Me, Mikko, and Annikki A Community Love Story in a Finnish City

Award-winning Finnish graphic novelist Tiitu Takalo tells the compelling story of the fight to save a historic working-class neighborhood from the threat of gentrification and concrete high-rises in her hometown in Finland

Based on a true story, this graphic novel masterfully interweaves the town of Annikki's rich history, the author's own love story with her partner, and their role in the community effort to save the neighborhood from demolition. From the formation of the landscape by prehistoric glaciers to the stories of the men and women laborers who once inhabited Annikki, Takalo explores every fascinating corner of this neighborhood she calls home. Featuring Takalo's luminous full-color art throughout, this story of a historic neighborhood's preservation is by turns thoughtful, humorous, and inspiring, and it will speak to all those who have been displaced from somewhere they love. The original Finnish text is beautifully translated and edited by Associate Professor Michael Demson and Professor Helena Halmari, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Finnish Studies.

Tiitu Takalo is a feminist Finnish cartoonist and graphic novelist. She has also taught the art of graphic novels at the Liminka School of Arts. Considered one of the most skillful comic artists of her generation in Finland, she has been nominated three times for the Sarjakuva-Finlandia comics prize, winning on her fourth nomination for the original Finnish version of this book. She received the Women's Research Award in 2010 and in 2017 received the Finnish Comics Society Puupäähattu Prize. 

Helena Halmari is professor, Department of English and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Finnish Studies. Michael Demson is associate professor of English and director of the MA Program in English, and is author of the graphic novel Masks of Anarchy, published by Verso. Both are at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.