Skip to main content
Research

Poets relate Finnish myths to their Teesside roots

06 January 2015

 

A new book by two Teesside University lecturers explores the links between 21st century Teesside and ancient Finnish mythology.

SAMPO: Heading Further North, is a collaborative collection of poems by Andy Willoughby and Bob Beagrie and is the result of a 12 year cultural exchange scheme with Finnish poetry.

Andy and Bob are both Senior Lecturers in Creative Writing at Teesside University. Their latest book involved visits to and from Finland, workshops, translation work and touring performances and the pair worked with Finnish poets including Finland’s First Lady Jenni Haukio.

Published by Red Squirrel Press, SAMPO: Heading Further North is described as an 'exhilarating roller coaster ride of gritty beauty and shamanic magic.'

Andy and Bob retell and remix the mythical Finnish epic, Kalevala, in a molten flow of lyrical and brutal language, adding their own characters alongside the questing heroes of the myth cycle, weaving together images from their vagabond voyages around the world before bringing it all back home to the post-industrial landscape of Teesside that has spawned and inspired them.


 
 
 
Go to top menu