Sofi Oksanen: Into the Same River

Occupation, violence, the female body, and power. One of the most prominent contemporary Finnish and European authors, Sofi Oksanen, in conversation with literary critic Jitka Hanušová about Putin's war against women.

Sofi Oksanen is a writer and playwright of Finnish-Estonian origin whose books have been published in more than forty languages. Her international breakthrough came with the novel "Purge" (2010 in Czech), which won the Finlandia Award, the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, the Prix Femina Étranger, and the European Book Prize. Her Czech editions also include the novels "Stalin's Cows" (2012), "The Time of Lost Doves" (2013), "Baby Jane" (2014), "Norma" (2016), and "Dog Park" (2020). In her books, she interweaves personal destinies with the history of Eastern Europe, Soviet occupation, and themes of violence, the female body, and power.

Her latest Czech-language title "Into the Same River: Putin's War Against Women" (2024) addresses Russian imperialism, the war in Ukraine, and sexual violence as a weapon of war. For her work, Oksanen has received numerous awards, including the Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy, informally known as the small Nobel Prize.

The programme lasts 60 minutes and is conducted in English.