Get ready to hop into spring Scandinavian-style! Join us for a fun and festive afternoon of Nordic Easter crafts perfect for all ages. Whether you’re a seasoned crafter or just love the smell of fresh glue sticks, this hands-on workshop will bring a burst of color and tradition to your holiday season.
We’ll explore beautiful and whimsical Scandinavian Easter traditions, including:
🌼 Decorating påskris (Swedish Easter trees) 🐣 Transform into an Easter witch (påskkärringar/påskhäxor) a tradition where children dress up as witches and ask for treats 🎨 Creating bright, cheerful decorations inspired by Nordic folk art
Bring your creativity, your friends, and maybe a smock or two—this event is family-friendly and egg-stra fun! 🥚✨
Saturday, April 19th | 10am-noon
Tickets: $10 members / $20 non-members Ages: Recommended for ages 6 and up (younger kids welcome with adult help)
Space is limited, so reserve your spot early!
Saturday, April 19th | 10am – 12pm | $20pp; $10 for members | Tickets
Presented as the Library’s April film choice: TOVE’S ROOM ( TOVES VÆRELSE)
In a luxury apartment in the center of Copenhagen, set in the 1960s, Tove Ditlevsen lives with Ekstra Bladet’s editor-in-chief, Victor Andreasen, in a tumultuous marriage. When the young writer Klaus Rifbjerg comes to lunch to discuss literature, he has no idea what awaits him…
Saturday April 12th | 1pm | $10; $5 for members | tickets
In Danish with English subtitles | Biography, Drama | 73 min.
Swedish bassist/composer Bruno Råberg presents a concert for solo bass featuring his own compositions, Swedish folk melodies and jazz classics.
Bruno Råbergis an internationally renowned Swedish bass player and composer who has made 14 recordings as a leader, about 50 as a sideman, and who has performed/recorded with world-class artists including Kris Davis, Jerry Bergonzi, Terri Lyne Carrington, George Garzone, Chris Cheek, Kenny Werner, Sam Rivers, Donny McCaslin, Bruce Barth, Bob Moses, Mick Goodrick, Ben Monder, Matt Wilson, and Mike Mainieri. Listen to “Look Inside” on Spotify
“It is quite a feat to fill an entire album with exclusively engaging double bass.” Timo Kangas – Lira Musik Magazine (SE)
“This is bass playing at its most enchanting.” Ian Patterson – All About Jazz
“Bass virtuoso…remarkable new solo recording, showcasing his deep, resonant timbre .” Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe
Saturday, April 5th | 1pm | $20; FREE for members | Tickets
On April 27th, from 3:30-5:30pm, the Finlandia Foundation of Boston invites you to explore the art of Nordic printmaking in an interactive workshop led by accomplished artist Kristi Holohan.
Dive into traditional techniques with a contemporary twist, and create your very own unique prints inspired by the beauty of the Nordic aesthetic.
All skill levels are welcome to enjoy this creative experience. Participants aged 14 and above will especially find this workshop engaging and enjoyable.
Join Saija Laurla to learn Finnish travel vocabulary, useful sentences and tips on where to visit in Helsinki!
First meeting: Friday April 4th | 6 – 7:30 pm | for all 4 classes: $150; $100 for members | Tickets
*We need at least 10 registrants for classes to run*
There will be 4 meetings, starting every Friday in April.
1st meeting: Friday, April 4th
2nd meeting: Friday, April 11th
3rd meeting: Friday, April 18th
Last meeting: Friday, April 25th
Bio: Saija Laurla
Although the Finnish language can be difficult to learn, instructor Saija Laurla makes it fun and interesting. She was born in Helsinki and raised in Vantaa, the international airport city of Finland. Living accessibly to other countries, her family took her abroad two to three times a year. This gave the talkative Saija the ability to learn some French, English, Spanish, Swedish and Italian. As a young adult Saija continued traveling, always picking up words here and there continuing her interests towards different languages. In Finland Saija worked as a journalist, script writer and a TV-producer. When Saija’s husband got offered a job in the United States in 2015, Saija watched numerous popular TV shows to refresh her English as well as expose her to American culture.
In 2018, Saija had lived in the US for three years by the time she discovered the teaching position available at Saima Park, and felt comfortable to apply. The rest is history; now Saija enjoys teaching Finnish online as well as in person. If you haven’t yet met her, you will find her teaching at the Scandinavian Cultural Center.
Finlandia Foundation Boston Proudly Presents Finlandia Foundation National Performer of the Year: Violinist Charlotte Loukola.
Join us for a captivating solo performance that takes audiences on a musical journey across the globe—from the United States to South America and Europe. Charlotte’s program showcases the violin’s versatility across genres, blending her artistry with personal storytelling. Having studied at both Finland’s prestigious Sibelius Academy Youth Department and the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York, Charlotte brings technical brilliance and heartfelt passion to the stage. The performance culminates in a tribute to her Finnish roots, featuring traditional folk melodies and a nod to her great-uncle Hannes Laine, a pioneer of Finnish accordion music in New York City.
Experience the warmth and spirit of Finland through Charlotte’s remarkable violin performance—a celebration of culture, connection, and timeless music.
Join us for a book talk with author Joan Wickersham as she discusses her book No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck in conversation with author Suzanne Matson.
In this nonfiction/poetry hybrid, Wickersham meditates on a Swedish warship Vasa, which sank only minutes into its maiden voyage and lay forgotten underwater until it was found and raised more than three hundred years later.
