Tove Jansson
Tove Jansson began wrote her first Moomin book in 1939 (published in 1945). Her books are compared to the work of Lewis Carroll and J.R. Tolkien. Nowadays her books are translated into more than 30 languages (comic strips into more than 60 languages). Tove Jansson draw a comic (cartoon) strip Moomin for the Evening News (London) in 1953-1968.
The international Moomin boom came in 2 waves. First in the 1950's in the West and then in 1960's and 1970's in the East (Japan etc.). First Moomin films were made in 1969-1972 in Japan by Mushi Pro / Tokyo Movie Shinshu / Zuiyo / Fuji TV (65 episodes).
In the beginning of 1990's Moomin films were made by Telescreen Benelux (Dennis Livson), TV Tokyo and Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE (directed by Japanese Hiroshi Saito and Masayuki Ojima, quality inspected by Tove and Lars Jansson, 78 episodes).
Moomin World (Moominland theme park especially for children, the world's 4th best theme park for children according to The Independent on Sunday, Golden Pony Award 2007 by The Games & Parks Industry magazine: There is also a Moomin Museum in Tampere, Finland. Many of the Moomin books has also been translated and published in China, and the first one was published as early as in 1948 by W&K Publishing.
Sofi Oksanen
Sofi Oksanen (born January 7, 1977) is a contemporary writer in Finland. She was born in Jyväskylä. Her father is Finnish and her mother is Estonian. Oksanen has so far published three novels, one an international best seller and a play. She has received several awards for her literary work. ”Purge” for which she won the Nordic Counsil Literature Price is translated into several languages, including Hebrew and most of the European languages.
Oksanen first became well-known for her novel Stalinin lehmät ("Stalin's Cows") (2003)., a story about a young girl's eating disorder and the image of Estonian women who had immigrated to Finland. It was nominated for the Runeberg Prize.
Oksanen’s first original play Puhdistus (”Purge”) was staged at the Finnish National Theatre in 2007. From out of the play grew Oksanen’s third literary novel Puhdistus (2008) It ranked number 1 on the bestseller list for fiction in Finland when it was published.
The novel Purge won the Fnac prize in 2010, selected from some 300 works published in France amid positive reviews by French critics, it was the first time the prize had been awarded to a foreigner The best selling novel is set to become a film in 2012.Oksanen was awarded the prestigious Finlandia Prize (2008), the Runeberg Prize (2009) and the Nordic Council Literature Prize (2010) for Puhdistus.
Tua Forsström
Tua Forsstrm (born 2 April 1947) is a Finnish writer who writes in Swedish. She was awarded the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1998 for the poetry collection Efter att ha tillbringat en natt bland hästar (After spending a night among horses).
Forsström's work is known for its engagement with the Finnish landscape, travel and conflicts within relationships. She often uses quotations in her work, sometimes placing them directly into her poems and at other times using them as introductions or interludes in her sequences. She has used quotations from Egon Friedell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hermann Hesse and Friedrich Nietszche.
She published her first book in 1972, A Poem about Love and Other Things (En dikt om kärlek och annat). Her breakthrough into the English-speaking world came in 1987 with her sixth collection, Snow Leopard (Snöleopard), which was translated into the English by David McDuff and published by Bloodaxe Books. In 1990 the book won a Poetry Book Society Translation Award in the United Kingdom. In 2003, I Studied Once at a Wonderful Faculty was published by Bloodaxe Books, with translations from David McDuff and Stina Katchadourian. The collection contains Snow Leopard (Snöleopard) (1987), The Parks (Parkerna) (1992), After Spending a Night Among Horses (Efter att ha tillbringat en natt bland hästar) (1997) and a new poem sequence called Minerals.
Kari Hotakainen
Kari Hotakainen (b. 9 January 1957 in Pori, Finland) started his writing career as a reporter in Pori. In 1986, he moved to Helsinki but did not become a full-time writer until 1996. He has also worked as a copywriter and as a columnist for the Helsingin Sanomat.
His father, Keijo Hotakainen, worked as a storekeeper and photographer while his mother, Meeri Ala-Kuusisto, worked as a sales clerk. Kari Hotakainen passed his matriculation examination in 1976 and graduated from Rautalampi High School the same year. He has a Bachelor of Arts.
Hotakainen kicked off his career as an author in the beginning of the 1980s by writing poetry. His debut collection Harmittavat takaiskut (Unfortunate setbacks) was published in 1982. From poetry, Hotakainen moved on to writing books for children and young adults and then on to writing novels for adults. Before he started writing full time, Hotakainen worked as a news reporter, in an advertising department etc. Hotakainen’s breakthrough came when he was nominated for the 1997 Finlandia Prize, for his semi-autobiographical work entitled Klassikko (The Classic). In 2002, Hotakainen received the Finlandia Prize for his book entitled Juoksuhaudantie (Battle Trench Avenue) published the same year. Later on, the book was turned into a movie with the same name. In 2004, Hotakainen received the Nordic Council's Literature Prize for the same book. In 2006, he received the Nordic Drama Award for his play Punahukka.
Hotakainen has also written children's plays, radio dramas, newspaper columns and the scripts for a 10-part TV series.
