When I started working as a translator of literature fifteen years ago, I thought like a typical language researcher. I had written my dissertation on language history and I had been working as a lexicographer, but I could not see the forest for the trees.

Publishing is easy in theory: choose good books, publish them and then get them on the shelves at bookstores. Sometimes you do it to get a bestseller, sometimes to make a cultural contribution. Between the two there is always room for popular fiction and thrillers for avid readers.

Doctoral studies…

When my eldest children were still little my only hobby was post-doctoral research: abstracts, presentations, travelling, articles. It was at once wonderful and terrible.

The most astonishing aspect of my career is that I managed to get a job that corresponds with my education as a language historian outside the university.

My best moments at the University of Helsinki are related to my doctoral studies and the research community, whereas I remember friendships and student life from the years previous to those times.

From a professional point of view, I dream that reading would become trendy like knitting, cooking or cross-country skiing. Everyone could work a little to make that happen.