One of the traditions of the HeadRead literary festival is a poetry mass, this year held on 26 May at 18.00 at the Swedish St Michael’s Church. The mass is dedicated to the memory of Eha Vain, one of the initiators of the event.
Eha Vain (1954–2021) was the Cultural Secretary at the representation of the Nordic Council of Ministers in Estonia, and on her initiative, the first major international literary event was organised in the 2000s – the Nordic Poetry Festival, bringing a remarkable number of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish and Faroese poets to Tallinn, and the festival’s range grew gradually to include international guests from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia, not to mention Estonian ones. The Nordic Poetry Festival is also the source of one of the longest traditions of HeadRead, the Sunday poetry mass held for years at the Niguliste Museum. This year, the mass is held at the Swedish St Michael’s Church.
On 26 May at 18.00, many renowned nordic authors will perform on the initiative of the Nordic Council of Ministers: Swedish prose writer and poet Eva Runefelt, Finnish author and actor Susanne Ringell and Finnish poet Juha Kulmala. Music is provided by Villu Veski, Tiit Kalluste and Kaisa Kuslapuu. Eha’s translations will be read by actors Toomas Tross, Haide Männamäe and Rain Simmul. Eeva Park and Jan Kaus, Eha’s colleagues from the Nordic Poetry Festival days, will read their commemorative poems; Triin Soomets and Indrek Hirv will also perform.
The event is jointly organised by the Estonian Office of the Nordic Council of Ministers and the HeadRead festival.
You can read more about the event on the website of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
The HeadRead Literary festival is held from 24 to 28 May in various venues across Tallinn.
See you at the festival!
Press enquiries
Mari Rebane
press@headread.ee
503 7930