A novel about violence, trauma and memory, the jury voted it the best Finnish-language first novel of the year.
The prize is awarded annually to the best first book in Finnish. The literary prize amounts to EUR 15 000.
Susanna Hast, 41, has a PhD in social sciences and is an associate professor of artistic research. Born in Sweden, Hast, who spent her childhood in Rovaniemi and now lives in Helsinki, told Helsingin Sanomat earlier that she felt compelled to write *Rooms/rooms*.
– I had to file away the violence and its systematic nature. I wanted to mourn my destruction in public. Even if I had tried to write another story, I would have always ended up writing this one,” Hast said.
According to the award jury, the personal experience in the work is based on extensive social, literary and philosophical material. The narrative is not about the victimization of one person, but about a subjugating and violent structure that does not seem to change, the panel writes in its reasoning.