Finland celebrates Swedish Week every year in November, as it coincides with Swedish Day on 6 November. This year Swedish Week falls on 2–8 November. The City of Helsinki is arranging many fun events throughout the week at several of its locations across the city.
“Helsinki is a bilingual city, so Swedish is naturally a part of everyday life in Helsinki. Still, it’s good to have an annual event that celebrates the Swedish language. The Swedish Week programme that the city has put together is both high-quality and interesting, and I hope it will spark interest in Helsinki's Swedish-speaking culture amongst people who are not yet familiar with it. Come and celebrate with us!” said Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov.
Helsinki is a bilingual city, and Swedish is an integral part of everyday life in Helsinki. At the same time, it is wonderful to have an annual event that puts the Swedish language in the spotlight. Swedish Week offers a high-quality and engaging programme. I hope the week will spark curiosity about the city’s Swedish-language culture also among those who are not yet very familiar with it.
At the Vuotalo cultural centre in eastern Helsinki, the Swedish Week programme will start on Tuesday 3 November with ‘Du vet hur det känns ibland’, a show featuring actress Johanna Ringbom and musician Iiro Salmi performing music by the folk singer Olle Adolphson. On Wednesday 4 November, the domestic films ‘En av oss’ and ‘Barn nummer 182’ will be screened. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the directors, Niina Vuorisara and Camilla Roos. The audience is invited to take part in the discussion in Finnish or Swedish. On Swedish Day, 6 November, the multilingual children’s opera ‘Giellavealgu’ is on the programme, and the week will conclude at Vuotalo on Saturday 7 November with ‘Maestro & Bettina’, in which Bettina Sågbom will meet will radio and television editor, troubadour and Moominpappa Benny Törnroos. Henrik Wikström will play the piano.
Parties, quizzes, author visits and a family carnival
The Swedish Week party for young people at the Tiivistämö venue in Helsinki's Suvilahti is set to continue in 2026, following last year’s debut. This year, the party is for ninth graders from the Swedish-speaking schools and language immersion classes in Helsinki. The programme includes a Swedish Day quiz and performances by young artists ‘Skrattattack’ and the new rising star Ella Herold, a Swedish speaker. Although the quiz is aimed at secondary school students, everyone is welcome to take part via the city's online video service, Helsinki Channel. No prior knowledge is required to participate in the quiz, but an interest in your hometown will certainly help!
At Helsinki Central Library Oodi, people looking to practise their Swedish can participate in a language café on Wednesday 4 November. The café is arranged in cooperation with Luckan, the Finland-Swedish Information and Cultural Centre. There will also be talks with the author Maria Turtschaninoff for school groups, who must pre-register via Kultus, and on Thursday, with the author Kjell Westö. For the youngest children, there will be cinema showings on Friday and Saturday. A film adaptation of the book ‘Emilia och de små tanterna’ will be screened on Friday and ‘Emilia och lyckan’ on Saturday. The cinema is aimed at children under the age of seven. Saturday continues with a family carnival organised by Barnavårdsföreningen in cooperation with Helsinki Central Library Oodi. In addition, the Rikhardinkatu Library is set to host the exhibition ‘Bo Carpelan 100’ to mark the 100th anniversary of the author’s (1926–2011) birth.
The Annantalo Arts Centre will be hosting a workshop on drawing comics on Saturday at 11.00–14.00. Participants in the drop-in workshop can try their hand at creating a comic strip. At the same time, the building will be hosting Finland’s largest children’s book exhibition, with free entry.
Punk, easy Swedish and piano music at Arbis
At the museum Villa Hakasalmi, visitors during Swedish Week can experience the exhibition PUNK! 50 years of buzz in the streets of Helsinki. The Helsinki City Museum’s new main exhibition on Helsinki will also be open during Swedish Week, taking visitors on a journey through Helsinki’s history from the Stone Age to the present day. Texts for both exhibitions are available in Swedish throughout.
Professor Camilla Lindholm will be giving a lecture at Arbis, Helsinki's Swedish Adult Education Centre in Töölö, on Monday 2 November at 17.00 under the heading ‘Svenska för alla?’ (‘Swedish for everyone?’). The talk will focus on using simple Swedish in Finland and on how we can make the language easier to understand. The lecture is open to everyone at no charge. On Wednesday and Thursday, pianist Olivier Wu will be performing traditional folk songs and classical pieces during lunchtime, 11.30–12.30, at the Arbis café.