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Virtual Book Talk — The Women I Think About at Night With Mia Kankimäki & Heli Serviö
January 7, 2021—1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
TUE—January 7—1 PM ET
*This program will take place as a virtual event*
On January 7, Mia Kankimäki joins us for a book talk of her The Women I Think About at Night: Traveling the Paths of My Heroes, out now in translation by Douglas Robinson! With moderator Heli Serviö, Mia Kankimäki will discuss her new novel blending travelogue, memoir, and biography as she recounts her travels around the world to retrace the steps of ten remarkable female pioneers from history.
Bored with her life and feeling stuck in her mid-40s, Mia Kankimäki decided to leave her job, sell her apartment, and travel the world to follow the paths of female explorers and artists from history who inspired her. From Tanzania and Kenya, she sought out the location where Karen Blixen of Out of Africa lived in the 1920s; in Japan, Mia attempted to cure her depression while researching famed contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama, who has voluntarily lived in a psychiatric hospital for decades. In Italy, Mia searched for the works of forgotten Renaissance women painters of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, finally finding her heroines in the portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. If these women could make it in the world hundreds of years ago, why can’t Mia?
The Women I Think About at Night is part travelogue and part thrilling exploration of the lost women adventurers of history who defied expectations in order to see—and change—the world.
The event will take place as a Zoom webinar; please ask questions in the chat or send them in advance to info@amscan.org. Registration is required; please sign up at the link above. The book was released on November 10 from Simon & Schuster. Mia Kankimäki is represented by Elina Ahlback Literary Agency and her book will be published in 17 languages; read more and see how to purchase here.