SAVE THE DATE!
You are invited to celebrate the launch of my debut novel, Sisu's Winter War, hosted by Latitude 46 Publishing. I hope you can join us!
Date: Sunday, October 2, 2022
Time: 2:00 PM
Place: Voima Hall
Lepokoti Building
Finlandia Village
(Off of Second Avenue)
Sudbury, ON
Pre-order your copy here.
Financial support for this event is provided from the Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers' Union of Canada. Thank you! Also, thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for supporting my novel through a Literary Creation Project Grant.
ABOUT ME
Photo Credit: Westmount Photography
Liisa Kovala is a Finnish-Canadian author living in Sudbury, Ontario with her husband, Michael, and their young adult children, Mia and Kieran.
Her debut novel, Sisu's Winter War, for which she received a Literary Creation Project Grant from the Ontario Arts Council, explores the life of a former Lotta Svärd as she navigates a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's and her fading memories of life during the Winter War.
Surviving Stutthof, published by Latitude 46, recounts her father’s experiences as a Finnish merchant marine imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. It was short-listed for a Northern Lit Award in 2018 and was translated and published by Docendo in Finland.
Liisa was delighted to receive a grant from the Ontario Arts Council for her work-in-progress, a mystery novel set in Northern Ontario during the 1930s about two Finnish domestic workers. Her most recent work-in-progress explores the nature of family as it follows a Finnish war child from Finland to Sweden and finally to Northern Ontario.
Liisa is a member of the Writers' Union of Canada, the Canadian Authors Association, and president of the Sudbury Writers' Guild. She earned a graduate certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers and a Creative Writing Certificate from the University of Toronto. Her work explores her Finnish heritage and celebrates the northern landscape she calls home.
PRAISE
Liisa Kovala has achieved something extraordinary in telling her father’s remarkable story: she has turned living history into living art. Surviving Stutthof reads like a novel, but there is never any question that it is delivering a universal truth.
The suffering is palpable, yet readers will rejoice in each of the minor victories. In this personal labor of love, the care Kovala takes in recounting her father’s experience is evident on every page. A valuable, unique addition to the canon of survivor stories.
Liisa Kovala’s Surviving Stutthof is a poignant, lyrical and atmospheric memoir ... the book is not only filled with tension and vivid imagery, but also with the complexity and unique layers of humanity.
Wayne Grady,
Award-winning author of EMANCIPATION DAY
Kirkus Reviews
Mark Leslie,
Author & Editor
EVENTS
PUBLICATIONS
MEDIA
Isän salaisuus
Suomalainen Aarne Kovala kertoi viimeisinä elinvuosinaan tyttärelleen, mitä Stutthofin kuolemanleirillä tapahtui vuonna 1945.
Timo Kiiski, Iltalehti, September 4, 2020
Aarne Kovala (1928–2018) oli vain 16-vuotias teinipoika ja merimies, kun joutui kokemaan natsi-Saksan Stutthofin kuolemanleirin kauhut. Traumoistaan hän avautui tyttärelleen vasta viimeisinä vuosinaan.
CONTACT
Please contact me at kovalaliisa@gmail.com
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Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for their support of my most recent works-in-progress. Their support of Northern writers allows us to continue sharing our words with you. To learn more about OAC grants, visit https://www.arts.on.ca/.