Leena Elisabeth Krohn comes from Helsinki. She graduated in humanities in 1972 and since the 1980s has earned a living from her writing. Her debut work was the children’s book about ecological issues, Vihreä vallankumous, 1970, and in the 1970s, following publication of her prize-winning fairy-tales, she turned to adult fiction.
Her mythical, symbolic books are about ethical, philosophical, and metaphysical subjects, such as her epistolary novel Tainaron, 1985. Her poetry collection Suomalainen Mignon, 1977, is inspired by Swedish song writing, while her collections Galleria, 1982, and Sydänpuu, 1984, experiment with a fusion of visual art and poetry. In more recent years, Leena Krohn has become particularly interested in the borderline between humans and machines as a consequence of the advance of information technology. In 1993, she received the Finlandia Prize for her work Matemaattisia olioita tai jaettuja unia, 1992.
Her other works include the essay collection Rapina ja muita papereita, 1989, the novel Umbra. Silmäys paradoksien arkistoon, 1990, about a middle-aged doctor who works with violent criminals and is challenged by the philosophical questions of eternity and evil, and the short story collection Salaisuuksia, 1993, which examines the essence of time. Besides these, she has also written the essay collections Tribar. Huomioita inhimmillisestä ja ei- inhimillisestä, 1993, Ettei etäisyys ikävöisi. 2 kerstomusta, 1995, and the short story collection Älä lue tätä kirjaa. Kertomuksia keskenkasvuisille, 1994. These stories treat the theme of the human condition as an eternal semi-adult, forever incomplete on the way to the final destination. Her essay collection Kynä ja kone, ajattelua mahdollisesta ja mahdottomasta was published in 1996.
Additions by the editorial team 2011:
The above biography was first published in 1998. Since then, Leena Krohn has written Sfinksi vai robotti. Filosofinen kuvakirja kaikenikäisille, 1999, Mitä puut tekevät elokuussa, 2000, Datura tai harha jonka jokainen näkee, 2001, 3 sokeaa miestä ja 1 näkevä, 2003, Unelmakuolema, 2004, Mehiläispaviljonki, 2006 and Kotini on Riioraa, 2008.
She has received several prizes and she has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2008.
