Sofi Oksanen
| Sofi Oksanen | |
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Sofi Oksanen
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| Born | Sofi-Elina Oksanen January 7, 1977 Jyväskylä, Finland |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Notable works | Purge |
Sofi Oksanen (born January 7, 1977) is a Finnish writer. Oksanen has published five novels, of which Purge has gained widest recognition, and two plays. She has received several international and domestic awards for her literary work. Her work has been translated into 50 language territories and sold altogether more than two millions.
She was born in Finland, to a Finnish father and Estonian mother.
Sofi-Elina Oksanen was born and raised in Jyväskylä 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.
Oksanen first became known for her novel Stalinin lehmät ("Stalin's Cows") (2003), a story about a young girl's eating disorder and the image of Estonian women who had immigrated to Finland. It was nominated for the Runeberg Prize.
Two years later, she released her second novel Baby Jane (2005) about anxiety disorder as well as violence among lesbian couples.
Oksanen’s first play Puhdistus ("Purge") was staged at the Finnish National Theatre in 2007. From out of the play grew Oksanen’s third novel Puhdistus (2008). It ranked number 1 on the bestseller list for fiction in Finland when it was published and has received numerous awards, both in Finland and abroad.
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