Kaarina Hazard

I am spending my time at the Saari Residence writing a novel about time and the ebb and flow of time. This residency is an opportunity for me to explore and experiment with different ways of writing about time without rushing or feeling under pressure. What especially intrigues me is the passage of time as a constant state of loss, intergenerational trauma and all kinds of ways in which both matter and memory stretch across time.

My plan for the residency is to learn to approach my work through patience and gentleness, which I hope to maintain when both reading and writing. I foresee this involving a lot of lazing around and just exploring my surroundings. I intend to take full advantage of the location and history of the Saari Manor. The long heritage of the place will be a daily reminder of the meaningfulness of my choice of methodologies. I expect that the break from the daily hustle and bustle will allow me to decompress and just be – to find and follow my own natural rhythm. I am also excited and curious to meet my fellow residents. Being able to share this experience with people I have no previous knowledge of and seeing what this retreating from the world means for their work is a luxury. I am also looking forward to encounters with the local wildlife.

Kaarina Hazard is a Helsinki-based freelance writer born in Kuopio, raised in Jyväskylä and educated in Tampere, and a widow with two grown-up children. She has been a freelancer her entire working life, writing columns and television drama, teaching, translating and publishing books, contributing to public debates and acting in several films. She has won numerous awards for her work. Particular interests: Finnish language, Finland as a country and how Finland became Finland. Special skills: reading and writing.