Mauri Tapio Kunnas (born 11 February 1950) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and children's author. Kunnas was born in

Vammala Vammala is a former town and municipality of southwestern Finland, chartered in 1907. On 1 January 2009, Vammala was consolidated with the municipalities of Mouhijärvi and Äetsä, to form a new city named Sastamala. Geography Vammala was locate ...

. He

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

in 1969 and graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

in 1975. He has worked as a

political cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

in many Finnish

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s. He is currently living in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

with his wife Tarja, children Jenna (1983) and Noora (1987) and their cat. Kunnas is most famous for his numerous children's books, illustrated by himself and featuring

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animals. His most famous children's book series is called ''Koiramäki'' (Dog Hill), set in historical Finland, featuring anthropomorphic

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

s. His other works include ''Riku, Roope ja Ringo'' (Ricky, Rocky and Ringo), some "horror" books and books about

Joulupukki Joulupukki is a Finnish Christmas figure. The name ''joulupukki'' literally means "Christmas goat" or " Yule Goat" in Finnish; the word ''pukki'' comes from the Germanic root ''bock'', which is a cognate of the English "buck", and means "billy- ...

. The hordes of clothed animals present in his books by the end of the 1970s led people to compare him to

Richard Scarry Richard McClure Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his ''Best Ever'' book series that take ...

. But as he became more popular and produced even more work the similarities lessened. Kunnas' children's books usually feature some recurring background characters, like Herra Hakkarainen (Mr. Clutterbuck), a sleepwalking goat. Aside of children's books, Kunnas has also drawn a

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

parody comic called '' Nyrok City'' for teenagers and adults. The comic parodies 1970s-1980s era rock and roll culture such as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

in a Finnish style. It is one of the few Kunnas works in which the characters are drawn as humans. Despite his fame, he remembered his origins. Much of the scenic imagery in his work comes from his hometown of

with glimpses of its churches and rustic atmosphere. He also did valuable PR work for the Finnish home of

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

in ''Twelve Gifts for Santa Claus'' (USA 1988), and ''Santa and the Magic Drum'' (Otava 1996), the latter of which has also been made into an animated film of the same name in same year. He recently worked on a grander scale with ''The Canine

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

'', a new version of the classic Finnish epic more accessible to children as well as cultural sidestep in his version of ''The Knights of King Arthur'' featuring cats in Camelot. He attributes a large part of his success to his good wife Tarja Kunnas who has worked for twenty years as his assistant doing the painting for her husband's drawings. In 2014 he won the "Vittoria Samarelli Literary Award" (

Castel Goffredo Castel Goffredo ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Mantua, in Lombardy, northern Italy, from Mantua and a few more from Brescia. It lies in a region of springs at the foot of the slopes that drain into Lake Garda, towards the ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

).Il premio Vittoria Samarelli all’illustratore Mauri Kunnas.
/ref>

References

External links

Official site
1950 births Living people People from Sastamala Finnish comic strip cartoonists Finnish children's writers Finnish children's book illustrators Finnish comics artists Finnish graphic designers Finnish graphic novelists Writers who illustrated their own writing {{cartoonist-stub