Published in 1998, ‘After Having Spent a Night Among Horses’ (Swedish: Efter att ha tillbringat en natt bland hästar) is a poetry collection by Finnish poet Tua Forsström that won the ‘Nordic Council Literature Prize’ in 1998. Tua Forsström was born in Porvoo in Finland and is best known as a poet, but has also written revues, radio plays, closet plays, cabarets and texts for an oratorio and a cantata. Her mother tongue is Swedish, and she is considered one of the most important Swedish-language writers in Finland, having received a wealth of literary honours. ‘After Spending a Night Among Horses’ is a collection of 26 poems in the form of addressed letters, often to Russian film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky, and can be described as a collage that often presents quotations from literature and movies. Nature and animals, including horses, are a key component in Tua Forsström’s literature: animals represent freedom to be and to feel, and also the frailty of life. According to the Adjudicating Committee, Finnish writer Tua Forsström’s “After Spending a Night Among Horses” is a multifaceted collection of poems, with streaks of humour and sorrow. It is thematically coherent, musical and has a strong presence in the present.
