Onerva Pictures options new biography of Nobel-prize nominated writer Sally Salminen by Ulrika Gustafsson

After discovering the forgotten story of Åland Islands born writer Sally Salminen in an extensive Helsingin Sanomat article from 2019 by Tuija Pallaste, Onerva Pictures founders Inka and Tanja Rusi reached out to writer Ulrika Gustafsson, who had recently published Min Ljusa Stad (My Bright City), a biography of Salminen.

It soon became clear that there was no one as knowledgeable about Sally’s extraordinary life than Ulrika. She also happens come from the Åland Islands, Sally’s childhood home in the Finnish archipelago. Onerva Pictures are delighted to be working with Ulrika, in order to do the inspiring life story of Sally Salminen justice and to portray her as authentically as possible.

We would also like to thank Tuija Pallaste at Helsingin Sanomat for such a riveting introduction to Sally’s story and Juha Hurme for championing Sally’s work by writing a fresh translation of her debut novel Katrina and working on a Finnish translation of her book Min Amerikanska Saga (My American Saga).

For further information:

MIN LJUSA STAD, Ulrika Gustafsson, 2019

VALOISA KAUPUNKINI, Ulrika Gustafsson, translated into Finnish by Laura Jänisniemi, 2021

THE GREAT UNKNOWN, Helsingin Sanomat 6.7.2019, Tuija Pallaste

KATRINA, Sally Salminen, 1936. Newest Finnish translation by Juha Hurme, 2018