Arja was one of the key actors making the birth of TaRC possible, and she has remained active in research even in her retirement.
Now, we can all enjoy the fruit of her and her colleagues’ work as we celebrate the publication of two books that she has recently co-edited.
The first one, Liikkuvat tekstit, liikkuvat naiset – Suomen, Venäjän ja Neuvostoliiton kirjallisella kentällä (in English: Texts on the Move – Women on the Move in the Literary Field of Finland, Russia, and the Soviet Union; Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura, co-edited with Viola Parente-Čapková and Kati Launis), focuses on Fenno-Russian literary relations from the 1840s to our time by paying special attention to the reception of female authors writing in Russian language.
Focusing on different genres and oeuvres, the book illustrates the prominent role of women as vital literary intermediaries both in Finland and Russia. According to the publisher, it “brings to light numerous women writers and cultural actors who have long languished in the shadow of Russia’s male classics, thus opening up a new perspective on the history of literary reception.”
You can peruse the book open access from the Finlit website.
The second one, Out of the USSR: Travelling Women – Travelling Memories (De Gruyter, co-edited with Eva Hausbacher, Viola Parente-Čapková, and Marja Sorvari), examines women authors’ recollections of their own and their families’ past lives after their emigration from the Soviet Union in the 1990s, and their reflections on their new country of residence.
According to the publisher, “the aim of the book is to pay attention both to women’s contribution to cultural transfer, and to the mobility of memories: for the first time, it brings women’s narratives as a form and tool to work through both individual and collective traumas to the forefront, remedying a long-standing omission in Russian and post-Soviet migration history.”
This volume is also available in open access on the De Gruyter website.
The book launch party will be held on Monday 10 November 2025, 4.15 to 6.45pm Finnish time (GMT+2) at Tampere University.
The venue is Lyhty, which is a separate hall behind the University’s main building (address: Kalevantie 4). To reach the venue, pass through the foyer on the ground floor of the main building and enter the inner yard from the door underneath the main staircase. Lyhty will then be right in front of you.
Programme (NB! The event will be held in Finnish only!)
- Opening words by Katja Lehtisaari (TaRC/Tampere University)
- Presentations of the books
- Tekstit liikkeessä: Venäläisten naiskirjailijoiden vastaanotto Suomessa 1840–2020 and Muistot liikkeessä: 1990-luvulla Neuvostoliitosta lähteneiden muistoja by Viola Parente-Čapková (University of Turku) and Arja Rosenholm (Tampere University)
- Notes on the book Liikkuvat tekstit, liikkuvat naiset
- Commentary by Mari Hatavara (Tampere University)
- Russian authors’ reception in the 21st century by Saara Ratilainen (Tampere University)
- “From a non-fiction book to a database” by Natalia Mikhaylova
- Notes on the book Out of the USSR: Travelling Women – Travelling Memories
- Commentary by Pia Koivunen (University of Turku)
- General discussion
Feel free to join us for talks and discussion! Some bubbly and refreshments will be offered.
The event is organised in co-operation by TaRC, the Russian Language study programme at the Languages Unit at the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, and the Tampere University Research Centre for Communications (Taru).
For more information on the event, please contact Dr Katja Lehtisaari (katja.lehtisaari@tuni.fi) or Professor Emerita Arja Rosenholm (arja-rosenholm@tuni.fi).
All of us at TaRC congratulate Arja on the publications and hope to see plenty of people celebrating the book launch!