The camera lens hovered over my shoulder as the sheet of interview topics wavered in my hands. My father looked uncomfortable in his easy chair when I reminded him to speak Finnish, despite my English questions. A problem, I thought, since I don’t speak my father’s native tongue. I watched his expression transform with the recollection of seventy-year-old memories conjured from some deep place that he had buried for so long. I did not need to understand his words. Every moment was written on his face.
Liisa Kovala is a Finnish-Canadian teacher and writer living in Sudbury, Ontario with her husband and two children. She is a member of the Canadian Authors Association and Sudbury Writers’ Guild. Her fiction and non-fiction pieces have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas in Canada, CommuterLit.com, Sudbury Living, Canadian Stories and Canadian Teacher Magazine. Her family memoir The Day Soon Dawns was self-published in March 2015. Liisa’s work explores her Finnish heritage and her northern community. For more information visit www.liisakovala.com.
Watch the trailer for The Day Soon Dawns here:
A Quiet Courage 