7 top tips: where to enjoy literature and books in Helsinki year round
Ok, book lover – got your calendar ready and sleeves rolled up? This guide will help you to keep your soul nurtured with words, language and stories – and the company of other book loving people – throughout the year in Helsinki.
N.B. The dates are for 2026 and 2027 events!
Solitary
or social
1. Helsinki Book Fair
Kick off your Helsinkian book lover’s life in the biggest possible way (in the whole Nordics at least!) – with Helsinki Book Fair! Thousands of books and book loving people – readers, authors, publishers, book sellers, journalists, cultural influencers – under one roof. Four days, multiple stages, a programme of nearly a thousand different events. Newest releases, hot topics, deep discussions. And plenty of literary stuff for kids too!
When? 22.-25. October 2026
Where? Messukeskus – Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre
2. Helsinki Lit
A festival with no rushing, no loud noises, just the focused silence of the audience around you, and the voices on the stage – talking about literature, current themes and the art of writing itself. The annual international literature festival Helsinki Lit focuses primarily on translated contemporary prose. The programme is almost entirely in English.
The in-depth stage discussions between world-class international authors and Finnish writers, journalists and influencers can cause nearly meditative states of pure joy. Such is the power of literature and deep, wise conversations.
When? 21.-22. May 2027
Where? Kulttuuritalo
3. Helsinki Comics Festival & Kids’ Comic Fest
The Finnish Comics Society has been running the annual Helsinki Comics Festival already since 1979! Over the 40 years the festival has been visited by Will Eisner, Willem, Moebius, Marjane Satrapi, Morris, Joakim Pirinen, Dave McKean and Lise Myhre – to name just a few! – along with Finnish comics artists.
A whole weekend of free events in Cultural Center Stoa for both children and adults, public interviews with invited guests, panel discussions, performances, workshops and sales events for both larger publishing houses and small press creators.
Friday for kids, Saturday and Sunday for more grown up comics enthusiasts.
When? 18.-20. September 2026
Where? Cultural Center Stoa
Helsinki
Tales from
4. The House of Text
Tekstin talo, The House of Text, opened in the old bread factory in Helsinki’s Sörnäinen in 2023. It’s been a welcome and long awaited addition to the literary life of Helsinki. The multifunctional space (literally a whole house!) is home to multiple organisations and associations, and hosts a variety of public events, workshops and courses as well as the book shop Pp and popular Bar typo, which has become a real homebase for the writing, reading and text loving community.
In addition to different changing events and projects (which have included the Text Laboratory for international writers) The House organizes an annual Festival of Text and for example regular communal writing sessions in Bar typo. Check out the events programme, and join the community.
When? Next Festival of Text in February 2027
Where? Lintulahdenkatu 3
5. Helsinki Poetry Connection
Helsinki Poetry Connection is an association and a community of poetry lovers in Helsinki. HPC is known for the pioneering work it has done for the spoken-word poetry culture and the vivid open mic scene in Helsinki and elsewhere in Finland. Since it started in 2008 it has organised over 400 events.
The highly popular open mic nights, park events, workshops – and the flagship event Poetry Jam – are known for their welcoming and supportive atmosphere and the sense of belonging and community they create.
Sit back and enjoy the performances and the general warmth of community, or climb on the stage yourself. If you’ve ever dreamed of performing your own poems – here‘s where to do it!
The Ruusu Open Mic nights are multilingual and the Konepaja Spoken Word events in English.
When? Around the year.
Where? Check out the next events and locations here.
6. Read together in Helsinki
Looking for a community or group of other booklovers to read together with? Here we go:
Silent Book Club Helsinki – “the introvert happy hour”. Collective reading events in changing locations. Bring your own book, share the space with other reading people, stay, connect and share your thoughts with others after the event, if you want. You can also try the Pasila Library’s Silent Reading Club.
Piiri Media. Collective reading events, but with more emphasis on conversation. To learn about the locations and special themes of the events you need to be a Substack subscriber.
For a more traditional approach with a group of people reading the same book and discussing it, check out the book clubs by International Women’s Club of Helsinki and the events programme in Helsinki libraries. During autumn 2026 there are book clubs in English at least in Rikhardinkatu, Pasila and Myyrmäki libraries and an Asian Book Club event at Oodi.
When? Around the year.
Where? Check out the next events and locations here.
7. Write together in Helsinki
A creative block? In need of feedback? Drawer full of poems, but not sure what to do with them? Dreaming of writing a novel?
The House of Text runs Communal Writing Sessions at Bar Typo every other Thursday. Hosted in Finnish and English, writing in any language you prefer!
Literature association Nuoren Voiman Liitto organises various courses, workshops and writing groups for youth and adults. For multilingual or English groups and courses keep an eye on their page.
The Adult education institutes in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa run a number of creative writing courses each autumn and spring, some of them in English. You can also find some creative writing courses in English by the Open University.
+ so much more…
Oh yes, there is also the annual poetry festival Runokuu, and the annual Night of the Arts with its various literary events and the writer’s house Villa Kivi (picture below) with its international writers’ residence and all the Helsinki bookshops with their events and visiting authors…
To help you to stay on track you can also try Kirjallisuuskalenteri – a calendar designed specifically for book lovers.
