Sofi Oksanen

Sofi Oksanen (born January 7, 1977) is a Finnish contemporary writer. She is considered one of the most prominent contemporary authors of her generation as well as a global literary phenomenon. She was born in Jyväskylä. Her father is Finnish and her mother is Estonian. So far, Oksanen has published four novels, of which Purge has gained widest recognition, and two plays. She has received several international and domestic awards for her literary work. Latest was the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize in 2013 for her body of work.

Life

Sofi-Elina Oksanen was born and raised in Jyväskylä located in Central Finland. Her father is a Finnish electrician, her mother an Estonian engineer who grew up in Estonia during the Soviet period and emigrated to Finland in the 1970s. Oksanen studied literature at the University of Jyväskylä and University of Helsinki and later drama at the Finnish Theatre Academy in Helsinki. Oksanen is actively involved in public debate in Finland and comments on current issues in her columns and various talk shows. She is bisexual and has suffered from eating disorders. In 2009 she received an award from the organizers of Helsinki Pride for her activism on behalf of LGBT people in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.