Johanna Sinisalo
Award-winning Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo will visit Gustavus Adolphus College May 6-10 as this year’s Out of Scandinavia Artist in Residence. Throughout her week on campus, Sinisalo will visit classes and engage with Gustavus students and faculty. She will present a free public lecture titled “Finding Fresh Perspectives – The Breakthrough of Non-realistic Genres in Finnish Contemporary Fiction,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, in room 127 of Confer Hall.
Sinisalo was born in 1958 in Sodankylä, Finnish Lapland, and now lives in the city of Tampere. She began her career writing science-fiction short stories and has been the recipient of the national Atorox Award for the best domestic short story in science fiction seven times. Her stories have been widely translated and garnered her international acclaim, including nomination for the Nebula Award in the U.S.
Sinisalo is best known for her novel Troll: A Love Story (Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi, 2000), which received the 2000 Finlandia Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Finland. The novel also tied for the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 2004 and has now been translated into 14 languages. Her fourth novel, Birdbrain (Linnunaivot, 2008), was translated into English in 2010, and the English rights of her latest novel The Blood of Angels (Enkelten verta, 2011) have recently been acquired. In addition to five novels and two short story collections, she has written a book for children titled Möbiuksen maa [The Land of the Mobius Strip].
Sinisalo’s scope as a writer include numerous reviews, articles, comic strip scripts and screenplays, and the original story for the international science fiction comedy movie Iron Sky. She had edited two anthologies, of which The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy is available in English.
If you have questions about Sinisalo’s residency or the Out of Scandinavia Artist in Residence program, contact Assistant Professor in Scandinavian Studies Kjerstin Moody ’98 at 507-933-7423 or kmoody@gustavus.edu.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510