Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is one of Finland's most internationally successful authors. Her first novel Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi (Not Before Sundown, Tammi 2000) was awarded the Finlandia Prize of literature and the James Tiptree -prize in 2004. The novel has been translated into many languages. Her novel The Glass Eye (2006), has been published in German and English. Her lates novel Birdbrain was published in 2008 and was a great success. It will be published in English.  In 2005 Sinisalo edited an anthology The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy for an English publisher. Sinisalo's books have been translated into several languages including Japanese, French, Latvian, Swedish, English and Czech. Her short story Baby Doll was short listed for the 2008 Nebula Award.

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Linnunaivot (Birdbrain)



In Sinisalo’s new novel, Birdbrain, Jyrki, a barman who loves to hike, sets off on the trip of a lifetime along demanding routes in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. To Jyrki’s great surprise, his girlfriend Heidi demands to come with him, frightened by the idea of several months of solitude. The journey becomes a tortuous thriller which changes their lives. Birdbrain describes Western people’s desperate longing for somewhere unspoilt and primitive with biting irony. At the same time, it reveals the dark side of this longing, showing it to be an insatiable desire to control, invade and destroy.

Publication in September 2008


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Lasisilmä (The Glass Eye)

Sinisalo's novel Lasisilmä (The Glass Eye), a psychological thriller, tells about the daily work of a soap-opera script team. On its pages, the heroine Taru steps into the unreal world of television where the cruel rules of everyday living reign but where the collective daydreams of millions of people are being produced. The boundaries between fiction and facts begin to blur when Taru's sister Aija appears on the scene and the fictional events turn into reality.

Published in September 2006

The Glass-Eye synopsis

Taru wants to become a journalist because journalists seek the truth and tell about matters as they really are. She finds her way to the world of media but to the part of this world where the truth isn’t only stretched but completely fabricated. She joins a script-writing team for a soap opera called The Suburbs.

Taru steps into an unreal setting where the cruel rules of everyday living reign but where the collective daydreams of millions of people are being produced. Is the television screen a window to another world or maybe it is a mirror? Does the glass-eye observe us from the corner of our living room instead of us observing it, just as George Orwell predicted?

Johanna Sinisalo’s works hook the reader straight away. Her stories open doors to new worlds: they look at life from strange angles, they create suspense and make the reader laugh as well. Sinisalo’s books always offer sharp and open-minded analysis, and criticism of contemporary society. The Glass-Eye is not an exception.

Comments from the Finnish press:

How can a book be so complex and multi-levelled? Johanna Sinisalo’s The Glass-Eye changes its structure and colours like a chameleon.
Kati Hyttinen, MTV3/Helmi 11.10.2006

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Kädettömät kuninkaat ja muita häiritseviä tarinoita (The Handless Kings and Other Disturbing Tales)

Johanna Sinisalo's collection of short stories, Kädettömät kuninkaat ja muita häiritseviä tarinoita (The Handless Kings and Other Disturbing Tales) consists of both stories published earlier and completely new ones. The prize stories have been extolled by Finnish science fiction fans: three of the stories published in the collection have been awarded the Atorox prize. The stories in the collection are set in places familiar to us and yet somehow amazingly different.

Published in April 2005