Maria Matinmikko

Maria Matinmikko is a Finnish poet and prose author. She has published five books: Valkoinen /"White", 2012/, Musta /"Black", 2013/, Värit /"Colors", 2017/, Kolkka /"Niche", 2019/ and Valohämy - taide, maisema ja maailmanloppu /"Chiaroscuro - Art, Landscape and the End of the World", August 2023/. Her first three collections together compose a three-part literary work. The fourth is a fragmentary poetry novel, and the fifth combines poetry, storytelling, essay and autofictional material. It also includes photographs taken by the writer and drawings by visual artist Sami Jalonen. Matinmikko's literature moves on the edges of genre, combining lyrical, philosophical, and societal thinking in various ways. She was nominated and won various awards (Runeberg Prize; national broadcaster Yle's Dancing Bear Poetry Prize, Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize; the Kalevi Jäntti literary prize, Book of the year on the online Finnish library portal Kirjasampo). Matinmikko was one of the fourteen authors from the writers' group Mahdollisen Kirjallisuuden Seura ("Association of Possible Literature") who composed a collaborative poetry novel together in 2016, called Ihmiskokeita ("Human Experiments"). The first instalment of a digital, collaborative, and procedural work called Lähes tunnistamaton mahdollisuus menettää ("An Almost Unrecognizable Opportunity for Loss") was released in 2018. Matinmikko's essays, poems, prose excerpts, columns, and manifestos have been published through various media (e.g. magazines Tuli & Savu, Nuori Voima, and niin & näin). She has also conducted writing workshops and created performances; she is on the board of the dance festival called Liikkeellä marraskuussa. Maria Matinmikko graduated as a Master of the Arts from the University of Helsinki, with a major in aesthetics. She has studied writing in the Orivesi College of Arts, Kallio upper secondary school, and liberal education center Oulu-opisto. Her hobbies include photography and dance.