This is a lovely little book for academic writers who want to dip their toes into creative nonfiction but aren’t sure where to start. In Finnish, it provides a great overview of what’s been happening in the field, from creative research methods to social writing. Best of all, the three authors keep their theory and methodology brief and encourage you to apply it right away in your writing practice.
The authors all teach writing at university level. They wrote this book for their own humanities and social science students. Dr Emilia Karjula published her debut novel this year. Dr Jaana Kouri researches in religious studies and runs creative writing workshops. Dr Tiina Mahlamäki teaches history of religions and academic writing.
Together, they cover the basics undergraduates need, like writing a research diary or taking fieldwork notes. But the exercises take you much further. Any researcher could benefit from writing a letter to their ideal reader, or their own writer’s creed. As the title suggests, the more creative approaches are the most interesting. What if you worked out your ideas in a completely different genre, like a ghost story? How can you use rhythm, rhyme and your five senses to bring out what you really want to say?
If you write in Finnish, you might well have a copy already. If not, you can get Luovaa kirjoittamista tutkijoille from Vastapaino. It could be just the Christmas gift for the writer in your life!
Once you’ve got your hands on the book, and even read it yourself, you might need company. Or you might be interested but can’t read it in Finnish. Myself I know I will put off putting all those creative ideas into practice. So in the new year, I’m planning to do the exercises with the Finnish PhD network (Tohtoriverkosto, in Finnish) and multilingually with my social writing group. If you’re interested in joining us, drop me a line.
Ridge Writing Retreats 
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