Maritta Lintunen

Maritta Lintunen describes herself as a writer who writes in three languages: that of poetry, short story, and novel.

Lintunen holds a Master of Arts in music and her experience as a musician comes through in the skillful and controlled rhythm of her writing. Lintunen has been nominated for several Finnish literature awards since her literary debut in 1999 and she was awarded the prestigious WSOY Literature Foundation Award for her literary achievements in 2010.

Her poems and short stories have appeared in anthologies and literary journals in Dutch, English, Filipino, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Russian, Udmurt and Brazilian Portuguese.

Lintunen’s praised short story Passiontide from her collection The Peephole was selected for the anthology Best Fiction From Europe 2012 (Dalkey Archive Press, USA), and the short story The Message Bearer from the same collection for the Words Without Borders online magazine in 2014. Lintunen’s short story Journeying Down the Years, originally published in an anthology entitled Matkanovelleja (Hit the Road, WSOY 2013), was published in Russian by Limbus Press in 2015 and the short story Canada Goose (originally in The Sidoroff Case), was published in Filipino in Agos: Modern European Writers in Filipino by Anvil 2018.

Prizes, Awards

WSOY Literary Foundation Award, 2010
Shortlisted for the Savonia Prize (The Sidoroff Case, 2009; Mozart’s Hair, 2012)
Shortlisted for the Runeberg Prize (Illuminated Houses, 2005; The Peephole, 2006)
Shortlisted for the Helsingin Sanomat Best Literary Debut Prize (Domes of Flame, 1999)

Works

Stella (Stella, novel, WSOY 2018)
Devil on My Shoulder (Takapiru, short stories, WSOY 2016)
Locoweed Ranch (Hulluruohola, novel, WSOY 2014)
Heartline (Sydänraja, novel, WSOY 2012)
Mozart’s Hair (Mozartin hiukset, short stories, WSOY 2011)
Reflection (Heijastus, novel, WSOY 2009)
The Sidoroff Case (Tapaus Sidoroff, short stories, WSOY 2008)
The Peephole (Ovisilmä, short stories, WSOY 2006)
Illuminated Houses (Valaistut talot, poems, WSOY 2005)
The Family Cactus (Sukukaktus, novel, WSOY 2003)
Domes of Flame (Liekkikupolit, poems, WSOY 1999)

Read more about Maritta Lintunen’s literary works in Books from Finland journal.

The short story A Canada Goose is to be read online fom the same journal (originally published in The Sidoroff Case).
The short story The Message Bearer is to be read online from Books Without Borders (originally published in The Peephole).