Markku Karpio

Markku Karpio worked as a kindergarten teacher for 12 years before becoming a full-time writer in 1996, one year after the publication of his debut novel Headlamp (Otsalamppu, Otava 1995). Karpio has authored both YA and adult novels and numerous short stories, columns and articles, as well as a four-part television series. His novel Storm Warning (Myrskyvaroitus, Otava 2008) was nominated for the Topelius Prize, an award that recognizes the year’s best Finnish book for children and young people.

Karpio has also been nominated twice for the Kirjava Kettu (“Colourful Fox”) prize, in 2009 (for Storm Warning) and 2014 (for My Father is an Astronaut), and twice for the LukuVarkaus Prize. In 2005 he was given the Pertsa and Kilu prize for his impressive contribution to Finnish youth literature. He lives in Utö, a small island in the Baltic Sea.