Winner of the Tulenkantaja Prize 2021, nominated for the Finlandia and Runeberg Prizes.
Matara is about an imaginary micro nation founded by a group of boys called Matara. This fictional state is a complex society based on the Roman empire with all its rules, hierarchies and complicated infrastructure. Senators scheme in togas made of sheets, mannequins make for wives, and circus entertainments are devised to thrill the charcoal-whiskered rabble. At times one forgets one is reading a portrayal of boys at play and fears one is reading a description of reality.
Original title: Matara. Teos 2021, 310 pp.
Foreign rights: Helsinki Literary Agency, helsinkiagency.fi
