AUTHORS

Born near Leningrad in 1961, Andrey Kurkov was a journalist, prison warder, cameraman and screenwriter before he became well-known as a novelist. After ‘hundreds of rejections’, Kurkov became a successful pioneer of self-publishing, selling more than 75,000 copies of his books in a single year. His novel Death and the Penguin, his first in English translation, […]

Elizabeth Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. She is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy by the Sea; Oh William!; Olive, Again; Anything Is Possible, winner of the Story Prize; My Name Is Lucy Barton; The Burgess Boys; Olive Kitteridge, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Abide with Me; and Amy […]

Nathan Hill is an American fiction writer and former news reporter. He won the 2016 Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for his novel The Nix. In September 2023, his novel Wellness was selected by Oprah Winfrey as a selection for her Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. Photo credit: […]

Adania Shibli was born in Palestine in 1974. Her first two novels appeared in English with Clockroot Books as Touch (tr. Paula Haydar, 2010) and We Are All Equally Far From Love (tr. Paul Starkey, 2012). She was awarded the Young Writer’s Award by the A. M. Qattan Foundation in 2002 and 2004. Minor Detail was shortlisted for the National Book […]

Maja Lunde (b. 1975) is the most successful Norwegian author of her generation. Her books are translated into 40 languages and has sold more than 4 million copies. Lunde’s debut novel The History of Bees (2015) was an instant hit and sold to several territories before Norwegian publication. It won The Norwegian Bookseller’s Prize as well as […]

Mariana Enriquez is an award-winning Argentine novelist and journalist, whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She is the author of Things We Lost in the Fire and The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, which was shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize. Our Share of Night was awarded the prestigious Premio Herralde de Novela. Photo credit: Nora […]

Camila Sosa Villadawas born in 1982 in La Falda (Córdoba, Argentina). She is a writer, actress, and singer, and previously earned a living as a sex worker, street vendor and maid. She holds degrees in communication and theatre from the National University of Córdoba. Her first novel, The Queens of Sarmiento Park, won the Premio Sor […]

Kevin Chen began his artistic career as a cinema actor, starring in the Taiwanese and German films Ghosted, Kung Bao Huhn, and Global Player. Now based in Germany, he is a staff writer for Performing Arts Reviews magazine. He’s published several novels, essays and short story collections, including Attitude, Flowers from Fingernails, Three Ways to Get Rid of Allergies and other titles.  Photo credit:

Eleanor Catton is the author of the international bestseller The Luminaries, winner of the Man Booker Prize and a Governor General’s Literary Award. Her debut novel, The Rehearsal, won the Betty Trask Award, was short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize, and was long-listed for the Orange Prize. She is also the screenwriter […]

Johanna Frid wants her writing to be dark enough to make your eyes hurt, and so funny it makes you snort like a pig.

Johnson was raised in Stockholm by a Finnish mother and a Swedish father. Peace is her first novel.

Nicolas Lunabba is the operational manager of Helamalmö, an organization that works with social sustainability and justice.

Sirpa Kähkönen is the winner of the prestigious Finlandia prize 2023. At Helsinki Lit, she will interview Elizabeth Strout.

Kjell Westö is one of Finland’s foremost writers. His latest work is the novel Skymning 41.

Anna-Laurén is a journalist who currently lives in Kyiv, where she writes for Dagens Nyheter and Hufvudstadsbladet.

Alma Pöysti has hosted Helsinki Lit twice before – now she is back to reprise her role.

Iida Turpeinen is intrigued by the literary potentials of scientific research and by the offbeat anecdotes and meanderings from the history of science

Juha Itkonen writes about parenthood and families. At Helsinki Lit he is interviewing Nathan Hill.

The prize-winning translator Sampsa Peltonen has been at Helsinki Lit before, both interpreting and interviewing authors. He is known for hos translations of the Finnish-Iraqi author Hassan Blasim. This year, Sampsa will talk to Adania Shibli, who he has also translated in to Finnish.

Silvia Hosseini is a writer, book critic and teacher based in Tampere, Finland. She is interviewing Camila Sosa Villada.

Marko Hautala is a Finnish horror writer from Vaasa, specializing in psychological horror.

Hanna Nikkanen is a Finnish investigative reporter and one of the founders of Long Play, the Helsinki-based longform journalism startup.

Aleksis Salusjärvi is a critic and columnist who works broadly in the literary field, mainly with projects concerning reading. I

Ville Blåfield is a former journalist who nowadays works as the programme director for the Helsinki Book Fair.

Laura Friman is a journalist and non-fiction author. She also hosts and produces a literary afternoon radio show for radio channel Radio Helsinki.