Aili Elina Karjalainen (née. Saraste, 3 June 1927 Viipuri – 14 August 2006

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

) was a journalist and author from Finland. She is best known for books for children. The protagonist of many of Karjalainen's books is Uppo-Nalle, a teddybear who loves poetry. The first Uppo-Nalle book was published in 1977. It was followed by 21 other Uppo-Nalle books. Karjalainen wrote also biographies, a crime novel and other books, in total around 40 books. As a journalist Karjalainen worked for

Savon Sanomat ''Savon Sanomat'' is a Finnish language morning broadsheet newspaper published in Kuopio, Finland. The paper has been in circulation since 1907. History and profile ''Savon Sanomat'' was established in 1907 as a media outlet of the Centre Party ...

and

Suomen Kuvalehti ''Suomen Kuvalehti'' ( or 'the Finnish picture magazine') is a weekly Finnish language family and news magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Suomen Kuvalehti'' was founded in 1873 and published until the year 1880. The m ...

as well as a freelancer. She was interested in people, and wrote many reportages about life of ordinary people outside of big cities. Karjalainen got the passion to read from her childhood home in Viipuri. Her need to write emerged from series of crisis she encountered in age of eleven: First her mother died, then

Winter war The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

started and all Finns had to leave Viipuri.

References

External links

Kirjasampo

Obituary

Interview for 75th birthday
Kaleva
National Biographies
1927 births 2006 deaths Writers from Vyborg Finnish women children's writers Finnish children's writers {{finland-writer-stub