Stories, art and culture: Pride Week at Mikkeli Library

The Mikkeli Regional Library will take part in Mikkeli Pride Week by organising a variety of themed events from 18 to 22 August.

In the two weeks leading up to the Mikkeli Pride event on Saturday 23 August, a special exhibition titled Lumme with Pride will be on display at the main library from 11 to 25 August. The exhibition showcases a wide selection of LGBTQ+ literature available in the Lumme libraries. All items in the exhibition are available for loan.

Mikkeli Pride Week officially begins at the main library on Monday 18 August with a photography exhibition by Jenny Albrecht and Samuli Arkko, which has also gained national attention. Suuri persenäyttely (“The Great Ass Exhibition”) encourages self-love and body respect, regardless of what one’s bottom or body looks like. The exhibition features sixteen works accompanied by texts and will be open until Friday 29 August.

On Tuesday 19 August, the autumn season of the Cultural Cafés at Mikkeli main library will begin. The guests will be researcher Sandra Hagman and author, journalist, literary critic, and poet Artemis Kelosaari. Hagman will give a lecture at the Pride Cultural Café on the history of homosexuality in Finland from a Savonian perspective, and Kelosaari will read their rainbow-themed poetry. The event will be hosted by librarian Pasi Karppanen. The lecture and poetry reading are in Finnish.

The Pride Cultural Café is a collaboration between the Mikkeli Regional Library, the Mikkeli University Consortium, and Osuuskumma, and will take place in the Mikkeli Hall of the main library on 19 August from 16:30 to 18:00.

Before the main Pride Day, the main library will host a series of three story hours (in Finnish) on Thursday 21 August. The Under the Rainbow story hours, which explore life in a rainbow family, teach that every family is unique and important, even if it has its own special characteristics. The story hours will take place in the children’s section of the main library at 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00.

The Mikkeli Pride event will be held on Saturday 23 August, beginning at 13:00 in Kirkkopuisto Park.