ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Riikka Ala-Harja, born in 1967, is an author of novels, short stories, children’s books, and comic books. She has published six novels to date; Hole is her first collection of short stories. She lives in Helsinki.

Tapani Bagge has published over ninety books. He received the Clue Award from the Finnish Whodunnit Society in 2007 for his novel Musta taivas (Black Sky). In his seven Hämeenlinna Noir crime novels so far, Bagge depicts the cops and cons of his hometown. He has also written four historical crime novels featuring Detective Sergeant Mujunen.

Lone Thygesen Blecher (translator) is a prize-winning translator from Swedish and Danish into English. Her work includes translations of novels, plays, poems, children’s literature, and short fiction. She lives in New York State where she is also focusing on a career in painting and pottery.

Karo Hämäläinen, born in 1976, has two passions: literature and the stock market. He works as a financial journalist and author and has combined his passions in his recent financial thrillers, including the short story “The Broker” in this anthology. Hämäläinen has studied both the humanities and economics. Following stints in Munich, Berlin, and Tampere, he now lives in Helsinki. In his spare time, Hämäläinen likes running; his record marathon time is 3:04:04.

Pekka Hiltunen published his debut thriller, Cold Courage, in 2011; it won three prizes in Finland, including the Clue Award for Best Crime Novel, and was nominated for the Scandinavian Glass Key Award. He is an award-winning journalist, and his novels have been translated into seven languages.

Johanna Holmström is a Helsinki-based author who was born and raised in Sipoo, on the partly Swedish-speaking southern coast of Finland. At the age of twenty-two, she made her literary debut with the story collection Inlåst och andra noveller, which was short-listed for the 2004 Swedish Radio Short Story Award. Her third story collection, Camera Obscura, was awarded the 2009 Svenska Dagbladet Literature Prize. Her second novel, Asfaltsänglar, has been translated into several languages.

Jesse Itkonen is a writer and filmmaker from Helsinki. He has worked as a columnist, film critic, director, and screenwriter. He lives with his wife and two cats, and is currently working on his first novel.

Teemu Kaskinen, born in 1976, has written novels, plays, and screenplays. He hates cops and other writers.

Leena Lehtolainen, born in 1964, is the most successful female crime author in Finland, with her titles consistently topping the country’s best-seller lists. More than two million copies of her books have been sold worldwide, and her works have been translated into twenty-nine languages. In addition to her career as an author, Lehtolainen has worked as a literary researcher, columnist, and critic. Her best-known character is the tough, down-to-earth, and emotionally intelligent police officer Maria Kallio.

Tuomas Lius got his first break in crime writing as a nine-year-old when a provincial newspaper began to publish his detective stories in a weekly series. His trilogy—Haka, Laittomat, and Härkäjuoksu—has received both critical and commercial success with its unique blend of suspense, action, and pitch-black humor. He is living in rural North Karelia where he schemes new and exciting crimes and capers on an almost daily basis.

Kristian London (translator) has translated several novels and over a dozen plays from Finnish into English. His translation of Nights of Awe by Harri Nykänen was named a notable translation of 2012 by World Literature Today. London divides his time between Helsinki and Seattle.

Joe L. Murr was born in Finland and has lived on every continent except Antarctica. His fiction has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, ChiZine, and Noir Nation. He currently divides his time between the Netherlands and Finland.

Jukka Petäjä, born in Helsinki in 1956, has been a staff writer in the leading Finnish daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, since 1988, serving mainly as a literary critic and essayist. He is the author of five novels and two nonfiction books. His latest crime novel, Hiidenhyrrä (Diabolo), is the first volume in a trilogy featuring the dry alcoholic detective inspector Pekka Suokko. He wrote his dissertation on American Jewish literature.

Douglas Robinson (translator), Dean of Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University, has been translating from Finnish into English since 1975, when he translated Aleksis Kivi’s Nummisuutarit (Heath Cobblers). His translation of When I Forgot by Elina Hirvonen was reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. He has also written several books on translation including: The Translator’s Turn, Translation and Taboo, Becoming a Translator, Who Translates?, and Schleiermacher’s Icoses.

Lola Rogers (translator) is a Finnish to English translator living in Seattle. Her novel translations include works by Johanna Sinisalo, Sofi Oksanen, and Antti Tuomainen. She is also a regular contributor of translated fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to numerous journals and anthologies. Her translations of short fiction have been included in Best European Fiction 2014 and Words without Borders: The Best of the First Ten Years.

Jarkko Sipila, born in 1964, is a Finnish author and journalist. He has reported on Finnish crime for more than twenty years and has written seventeen crime novels. Five novels in his Helsinki Homicide Series have been published in English. Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall won the Finnish Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2009. Through realistic characters and story lines, he explores current topics surrounding life in contemporary Finland. Visit www.jarkkosipila.com for more information.

James Thompson has lived in Finland for over fifteen years and has proven himself to be one of the most popular representatives of Nordic noir, with his work being published in a dozen languages. Snow Angels, the first book in his acclaimed Kari Vaara series, was one of Booklist’s Best Crime Novel Debuts of the Year and was nominated for an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award, and a Strand Critics Award. Helsinki Dead is the fifth and latest installment in the series.

Jill G. Timbers (translator) grew up in Pennsylvania. She has lived and studied in Finland (Helsinki and Tampere), working there first as a bike mechanic after college and later as a university librarian, among other roles. Her translations from Finnish into English have appeared in many journals and anthologies. She and her Finnish husband have three grown sons and currently live in Illinois.

Antti Tuomainen, born in 1971, was an award-winning copywriter before he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Crime Novel and has since been published in twenty-seven countries worldwide. In 2013 his fourth novel, Dark As My Heart, was published in Finland to great critical acclaim.

Owen F. Witesman (translator) is a professional literary translator with a master’s degree in Finnish and Estonian from Indiana University. He has translated more than thirty Finnish books into English from a wide range of genres. Among these are two crime novels by Pekka Hiltunen, Cold Courage and Black Noise, as well as four mystery novels by Leena Lehtolainen. He currently resides in Springville, Utah, with his wife and three daughters.