German Premiere of Saara Turunen’s HYENA DAYS at Staatstheater Hannover

The German premiere of Die Tage der Hyäne (HYENA DAYS), the latest work by award-winning Finnish author, playwright and director Saara Turunen, is taking place at Staatstheater Hannover’s Ballhof. The play has been translated into German by acclaimed translator Stefan Moster. HYENA DAYS is Turunen’s fourth novel, and her theatre works that have been translated into 15 languages, and performed all around the world including Belgium, Germany, Argentina, and Mexico. 

HYENA DAYS is based on Turunen’s autofictional novel Hyeenan päivät (Tammi, March 2024), a work that has resonated strongly with readers in Finland, selling more than 12,000 copies. Written in a style that will appeal to readers of Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti, the story engages deeply with universal questions around childlessness, motherhood, the body and identity.

Rights are available in Germany, the Nordics, France, Estonia, Turkey…

Request the materials for HYENA DAYS here.

Hyena Days

Saara Turunen

Is it possible to have a child and retain one’s own identity?

• The fourth novel by award-winning and bestselling author, playwright and director
• For readers of Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti

The protagonist, an artist, has dreamed about having a child for years. She and her husband try to get pregnant, but they face obstacles such as COVID-19 pandemic and the related lockdown, living in different countries, and unsuccessful IVF treatments. When their last effort bears fruit and the protagonist becomes pregnant, different contradictory thoughts and emotions such as fear, shame and horror come to her mind. Eventually, the child is born, and the protagonist finds herself in a new reality. Everything that had been important before now seems the opposite. Also, taking care of a child is not without its problems, leading the protagonist to feel inferior. Reason on one hand and animality on the other cause conflict in her life.

Hyena Days is a precise and straightforward story about childlessness and the contradictory nature of having a child. It depicts the hopes for a child and the unpredictability of procreation, the shame related to one’s body, and the demands placed on the female body. The novel delves into the incompatible ideas between artistry and motherhood but, above all, it depicts the physical dimension of human life.