary form and highlight the best new short stories written in Finnish.