When Mikaela Taivassalo learned to read at a very young age, she remembers it as discovering a secret room of her own. Words gave her a place to think and imagine. Reading eventually became writing, and writing became both a profession and a commitment to protecting the literary culture around her. In the first episode of Season 8 of Intangiblia ™ , I speak with Mikaela, author and president of the Society of Swedish Authors in Finland, about what it takes for literature to remain alive when the language itself belongs to a minority.
When a language needs its writers
Finland-Swedish literature exists within a small linguistic community. Literature gives a language depth, new expressions and new ways of understanding the world. Writers help preserve that language while also allowing it to evolve and remain relevant for new generations. This becomes particularly important as younger Nordic readers increasingly consume books and digital content in English, even when another language is their mother tongue.
Our conversation also touches on a wider concern: what happens when commercial pressure leaves less room for literature that may never become a bestseller? Mikaela compares literary diversity to an ecosystem. Popular and genre literature have an important place, but when smaller forms, voices and perspectives disappear, something is lost from the whole. For a minority-language community, grants, publishers, readers and cultural policy therefore become part of the infrastructure that allows writers to take creative risks and keeps the language itself culturally active.
Rights have to work in a changing book market
Mikaela points to some very practical things writers should watch in their publishing contracts: how long rights are granted, which rights are actually being licensed, and whether the author retains control over uses that were never intended to be transferred. These questions become even more important as one book can move through print, digital editions, audiobooks, streaming services and other formats.
Audiobook streaming makes the problem especially visible. When readers buy access to a platform rather than an individual book, authors need to understand how their work is being used and how remuneration is calculated. Mikaela returns repeatedly to transparency, and the same principle guides our discussion of artificial intelligence. For AI training and other new digital uses, she identifies three essentials: transparency, consent and fair remuneration. Technology may cross borders instantly, which is why authors and their organizations increasingly need to cooperate across Finland, the Nordic region, Europe and beyond.
Literature needs room to continue growing
What stayed with me from this conversation is how closely creativity, language and intellectual property are connected. Authors need freedom to experiment, but they also need time, professional conditions and enough control over their rights to keep writing. Mikaela’s perspective reminds us that supporting authors is also a way of supporting the languages, stories and cultural perspectives they carry. In a digital world where content can travel everywhere, protecting that diversity may be more important than ever.
Listen to “Mikaela Taivassalo: Keeping Minority Languages Alive in a Digital Book World” and join us for the first English episode of Season 8 of Intangiblia.
Intangiblia™ is a bilingual podcast available in English and Spanish.
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