In today’s episode of The Nordic Reader, we are joined by literary translator Mia Spangenberg to chat about her translation of Pirkko Saisio’s Lowest Common Denominator. Originally published in Finnish in 1998, Mia’s English translation is published by Two Lines Press in the US, and by Penguin Random House in the UK.
Mia translates from Finnish, German and Swedish into English. After studying German and Russian literature during her undergraduate years, she went on to get her PhD in Scandinavian studies, with a focus on Finnish literature and cultural studies. Mia graduated from the FILI Finnish to English literary translation mentorship programme in 2017, and translates fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature. In 2021, she received an honourable mention for the Nadia Christensen Prize for an excerpt of her translation of Pirkko Saisio’s The Red Book of Farewells, and in 2024, she won this same prize for an excerpt of her translation of Lowest Common Denominator.
Pirkko Saisio is one of Finland’s most iconic writers. An author, actress and director, Saisio has been nominated for Finland’s most prestigious literary prize, the Finlandia award, 7 times. She won it in 2003 for The Red Book of Farewells, the third volume of her Helsinki Trilogy. Her work has also won numerous other awards, including the J. H. Erkko Award, the Aleksis Kivi Prize and State Literature Award, amongst others.
In Lowest Common Denominator, Pirkko Saisio transports us to the 1950s Finland of her youth, where she navigates life as an only child of communist parents. Convinced she will grow up to become a man, a young Pirkko keeps trying and failing to meet the expectations of the adults around her.
With wit and style, Saisio captures the heart-wrenching intensity of childhood feeling, merging fever dreams with sensory-laden memories as each formative experience – with the Big Bad Wolf, a bikini-clad circus announcer, and Jesus Christ himself – drives her further and further from her family and others. Struggling to understand her place in the world around her, it’s in language that she discovers a refuge and a way to be seen at last.
Find more information about Mia’s work here: https://www.miaspangenberg.com/
See more of Mia’s translations here: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2026-06/a-sami-womans-sin-imagining-other-peoples-sex-lives-west-spangenberg/
Books Mentioned:
Lowest Common Denominator - Pirkko Saisio
Backlight - Pirkko Saisio
The Red Book of Farewells - Pirkko Saisio
I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman
The Wall - Marlen Haushofer
The Inheritors - William Golding
The Mirror Visitor Quartet - Christelle Dabos
The Letter for the King - Tonke Dragt
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante
Guest: Mia Spangenberg
Producer and Host: Mia Todd
Co-host: Francis Neale
Editing and Marketing: Hanna Todd
