Johanna Sinisalo was born in Finnish Lapland in 1958. Even before publication of her first novel - which was awarded the prestigious Finlandia Award - she had built a stellar reputation as a writer of science fiction and fantasy stories and as an advertising guru. Also known in Finland for her television and comic strip writing, she has, in addition to the Finlandia Award, won the Atorox prize for best Finnish SF or fantasy story SIX times and has been the winner of the Kemi National Comic Strip Contest THREE times.