Elisa Poutanen (b. 1989) has been writing since childhood, but has focused more intensively on writing over the past ten years. Apart from her blog Saa tuijottaa (2014–2018), Poutanen has never before published her texts.
Some of the pieces presented at the festival date back about nine years, when Poutanen struggled for years with chronic pain and the resulting mental health challenges. Her writings are deeply personal, reflecting on subjects such as existence, relationships, emotions, the past, and love. They form part of an unfinished manuscript tentatively titled Riko minut hellästi (“Break Me Gently”), addressed to life. It is Poutanen’s dream to publish the work one day. Nowadays, she rejoices in a pain-free life as a mother of three, which has brought great lightness and happiness to both her life and her writing.
Curators’ Comments: “Poutanen writes arresting scenes of moments where one falls outside the world. A skilled prose writer, her textual universe could be described as a map of life.”
