The literary field is a garden of forking paths even in a small country like Finland. It offers a seedbed for the cultivation of the spirit, trade and simple pastimes alike. However, without professional authors and their networks with other actors in the field, both in Finland and abroad, the entire literary institution would wither, becoming infertile ground with pale sprigs of plants writhing in the dark like forgotten potato sprouts in a cellar. This concern, along with Finland’s particular geopolitical situation gave life in 1962 to the idea of organising an international writers’ reunion in Mukkula in Lahti, and since 1963 the Lahti International Writers’ Reunion (LIWRE) has been organised biennially. The Ministry of Education and Culture and the City of Lahti have funded the non-profit event, which is free to the audience. For Lahti the reunion is like a crown jewel on the city’s shield of cultural will.

The Writers’ Reunion is the foundation and bedrock of the internationalisation of Finnish literature. During the Cold War, it also offered a unique forum for writers of the east and west to meet and search for solutions to the challenges of being a writer. Despite its young age of only a little over 50 years, the reunion still seems to be Europe’s oldest regularly organised writers’ meeting.

The event has been realised over the years by a wide range of influential names in the Finnish literary scene, from Kai Laitinen to Pekka Tarkka, and from Eino S. Repo to Tuomas Anhava – the same people, to a great extent, who were behind the Eino Leino Society. It is no surprise, since the society is responsible for the content and networking of the writers’ reunion.