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Photographer József Timár travelled all over Finland. In their diversity, birch trees opened up a whole new, amazing world for him. Enchanted by it, he photographed birches for six months without losing the feeling that there is something completely new and special in birches for him.

Thirteen Finnish poets writing in Finnish, Swedish or Sami chose pictures for themselves from the shots grouped by the photographer, and then wrote poems for the pictures that tickled their imagination. Pentti Saaritsa is to thank for the title Whispering Birches. He was the one who drew József Timár’s attention to a poem by the excellent modern Finnish poet, Aaro Hellaakoski (1893–1952); which eventually became the opening piece of the volume.