Being a child of a child of war – Anna Takanen, Mia Franck and Nina Santavirta

During WWII 70,000 Finnish children were sent to Sweden. Some returned to Finland, while others stayed. Traces of everyone’s unique stories can still be found today. Actor and author Anna Takanen and author Mia Franck are both children of children of war, and both have conveyed in their literary works their experiences and how their parents being children of war has affected their lives

Researcher Nina Santavirta has done a lot of research on the subject and, among other things, on how experiences of being a child of war have affected future generations. In their discussion, the three unravel the lessons that we can draw from these countless stories, and how we can talk about and open up this sensitive topic that has affected and still does affect several generations.

During her almost 30 years in the world of theatre, Anna Takanen has acted, directed, and worked as a theatre director at the Gothenburg City Theatre and the Stockholm City Theatre. She gave the 2020 summer interview for Sveriges Radio. In early June, she was made Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland for her efforts in Finnish-Swedish relations. She is now appearing on stage for the first time in Finland with her own performance “Sörjen som blev”, which is based on her book of the same name. It will premiere at the Lilla Teatern theatre on 1 September.

Mia Franck is an author and writing course teacher. As a writing course teacher, she provides the one-year writers’ school at the Västra Nyland adult education college. She has a background as a researcher in literary studies and also works as a writer, delving into a variety of topics, including people’s humanity or monstrosity, and especially silence practices. In the novel Bombträdgården (2018), Franck wrote about Finnish children of war, inspired by her mother’s experiences. Prominent in the story are various kinds of madness brought about by war. In the autumn of 2021, her fifth novel Galanterna will be published by Förlaget M.

Nina Santavirta is a researcher at the University of Helsinki. She has researched topics such as trauma transmission, how future generations are affected by the experiences of previous generations, and how the movements and evacuation of children of war have affected their lives.

In cooperation with Lilla Teatern