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Alex Matson (1888–1972) is an important Finnish literary critic and essayist, whose literary reviews and collections of essays have made a vital contribution to the development of Finland's postwar literary generation. Born in Finland as the son of a sailor, Matson moved as a young child with his family to Hull in England, where he went to school. In the 1910s, he moved back to Finland, where he at first established himself as painter associated with the expressionist November Group, an important Finnish artistic movement at the time. In the interbellum, he moved from fine arts to literature. In the 1920s and 1930s, he published several novels, but more important was his work as transmitter of international literary ideas to Finland. Together with his first wife, Kersti Bergroth, he edited the literary journal Sininen kirja (""The Blue Book""; 1927–1930), which was inspired by the writings of John Middleton Murry and Katherine Mansfield. Sininen kirja is the most international literary journal in Finnish history to date and introduced Finland to the most significant modernist writers of the first half of the 20th century (Gottfried Benn, Jean Cocteau, Alfred Döblin, T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Paul Valéry, Virginia Woolf).
During the Second World War, Matson worked for the State Communications Agency, which was responsible for disseminating relevant information about Finland to other nations and for informing Finns of relevant developments abroad. It was also tasked with studying the prevailing mood among the population in Finland. In Matson's unpublished wartime diaries, one can see the first symptoms of a shift in Finnish culture away from Germany and towards Anglo-Saxon culture.
From the 1940s onwards, Matson recommended new English and American novels as a part of his work as reader for Finnish publishing houses, and he also translated works by Joyce, Hemingway and Steinbeck. With the help of a network of international literary critics, Matson became acquainted with New Criticism, which he introduced to Finland before it became established among academic researchers. He was often critical of academic literary studies, but his seminal essay works Romaanitaide (""On the Prose Novel""; 1947), John Steinbeck (1948), Kaksi mestaria (""Two Masters"", on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky; 1950) as well as his impressive conversational skills were instrumental in introducing knowledge about the principles of the prose novel to several authors (including Väinö Linna, Lauri Viita, and Hannu Salama), and contributed to their views of literature. Matson emphasized the importance of reading and understanding high-quality literature for the wellbeing of society.

The book explores the discourses of modernism, contemporary art and art history writing as well as their interdisciplinary values and boundaries – and cases that do not fit within these boundaries.The articles explore the meanings of junk and relics, high art, design, and the intimate experience of art and public criticism. The themes explored in the book expand our views on the queer potential of colour, the meaning of detail, and the relationships between visual art and writing.
The fourteen peer-reviewed case studies in the volume offer new insights from the fields of visual cultural studies, art history and gender studies. The articles in the anthology do not rely strictly on disciplinary boundaries but also open themselves up to broader fields of culture.

White City, Black Waters is written by Adjunct Professor, PhD Petri S Juuti. The book examines how water and waste water services and water protection started and developed in Helsinki and Greater Helsinki area from late 1800s to the 2000s. Furthermore, it is discussed what are the challenges of the future looked from the point of view of the professionals of the water sector. - Helsingin vedet 1800-luvun lopusta 2000-luvulle -tutkimus antaa yleiskuvan vesihuollon pitkästä kehityksestä ja ihmisen ja eri vesien suhteesta Helsingissä. Tässä kirjassa annetaan myös tietoa Suomen jätevedenpuhdistuksen historian monista vaiheista keskittyen Helsinkiin sekä perehdytään siihen, mitä vesi merkitsi ja miten siihen suhtauduttiin eri aikoina. Kirjassa perehdytään muun muassa Vantaanjoen ristiriitaiseen, mutta keskeiseen rooliin sekä viemärinä että raakavesilähteenä, saastumattoman ja riittävän raakavesivesilähteen löytämiseksi tehtyihin varhaisiin pohjavesitutkimuksiin, ulosteongelman ratkaisuun sekä Päijänteen ottamiseen raakavesilähteeksi. Teos taustoittaa viemäröinnin ja jätevesienpuhdistuksen historiaa koko Euroopan mittakaavassa tuhansien vuosien takaa. Erityisesti perehdytään Suomessa tehtyihin ratkaisuihin ja syvällisemmin Helsingin viemäröinnin varhaisiin vaiheisiin ja jätevedenpuhdistuksen alkutaipaleeseen. Keskeiseksi nousevat kysymykset, mitä toimia toteutettiin kun tavoitteeksi otettiin vesistöjen puhdistuminen, miten nämä toimenpiteet ovat vaikuttaneet asukkaiden elämään ja ympäristön tilaan. Lisäksi pohditaan mitkä ovat tulevaisuuden haasteet vesihuollon ammattilaisten näkökulmasta katsottuna.