No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck is a contemplative, strange, passionate, funny, and haunting book that both is and isn’t about the ship – a personal yet universal reckoning with mortality, and the question of what vanishes and what endures.
Saturday March 15th | 1pm | Free with registration | Tickets
ABOUT JOAN: In addition to No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck, Joan Wickersham is the author of The News from Spain and The Suicide Index, a finalist for the National Book Award. Her work has been published in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, as well as many magazines. She is a regular contributor to The Boston Globe, where her op-ed column has been running for the past 15 years.
ABOUT SUZANNE:Suzanne Matson’s two volumes of poetry are Sea Level and Durable Goods, from Alice James Books. Her four novels are The Hunger Moon, A Trick of Nature, and The Tree-Sitter, from W. W. Norton, and, most recently, Ultraviolet, from Catapult. She also has a forthcoming work of nonfiction from Duke University Press called Winnowing, about our personal and cultural relationship to “stuff.” She is a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the American Scandinavian Foundation, and was the 2023 Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year. Originally from Portland, Oregon, she attended Portland State University, the University of Washington, and is an English professor at Boston College, where she co-directs the Creative Writing Concentration.
In honor of International Women’s Day the SCC&L is screening the new documentary The Day Iceland Stood Still (Dagurinn sem Ísland stöðvaðist)
When 90% of Iceland’s women walked off the job and out of their homes one morning in 1975 the country came to a standstill. Unexpectedly funny and told for the first time, this is the true story of one day that catapulted Iceland to the world’s superpower of gender equality.
In 1975, nearly all Icelandic women walked off their jobs and out of their homes, refusing to work, cook, or care for children. This powerful strike reshaped the nation, making Iceland one of the best places in the world to be a woman. Told by the women themselves and timed for the 50th anniversary, this story is both subversive and unexpectedly funny. One activist recalls, “We loved our male chauvinist pigs, we just wanted to change them a little!” The Day Iceland Stood Still is a collaboration between U.S. director Pamela Hogan, an Equal Rights Amendment campaigner, and Icelandic producer Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir, who attended the strike at age 7. While the U.S. E.R.A. never passed, Iceland has closed over 90% of its gender gap and is committed to full equality. This story aims to inspire viewers worldwide to reimagine the possible.
Saturday, March 8th | 1pm | $10; $5 for members | Tickets
In Icelandic with English subtitles | Documentary | 70 min.
** PLEASE ONLY SIGN UP IF YOU ARE ABLE TO PREPARE A DISH TO SHARE WITH THE GROUP. THE FUN OF IT IS ABOUT THE PARTCIPATION**
What’s a cookbook club? It’s the idea is that — like a traditional book club — every month you get together as a group. Instead of talking about a book you will make a recipe from a chosen cookbook, bring it in and the group will sample the recipes and discuss the the recipes and the cookbook. If you love to cook or bake, (especially Scandi recipes) and love sharing food with friends this is the perfect place for you!
Each month we will choose a different cookbook from a Scandinavian country and pick out 15-20 recipes for people to choose from. On March 6th, 2025 we will be tasting Finnish recipes from the The Finnish Cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas.
The cookbooks we choose are available on amazon to purchase. The Finnish Cookbook
Saturday, March 1st | 1pm | $20; FREE for members | Tickets
Timothy Johnson is a Norwegian guitarist, composer, and educator, based in NYC. He has performed at world-renowned jazz clubs like Dizzy’s Club (NYC), The 55 Bar (NYC) Scullers Jazz (Boston), Smalls (NYC), and at festivals like the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival (Argentina), as well as clubs in Japan and Norway. Additionally he has appeared alongside jazz luminaries Damien Sneed, Melissa Aldana, and Neal Smith, and most recently has also performed in the award winning musical, Once on this Island.
He completed his Bachelors degree at the Berklee College of Music on scholarship, and recently completed his Masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music on scholarship, studying with guitarist Mike Moreno. He has received many prestigious awards along the way, such as the Berklee Jimi Hendrix Award, the NAMM Innovation Award, the Juvenarte composition award, placed runner up in Lee Ritenour’s Dreamcatcher Competition, and most recently was a scholarship/fellowship recipient of the Norway-Amerika Association. He appears on recordings by the award winning composer Eri Chichibu, as well as singer April Varner’s release “Hummingbird”, and is preparing to record his debut album later this year.
Sahil Warsian Acoustic Bassist and Jazz Composer from New Delhi, India, and based in Boston, MA, graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2016 with a degree in Jazz Composition. He performs regularly with various ensembles and orchestras, both jazz and classical, and hosts Friday night jam sessions at Wally’s Jazz Cafe, a historic venue established in 1947. Sahil is currently the Principal Bassist of the Boston Conservatory-Berklee Orchestra and a member of the Boston Civic Symphony. Previously, he was the Principal Bassist of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and the Terence Blanchard Jazz Composition Orchestra.
A prominent figure in Delhi’s jazz scene, Sahil helped reintroduce the Acoustic Bass to the city, performing over 350 times at various venues. He has also played with the Longwood Symphony, Harvard Summer School Orchestra, Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Metrowest Symphony Orchestra, and the Neopolitan Orchestra. At Berklee, Sahil regularly performs at recitals, film scoring sessions, and with project bands, contributing to recording sessions for both student composers and industry figures like Patrick Doyle. His studies have included renowned bassists like Susan Hagen, Ron Mahdi, and Bruce Gertz.
ABOUT JOAN: In addition to No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck, 
