Our Southern Hemisphere Estonian Book Club dialled into Helsinki on 26 October to meet award-winning author Urmas Vadi — and yes, we loved him. Suddenly, the whole hemisphere leaned a little closer to their screens.
No, it’s not every day that one of Estonia’s most accomplished writers logs in from the other side of the world — from the Finnish Book Fair, no less — just to talk to Estonians scattered across Australia and New Zealand. It was a special treat. We expected a book chat; what we got instead was a masterclass in writing, memory, parenting and existential humour.
The writer behind the pages
Urmas Vadi was charming. He was generous. He made us laugh. (He has no idea who I am, yet I’d still call him a friend — that’s how instantly relatable he was. A rare gift.)
Urmas gave us more than a book talk. He let us peek behind the curtain of Kuu teine pool (“The Other Side of the Moon”), shared stories from his own childhood, and reminded us — very sweetly — that writers are also parents, partners, taxi drivers for eleven-year-olds, and people who must fix things around the house… and still somehow make space for art.
One of the most surprising parts of the evening was how practical he was about writing. There was no “I retreat to a cabin for six weeks and commune with the muses”. Instead: I get up early, sneak to another room, write fast, don’t faff about — it’s work. He said, “I didn’t want to be the father who disappears into work. I wrote in the mornings — fast — before the kids woke up.”
(Somewhere in Zoom-land, half of us sighed aaah, and the other half decided to start writing a novel immediately.)
Funny, painful and recognisable
Our club asked him about craft — did he plan it all, or just start? He said he first wrote down the main events and “knots”, but then, once he begins writing, “a second life opens up” and the characters start growing on their own. Sometimes they even “begin to overgrow the room” — like the wonderfully odd neighbour Reet in Kuu teine pool, who simply insisted on being in the book. That was lovely to hear for the writers among us: let the characters surprise you.
Urmas said he hadn’t planned to write this book at all — the impulse came when his mother fell ill, and after she passed, he knew he had to. About seventy per cent of the novel is drawn from real life, the rest from imagination — yet it’s all told with that unmistakable Vadi blend of affection, absurdity and razor-sharp observation.
The book is both sad and funny — like life itself. We talked about that chilling childhood line from his mum (“If you don’t behave, my heart will stop”) and the bittersweet paradox that the same mother later lay in bed for months with a heart that simply refused to stop. That’s Vadi: he puts the softest and the hardest in the same paragraph.
The Soviet childhood starter pack
Several of us said the novel sent us straight back to childhood — even to those corners we don’t usually want to revisit — like a torchlight sweeping across 1980s rooms, characters and worries.
Because yes, there’s Soviet-era texture all through the book: the closed-room feeling, the identical Eastern European jackets, people fixing their own cars and teeth… the “we were ready to eat potato peels for freedom” era, the “always have salt, matches and candles in case you need to leave” mindset. For those of us who grew up with parents who still stockpile, it struck a very familiar chord.
Urmas said one reason he writes this way is to give his own children a glimpse of that time — so that when they read about someone getting an Ozzy Osbourne cassette, they’ll understand why it was such a big deal.
Diaspora talks
Because this was our book club — Lõunapoolkera readers meeting Estonian authors across the world — the chat naturally turned to väliseestlus (being an Estonian living abroad). Urmas remembered meeting Estonians overseas who categorised people by the red in their folk costumes or by the wine they drank — those on red wine were apparently communists, he joked. Then admitted it wasn’t entirely a joke; some people actually believed it. (I was horrified — and also slightly amused.)
Urmas is no stranger to Australia. He reminisced about his backpacking days — Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, even a wild-weather moment near Brisbane — so it felt like talking to someone who genuinely knows our corner of the world. For a moment, the distance between Estonia and Australia shrank to the size of a Zoom screen — just a few squares of faces, and yet a shared language, laughter and memory stretching 15,000 kilometres.
After Urmas logged off… we stayed
Urmas wrapped up the evening with his own appreciative nod: “My most important readers are Estonians.” And when someone asked for recommendations, he smiled: “Right now, Estonian women are writing the coolest books.”
After he logged off, nobody wanted to leave. We lingered on Zoom, swapping stories — about books, about how we read (apparently someone reads five books at once!), and about how lucky we are to meet brilliant Estonian authors like Urmas Vadi and Kristiina Ehin while living half a world away.
Books connect us — to each other, to home, to the parts of ourselves we forget to visit. There’s something deeply Estonian about reading, about keeping shelves lined with stories even when we’ve run out of wall space. It’s how we carry our story — not in our suitcases, but in our books.
Thank you, Urmas Vadi! We really enjoyed meeting you.
Next book club meeting: 8 February 2026 – Estonian writer Lilli Luuk joins us to discuss her acclaimed novel Ööema.
Because this isn’t just a book talk — it’s a shared moment of Estonian language, reflection and laughter across time zones and continents. Bring your copy of the book, a glass of wine or a cup of tea, and join in. PJs or evening wear, tuning in from a sauna — it makes no difference on Zoom.
Psst! You don’t even have to read the book first — life happens. Just come along, listen in, and read it after. Everyone’s welcome.
Acknowledgement
This book club event is made possible thanks to the joint contribution and support of the Estonian societies of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and the Gold Coast.
Thank you to Urmas Vadi for joining us, readers for zooming in, and for Ave Nukki for organising!
Read more
Southern Hemisphere Estonian Book Club Meets Lilli Luuk | Facebook event page
Southern Hemisphere Estonian Book Club Meets on the Other Side of the Moon | HEIA
📖 The Other Side of the Moon is available in print (Apollo, Rahva Raamat) and as an audiobook (Rahva Raamat app).
