MP30 – Authors from Rauma

Old Rauma, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2021. Old Rauma was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991 as a unique example of a living and well-preserved old Nordic tree city.

Part 15 of the 30 Years of Old Rauma as a World Heritage Site series features writers from Rauma.

Authors from Rauma

Rauma is home to many famous writers and masters of the Rauma language. Among them, Hj. Nortamo is known for his Rauma stories, Väinö Suojamaa for his research into the history of the city, Tauno Koskela for his poetry and dialect books, and Tapio Koivukari for his short stories and novels, in which the Rauma language also appears.

Hj. Nortamo or Frans Hjalmar Nordling (1860-1931) was Rauma’s first honorary mayor. In 1930, Nortamo-Seor was founded, whose mission is still to preserve the literary heritage of Nortamo and the Rauma language and seafaring tradition.

Nortamo’s main works are the Rauma Jarrings, which have been published in several books. They are descriptions of Rauma, its old seafaring culture and its inhabitants, presented in the Rauma dialect and with fresh humour.

Väinö Suojamaa (1878-1968) was a distinguished researcher of the history of the Rauma region. His main work is considered to be Old Dear Rauma, published in 1948. Murre, the old town, old well-known buildings and famous people who lived in the past, the harbour, ships and the sea are among the subjects of Suojamaa’s books. Suojamaa also wrote religious literature.

Tauno Koskela (1916–2002) tunnettiin Rauman kielen vaalijana, määrittäjänä ja opettajana. Koskelan taiteellinen tuotanto on pienimuotoista, muun muassa runoja ja murrenovelleja. Sekä Koskelan runoissa että murrejutuissa tärkeä aihe on omakohtaisesti eletty sota.

Tauno Koskela (1916-2002) was known as a guardian, definer and teacher of the Rauma language. Koskela’s artistic output is small-scale, including poems and dialect novellas. In both his poems and dialect stories, an important theme is the war as experienced first-hand.

The short stories in Tapio Koivukar’s (1959-) collection Strawberry Fields, Forever and Ever are set in the sea, an archipelago, a small town, Lapland or the countryside ravaged by the recession. Koivukari depicts people and their lives near and at the mercy of nature.

The bookshelves of many people in Rauma also include works by non-fiction writers Markku Vainio and Tapio Niemi, and poet Heli Laaksonen.

You can find out more about Rauma’s authors on the Rauma Library website. You can also learn the Rauma language on the Nortamo-Seora YouTube channel.