Kalevala

A legend from the north
A masterful retelling by Tilman Spreckelsen , magnificently illustrated by Kat Menschik : Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.

208 pages. Hardcover. 17 x 23 cm.

In 1828, a young Finn named Elias Lönnrot set out into the remote Karelian forests, swamps, and lakes to collect the melodies of the famous kantele singers (a kind of hybrid of village wise men, shamans, and musicians). He would undertake a total of eleven journeys, covering approximately 20,000 kilometers on foot, skis, or rowing, collecting 65,000 verses.

Lönnrot was convinced that all these songs were once one great, coherent epic, and he put the songs together...

He named the fantastic long poem that emerged from this, which tells of the rivalry between a northern kingdom called Pohjola and the south, of the creation of the world, magicians, singers, bridal journeys, magic mills and legendary wealth, Kalevala.

With the Kalevala, Lönnrot laid the foundation for Finnish literature. His characters are folk myths and even became role models for the struggle for independence in formerly Russian-occupied Finland. Fantasy writers like Tolkien, composers like Sibelius, and even the Donald Duck illustrators (The Hunt for the Gold Mill) were inspired by them. In 2011, Tilman Spreckelsen and Kat Menschik followed in Elias Lönnrot's footsteps to Finland and the inaccessible regions of what is now once again Russian Karelia.

Now Tilman Spreckelsen retells the Kalevala (and Elias Lönnrot's search for it) in prose, and Kat Menschik provides this firework of fantastic stories with magnificent illustrations.

Tilman Spreckelsen is a literary editor at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). His retellings of the legends The Murderous Fire of Örnolfsdalur, Kalevala, and The Hero in the Leopard Skin are published by Galiani, and his Arthurian compendium The Grail Miracle and Dragon's Dream is published by Anderen Bibliothek. His crime novel The North Sea Grave was awarded the Theodor Storm Prize of the city of Husum in 2014. His novels The North Sea Ghost and The North Sea Oath followed. In 2017, he was the first Grimm Citizen Lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt and the city of Hanau.

Kat Menschik is a freelance illustrator. Her Favorite Books series is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Numerous books she has illustrated have won awards. Her most recent publications are Homemade Gifts to Eat, Leaving the House, and Boy from West Berlin.

Here you can find out more about mythology and Finland .