Juha Vuorinen’s new book was almost unfinished – This is the life of a favorite author in Spain

Juha Vuorinen smiles widely on the terrace of a cafe in hot Helsinki.

The writer who lives in Spain has returned to Finland a while ago and has a lot to tell.

Vuorinen’s new novel is called Puerto Anús. It is already the fifth part of the DikDek book series parodying detective stories. Tapsa Mäkilä, who is once again an adventurer as a private investigator and watchman, and his fearless friends Händi and Käppers, and of course a whole bunch of familiar and previously unknown characters, one more crazy than the other, are in the main roles.

Puerto Anús is not only unbridledly raucous and raucous, but also Vuorinen’s longest work. More than 500 pages long. Despite the length of the work, the story progresses at an unrestrained pace and the main characters end up not only in Finland, but also on adventures around the world.

However, it was close to never finishing the book. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a terrible tragedy that deeply shocked Vuoris and made him even consider abandoning his entire latest book.

After all, Vuorinen had been written From Puerto Anú already a long time ago and initially the Russian oligarch and his son played a big role in the story. After the war started by Russia, Vuorinen realized that it would no longer be possible, because he did not want the characters in question to be part of his book. At first, Vuorinen wasn’t even sure if he would be able to make the story work at all.

In the end, he came up with a solution, which he believes only improved the book: The Russian oligarch became a rich Azerbaijani woman, and the story, which was already hilarious at the beginning, took even more hilarious turns.

“Even deeper reflection”

Vuorinen is extremely analytical and self-critical. Although his works may be considered “light newsstand literature”, he does a lot of research for them, polishes his text to a diamond over and over again and thinks about how the text works on paper and on the other hand as an audio book.

– When writing DikDek books, I get to satisfy many things that fascinate me. Testing the limits of humor, imagination trips to strange places, and hidden between the lines is also a little deeper reflection on the intricacies of the human mind, says Vuorinen.

In the midst of the destruction and suffering brought by the Russian war of aggression, Vuorinen also went through his own role as an entertainer for Finns. In the end, he came to the conclusion that in times like these, humor is needed perhaps more than ever, because it can help us get through difficult times.

– I have only one goal: To make people laugh. What is important in the midst of all this gloom, Vuorinen says seriously and soon cracks a joke that lightens the mood, which inspires the man himself to laugh out loud.

The article continues after the picture.

“Exciting as hell”

A couple of years ago, Vuorinen made a big change in his life by selling his entire production to the Bazar publishing house owned by WSOY. Was it exciting to write the first piece for Bazar?

– Actually, now that the book is out, I’m really excited. That I still have a mandate from the people to be the scribe of the Finnish people’s antics, says Vuorinen.

The author is happy that his old works have gained immense popularity as audiobooks.

– Without the amazing audiobook boom, which brought my old books to people’s ears, I would have been in a very special position to revive a book series that had been on hiatus for 14 years.

Life in Spain

After the years spent in Malta and Spain, Vuorinen lived with his family for a while in Finland, but has now been living in Spain again since last fall. There he gets to enjoy his life and writing.

– Life in Spain is significantly calmer than in Finland. There I can focus on two things: Family life and writing. Everything else stays in Finland, says Vuorinen.

– I personally don’t like the heat, so in late spring and early autumn it is sometimes difficult to live in Spain, but otherwise the climate is perfect for me. Others are annoyed by the “mañana mood”, but I have tried to learn from it. It’s not even worth destroying your own world if everything doesn’t always happen with the snap of your fingers like a flamenco dancer.

World conquest

Vuorinen’s works are already familiar to many Finns, and their bursting message of joy is of course already being spread elsewhere in Europe. The first part of the DikDek series has already been translated and published in German and we are currently in the process of finding a suitable audiobook reader.

– I have been able to participate in the process and I think we might have a reader with just the right gravelly voice. The book will be published in the fall. The other parts of the series will appear later. At the moment, work is also underway to find a suitable reader for Juoppohullu’s diary translated into Swedish, which means that it will also be published next fall, Vuorinen reveals.

The first two parts of the “Diary of a drunkard” series have also been translated into English and have already been read as audiobooks.

– The audiobook boom is in such different stages around the world that publisher choices have to be made tongue in cheek.

In the past, Vuorinen’s books have of course also been published in Switzerland, Norway, Austria and Estonia.

The hearing of the Hilma dog

Finally, of course, you have to ask what is up with Vuorinen’s beloved Hilma dog. The sympathetic dog that often appears on the author’s social media has melted the hearts of many Finns.

– Hilma was bursting with joy when, after nine months spent in Spain, she got to party with her best friend’s neighbor Alma, Vuorinen says.

The author reveals that he is very dumbfounded by Hilma’s popularity.

– He also charmed people in Spain, and there the reason could not be that the hava is actively on my social network, because nobody knows anything about me or my dog ​​there. On the other hand, here in Finland, while moving around with Hilma, I surprisingly often hear the question, Can I take a selfie with Hilma? So I’ve already come second to the dog. Fortunately for mine, Vuorinen smiles.

And what kind of greetings would Hilma send to Iltalehti’s readers?

– If I heard Hilma’s thoughts correctly, she recommends Iltalehti readers to walk with their muzzles up, but only physically. Summer smells so lovely.

Puerto Anús, published by Bazar, was published as a traditional paperback and as an audiobook on June 16, 2023.