Maria Turtschaninoff (born 1977) is a Finnish author. She is best known for writing fantasy books including ''Maresi'', the first book in the ''Red Abbey Chronicles'' and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize.

Life and career

Turtschaninoff was born in 1977 in Finland and her first language is Finland’s Swedish. As a child, she appeared in a minor role in the television series ''Harjunpää och antastaren'' (1985). She received the degree of

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

from

Gothenburg University The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 s ...

in 2000 where she studied human ecology. After her graduation, she worked as a journalist in Helsinki. The first book of her ''Red Abbey Chronicles'', ''Maresi'', was published in Finland in 2014 and won the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. The film rights to ''Maresi'' were bought by

Film4 Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, it ...

in 2016. The second book of the series, ''Naondel'', was published in 2016. She was awarded with the Swedish YLE Literature Prize in 2014 and the Finland-Swedish cultural prize in 2017. Turtschaninoff was also nominated for the 2015 Nordic Council Children and Young People's Literature Prize and the 2018

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ( sv, Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–200 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turtschaninoff, Maria Finnish women writers 1977 births Living people Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish fantasy writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers