Marja-Sisko Aalto (born July 29, 1954) 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 ...

writer of detective fiction and former minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. She was the vicar of the

Imatra Imatra is a town and municipality in southeastern Finland. Imatra is dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and the border with Russia. On the other side of the border, away from the centre of Imatra, lies the Russian town of Svetogorsk. ...

parish from 1986 to 2010. She became notable as Finland's first openly transgender minister. In 2009, the Finnish Women's Association named Aalto . Since her resignation as vicar, she has pursued a career as a writer.

Early life and education

Alto was born on July 29, 1954, in

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...

as the seventh of eight children and was assigned male at birth. She entered the faculty of theology at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

in 1973.

Clerical career

Aalto was the vicar of the

parish from 1986 to 2010. In November 2008, Aalto came out as

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

and announced her intent to have

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and a ...

. According to Aalto, her parents had decided to give her the name Marja-Sisko if she had been born a girl, as they had hoped. She was preoccupied with the issue of gender from the age of three. Although her parents had wanted a girl, they did not accept her

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...

. For example, they were angry when Aalto, as a child, asked why she could not wear a skirt when all the other girls did. Aalto's coming out as a trans woman caused a great controversy in the Church. The bishop of

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 ...

, Voitto Huotari, commented that there is no juridical obstacle for Aalto continuing as a vicar, but predicted that there would be problems. In 2009, almost 600 members left the Imatra parish. In November 2009, Aalto returned to the job of vicar after spending a year on leave. In March 2010, she requested to be allowed to resign, due in part to the discrimination she faced. She was elected the notary of

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

for Kuopio by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2010.

Writing career

Since her resignation as vicar, Aalto has pursued a career as a writer of detective fiction. Aalto's first detective novel, ''Murder in the Cemetery'', was published in Autumn 2013.Anu Pöntinen, Marja-Sisko Aallosta dekkaristi
Yle.fi, Uutiset, 26.11.2012 Her second novel, ''Deadly Snow'' was published on National Veterans' Day (Finland) on April 27, 2015. The work is dedicated to the veterans of the

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...

and continues the story of the protagonist of the previous book.

Personal life

Aalto has been married twice, and has three children.

Works

Annette Savolainen series

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Others

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aalto, Marja-Sisko 1954 births Living people 20th-century Finnish Lutheran clergy 21st-century Finnish Lutheran clergy 21st-century Finnish novelists Detective fiction writers Discrimination against transgender people Finnish mystery writers Finnish women novelists LGBT Lutheran clergy Finnish LGBT novelists Finnish transgender people Finnish crime fiction writers People from Imatra Transfeminists Transgender women writers Transgender novelists Women Lutheran clergy