Emmi Itäranta (Finland)

Emmi Itäranta (b. 1976) is a Finnish author who writes fiction in Finnish and English. Her novels have been characterised as lyrical dystopias with strong ecological undercurrents. Itäranta’s award-winning debut “Memory of Water” (2014) has been translated into more than 20 languages, and a film adaptation, “The Guardian of Water”, premiered in 2022. The novel was shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Golden Tentacle Award, as well as being included in the Otherwise Award honour list and among the finalists of Premio Salerno Libro d’Europa.

Itäranta has also published two other novels, “The Weaver” (US title) / “The City of Woven Streets” (UK title) (2016) and “The Moonday Letters” (Finnish edition Kuunpäivän kirjeet, 2020). The awards won by her books include the Kalevi Jäntti Prize for young authors, the Young Aleksis Kivi Prize, the HelMet Readers’ Choice Award, the Kuvastaja Award for the best Finnish fantasy book, Tampere City Literary Award and Tähtivaeltaja Award for the best science fiction book published in Finland. Furthermore, her works have been longlisted for the BSFA Award and the Dublin Literary Award.

Itäranta lived in the United Kingdom for 14 years before relocating back to Finland in 2021. She now lives and writes in Tampere, Finland, with her spouse and two cats.