Kaari Utrio
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Kaari Utrio in Helsinki Book Fair, 2009
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28 July 1942 Helsinki, Finland |
Kaari Marjatta Utrio (born 28 July 1942, official surname Utrio-Linnilä) is a Finnish writer. She has written over 35 historical novels and 13 non-fiction books on historical topics. She is a historian, holding the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of Helsinki, and has returned from the position of Professor in service of the Finnish State Commission of Fine Arts.
Kaari Utrio was born in Helsinki to a middle-class family. Her father was Urho Untamo Utrio, who after the Winter War worked as CEO of Tammi, a Finnish publishing company. Her mother Meri Marjatta Utrio (née Vitikainen) worked as an editor and a translator to Finnish. There were over four thousand books (100 meters) in Utrio's home, and literature was greatly valued in her family.
Utrio became acquainted with literature at a young age, when her mother read her classics of world literature, such as Kipling and Shakespeare as bed-time stories. At the age of seven, the first book Utrio read by herself was a thick volume of Jokamiehen Maailmanhistoria (World History for the Everyman). At school Utrio did well, also in composition writing, even though she did not have any plans to become a writer at the time. Instead she wanted to become a researcher of History.Grimberg's Kansojen historia (History of Peoples) offered a lively description of history to the young Utrio.
Kaari Utrio matriculated in 1962 from Helsingin tyttölukio, a girls only college. After that, she studied history at the University of Helsinki and graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1967. The following year, Utrio published her first novel Kartanonherra ja kaunis Kirstin (The Lord of the Manor and the Beautiful Kirstin), which was published by Tammi. The titel was given by the publisher, and Utrio did not like it herself. The book was, however, a start for Utrio's numerous other historical novels, which have so far been published at a steady pace, usually one per year. Utrio has also published many non-fiction books about history.
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