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Karo Hämäläinen

Karo Olavi Hämäläinen
Born June 11, 1976, Mikkeli

Master of Arts 2008 (literature), University of Helsinki

Editor in chief 2014–, Parnasso
Writer 2000–
Literary critic (currently with Suomen Kuvalehti) 1994–

Journalist 2000–2005, Arvopaperi
Editor in chief 2007–2014, Kiiltomato.net
Managing editor, Arvopaperi, 2010–2013

Posts and expert positions:
Member of the Library Grant Committee’s literature division, 2015–
Member of the programming committee for the Vanhan kirjallisuuden päivät book fair, 2014–
Critic for various literary organisations and prize committees

Awards:
Tampere City prize for creative writing, 2012

Photo: WSOY/Harri Hinkka
Written by Karo Hämläinen (Kaija Hartikainen, ed.)
Translated by Matthew Billington

My best memories from the University of Helsinki

Architecture has always had a big effect on my mood. The old part of the University’s main building had just been renovated when I began studying. I stared in speechless admiration at the tall ceilings and the statues lining the corridors. Sitting in the lecture rooms in the new part of the building, I felt part of a long tradition, and it seemed I had entered the home of science and knowledge. In my first year, I took many courses in Finnish language, at what was unquestionably the toughest department of Finnish language in the world.

The individual series of lectures I remember best was professor H.K. Riikonen’s lectures on letters and the history of letter-writing. To me those kind of lecture series with no practical benefit or application represented intellectual freedom, a kind of beautiful impracticality useful for that very reason.

The main building at the University of Helsinki. Photo: Mika Federley.

 

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