Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish writer of Estonian origin, who, in her work, has addressed contemporary social problems, mainly related to human rights, and the recent history of Eastern Europe.

Oksanen's novels "Purge" and "When the Doves Disappeared" take place in Estonia during its time under occupation by foreign powers. Oksanen's central topic is violence against women, and this is the perspective through which she looks at Russia's aggression in Ukraine in her collection of his essays "Same River, Twice: Putin's War on Women."

On the one hand, Oksanen shows that misogyny is part of Russia's aggression, a kind of soft nuclear attack, and on the other hand, Oksanen points to the extent of the violence spurred by misogyny, which is unfortunately greater than we like to think.

What can one actually do about the threat of this absurd and affective violence and terror that has become an ideology? Sofi Oksanen's talk at HeadRead aims to offer some ideas to fight back against this horror.

At the 2025 HeadRead Festival, Sofi Oksanen spoke to Estonian writer Jan Kaus.

More videos with authors at the HeadRead Festival from 2025 and previous years can be found here.

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