The Helsinki Science Fiction Society has announced the winner of the 2024 Tähtifantasia Award, given for the best fantasy book published in Finnish during the previous year.

• Jorge Luis Borges’ short story collection Kertomukset (published by Teos) Translated into Finnish by Anu Partanen 

The English version of the award citation says:

The Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) was a poet, essayist and fantastic prose writer who exploited the possibilities of genre fiction. Borges did not receive the Nobel Prize for literature, but he did receive, among other things, the World Fantasy prize for his life’s work.

At the heart of the collection is the Fiktioita collection, published in the 1940s, whose most famous short story is The Library of Babel. In it, Borges describes the world as an endless library whose writings contain all possible worlds. In Borges’ stories, reality appears as a maze. Behind the apparent order lies chaos, emptiness and infinity. Still, the search is its own reward and in eternity every place is a vantage point.

Borges is a clear and pleasant narrator who knows how to describe realistically and atmospherically. He lures the reader into thought games and their extreme conclusions in easy-to-follow language. Borges creates believable characters and alternative worlds with just a few sentences. There is nothing too much and nothing too little in his text.

There is humor in the stories, which reminds us of relativity and the importance of attentiveness. In them you can find perspectives on historical and contemporary phenomena. For example, the spread of conspiracy theories and the influence of information can be thought of through the topics discussed by Borges, which are deception and self-deception and the search for identity and meaning.

The award jury is composed of critics Jukka Halme and Aleksi Kuutio, Osmo Määttä of Risingshadow.net and Niina Tolonen, a book blogger. Aleksi is the chair and is also on the Board of The Finnish Critics’ Association.