Rae Ellen Bichell

Rae Ellen Bichell

Rae Ellen Bichell is a journalist based in Helsinki, Finland.

She got an appreciation for audio storytelling as a Kroc fellow at National Public Radio, and a respect for ice swimming and reindeer spine soup as a Fulbright grantee in Finland.

At Yale, she studied anthropology, journalism, and anything that involved handling insects and plants.

Recent Stories

Business, Economics and Jobs

Thai berry pickers in Nordic Lapland take home cash and antlers

PRI's The World

October 16, 2015

Every year thousands of Thai farmers make the trip above the Arctic Circle in Finland to pick berries. Some call the work exploitative, but the farmers keep coming.

Conflict & Justice

In Finland's 'open prisons,' inmates have the keys

PRI's The World

April 15, 2015

How did Finland moved having the highest incarceration rate in Europe to having one of its lowest? Part of the answer lies in its open prisons, where prisoners — even those convicted of crimes like rape and murder — can be gradually eased back into normal life.

Arts, Culture & Media

Finland's Eurovision finalists sing about discrimination against the intellectually disabled — from experience

PRI's The World

March 03, 2015

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät is a Finnish punk rock band. All of the members have intellectual disabilities. But that hasn't kept them from winning the competition to represent Finland in the Eurovision semifinals.

Recent Stories

CROP3guyshats.jpg

Thai berry pickers in Nordic Lapland take home cash and antlers

CROPformerprisoner.jpg

In Finland's 'open prisons,' inmates have the keys

UMK_PKN_01.jpg

Finland's Eurovision finalists sing about discrimination against the intellectually disabled — from experience