On October 10, join us for a virtual book talk with acclaimed Finnish-Estonian author Sofi Oksanen on her new novel The Dog Park. With moderator Bethanne Patrick, she’ll discuss the writing of the novel, an international bestseller out in translation by Owen Frederick Witesman from Knopf on September 21.

A captivating story of intrigue, betrayal, and murder in the global fertility market from Oksanen, “an international publishing sensation frequently likened to Stieg Larsson” (The Guardian), The Dog Park begins in Helsinki, 2016. Olenka sits on a bench, watching a family play in a dog park, as a stranger sits down beside her. Olenka startles; she would recognize this other woman anywhere — after all, Olenka was the one who ruined her life. And this woman may be about to do the same to Olenka. Yet, for a fragile moment, here they are, together — looking at their own children being raised by other people.

Moving seamlessly between modern-day Finland and Ukraine in the early days of its post-Soviet independence, The Dog Park is a keenly observed, dark, and propulsive novel set at the intersection of East and West, centered on a web of exploitation and the commodification of the female body.

Sofi Oksanen brings fearless psychological acuity to this captivating story about a woman unable to escape the memory of her lost child, the ruthless powers that still hunt her, and the lies that could well end up saving her.

This 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. This event has been organized in collaboration with Politics & Prose in Washington D.C.; click here to pre-order the book.

“A dystopian novel that seems all too real”—Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, the Prix Femina Étranger, the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize, and the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She lives in Helsinki.

About the Moderator

Bethanne Patrick is a writer and book critic whose work appears frequently in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and many others. She features literature in translation in her LitHub column “Books You May Have Missed” and is a board member of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and at 1455 Literary Arts. Patrick, who has visited and loves Helsinki, also belongs to the Finnish Embassy’s Platinum Diplomatic Sauna Society as well as its new Diplomatic Sauva Society. Her book, LIFE B, will be published in 2022. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @TheBookMaven