Aki Ollikainen

Aki Ollikainen (2012)

Aki Ollikainen (* 1973 in Äänekoski , Finland ) is a Finnish journalist and writer .

Life

Aki Ollikainen studied social policy at the University of Jyväskylä and also completed a professional training as a photographer in 2007. As a journalist he worked for a magazine in north-west Lapland.

Ollikainen made his debut as a writer in 2012 with his novel Nälkävuosi . The story of a mother who fled a Finnish village with her two children to St. Petersburg in the winter of 1867/68 to escape hunger was well received by both the public and the critics, with more than 10,000 copies sold. Ollikainen received a nomination for the prestigious Finlandia Prize and was awarded both the Helsingin-Sanomat Literature Prize for the best debut novel and the Thank You-for-the-Book medal . In 2013, the book was published in German by Transit Buchverlag in Berlin under the title Das Hungerjahr , and in 2016 the English translation White Hunger made the long list of the Man Booker International Prize .

Aki Ollikainen has two children with his wife Milla Ollikainen . She has also been a writer since 2013. She made her debut with the crime novel Veripailakat .

Works

• Nälkävuosi (2012)
  • The famine year . Translated from Finnish by Stefan Moster . Transit, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-88747-289-4 .
• Musta satu (2015)

Awards (selection)

• 2012: Helsingin-Sanomat Literature Prize for "Nälkävuosi"
• 2012: Nomination for the Finlandia Prize with "Nälkävuosi"
• 2013: Thank you-for-the-book medal for "Nälkävuosi"

Web links

Commons : Aki Ollikainen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Aki Ollikainen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Kirjailijapari Milla ja Aki Ollikainen: Menestys johti aviokriisiin , .menaiset.fi