Literature | Pirkko Saisio’s biography moves forward a year, and it has not been canceled, as fans thought – “I’m talkative and rambunctious”

Heini Junkkaalan written by Pirkko Saisio – Inappropriate – biography was supposed to be published next month, but now the publication of the book has been postponed a year.

However, it has not been canceled as some fans on Facebook Lovers of literature -group were afraid. The misinformation probably spread because libraries canceled reservations for the book.

The delay in publication is also not due to a quarrel or a misdemeanor between the author and the subject, as is sometimes the case when the subject of a biography is offended by the author.

“The reason is simply that I am talkative and rambling. And Heini so ambitious”, Pirkko Saisio tells over the phone.

“I am ungodly verbose when expressing myself and I also tell stories. Sometimes I feel that Hein has to distance himself from me, so that I no longer tell anything juicy that he has to include.”

“We decided, in agreement with the publisher, that the most sensible thing is to postpone the publication by a year”, says Pirkko Saisio. Pictured are Marja Packalén, Heini Junkkaala and Pirkko Saisio in 2019. Picture: Sami Kero / HS

When interviewing Saisio, Junkkaala accumulated another hundred hours of tape, all of which he transcribed. In addition, he already had a huge amount of material from two plays. Junkkaala has directed and written the script together with Saisio and Marja Packalén’s with plays for the KOM theater Waiting (2009) and A liar’s wig (2019), which draw from the lives of Saisio and Packalén. Both plays were huge successes.

Junk food tells Helsingin Sanomat that it would have been possible for him to complete the biography in the original schedule, but he himself wished for more time to complete it.

“I had written the book really intensively and I realized that I need a little distance from the text before making the final version, so that I can figure out, for example, what things I want to emphasize in it,” says Junkkaala.

“I think Saikki also deserves a finished and good book about himself.”

Biography the publication was postponed until next autumn, because in the meantime Junkkaala is preparing a documentary show for the National Theatre Drop, which premieres in February. It is the final part of the trilogy that the previous shows were Gay mom (2018) and Axel – solo for male voice (2018).

However, he says that the main reason for the extra time was that he has never done such an extensive job before.

“Life has many times more words than my plays, and the methods are also partly new to me. It is a prose work and a non-fiction book in which the author talks about Saisio to him. It differs a lot from the style of my plays,” says Junkkaala.

“Furthermore, the work will be wider than I thought.”

Corona also affected work. The cost agreement was signed in January 2020, just one month before the pandemic spread to the world and closed both schools and kindergartens.

“Everyone remembers what it meant in family life when the children stayed at home and the parents tried to do their work at the same time.”

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According to Pirkko Saisio and Marja Packalén, the best thing about getting older is that there is nothing to be ashamed of – Now the women bring their painful memories to the stage