Timo Parvela (born 19 May 1964 in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

) is a Finnish author of

juvenile fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. Parvela matriculated from secondary school in 1983 and graduated from Jyväskylä Teacher Training College in 1988.Timo Parvela, partial bibliography
accessed 7 May 2011. He worked at a series of

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

teaching posts for six years — first in Petäjävesi in the

sub-region and later 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 Nurmijärv ...

— until the mid-1990s. Since 1996 he has been a freelance writer. In addition to numerous children's books he has written television screenplays both for children's audiences and for adults, as well as

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...

s for Finnish radio.

Brief story summaries

In ''Poika'' (1989) an uncertain Everyboy, who communicates more easily with his grandfather and with his dog than with his parents, meets Everygirl.Finland (Finnish)
''IBBY Honour List 1992'', p. 9,

Austrian Literature Online Austrian Literature Online (ALO) is an Austrian digitization project by the University Library of Innsbruck, the University Library of Graz and the University of Linz. ALO is, together with Project ANNO, by the Austrian National Library, the lar ...

(ALO), 2009. Accessed 7 May 2011. ''Keinulauta'' ("Seesaw", 2006) portrays Pii, a lonely girl meditatively seeking a second person to sit on the empty end of her seesaw."Finlandia Junior Prize awarded to children's book"
''

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that o ...

'', 12 January 2006. Accessed 7 May 2011.

Recurring-character series

One of Parvela's series relates the adventures of the twins Anna and Antti, but he is perhaps most popular for his series of ''Ella'' books, which are prescribed as school readers in his native Finland. The focus of the latter series is Ella, a primary-school student who tells of her daily life and schooling. In the series are at least 18 books, a few of which have been translated from Finnish into German and Polish. All of the German translations have been recorded as audiobooks as well. In ''Ella luokkaretkellä'' ("Ella's class trip", 1997), for example, a solicitous teacher, concerned that each schoolchild's day pack is aboard the bus, forgets his own bag in the schoolyard; travelling without money, the class's adventures during the outing to the city are humorously narrated by seven-year-old Ella.Finland (Finnish)
''IBBY Honour List 2000'', p. 13,

(ALO), 2009. Accessed 7 May 2011. Producer

Juha Wuolijoki Juha Wuolijoki is a Finnish director, writer and producer and the CEO-founder of the production and distribution company Snapper Films. Founded in 1998, Snapper Films is based in Helsinki and Los Angeles and it's one of the leading production com ...

is also planning a film, based on some of the books in the ''Ella'' series, to be directed by

Taneli Mustonen Taneli Mustonen (born 1 January 1978)Taneli Mustonen
– ''AllMovie'' is a Finnish fi ...

. Wuolijoki expects filming to begin in the summer of 2011.Juha Wuolijoki interview,
From Santa To Hella Wuolijoki Biopic
, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, 28 January 2011. Accessed 6 May 2011. Other popular characters created by Timo Parvela are Maukka and Väykkä. Maukka is a cat and Väykkä is a dog and they live in a sky blue house on the top of the hill. Below the hill there is a village where their friends live. Maukka and Väykkä are totally different characters and their life is familiar and safe but also crazy and fun. Books feature many kind of topics from getting old ("Maukka, Väykkä ja Karhu Murhinen", 2012) to being the first and being famous ("Maukan ja Väykän satukirja", 2013). Maukka and Väykkä books are targeted for children around 3–7 years and adults can also enjoy reading them as they describe every day events in very truthful and compassionate way. There are 9 Maukka and Väykkä books created by Timo Parvela. Books have been translated into German, Japanese, and Chinese. All books are illustrated by

Virpi Talvitie Virpi Talvitie (born 1961, in Ilmajoki) is a Finnish illustrator and graphic artist. Talvitie graduated from high school in 1980 and received a bachelor of art degree in Art and Design in 1989. Talvitie has illustrated magazines and children's ...

, a Finnish illustrator and graphic artist.

Selected works

Books in Finnish

* 1989: ''Poika'' ("A boy"). . * 1990: ''Puhuva koira'' ("The talking dog"). * 1992: ''Pelkotiloja'' ("Anxiety") * 1993: ''Pikkuveljet ja taika-avain'' ("Little brothers and the magic key") * 1994: ''Ohutta yläpilveä'' ("Cirrus clouds") * 1995: ''Hilma ja Pingviini'' ("Hilma and the penguin") * 1996: ''Isäni on supermies'' ("My dad the superman") * 1997: ''Ella luokkaretkellä'' ("Ella's class trip") * 1999: ''Ansa ja Oiva'' ("Ansa and Oiva") * 2000: ''Outo juttu'' ("A strange tale") * 2000: ''Ansa ja Oiva suurkaupungissa'' ("Ansa and Oiva in the city"). * 2001: ''Sanoo isä'' ("Dad says") * 2002: ''Mitä siihen sanot, isä?'' ("What do you say, dad?") * 2004: ''Hilma ja täydellinen lemmikkieläin'' ("Hilma and her perfect pet") * 2005: ''Hilma ja hyvä harrastus'' ("Hilma and her fine hobby") * 2006: ''Keinulauta'' ("Seesaw").

School texts

* 2002: ''Tammen Kultainen aapinen'' ("Golden oak primer") * 2003: ''Tammen Kultainen lukukirja'' ("Golden oak reader")

Published German translations

* 2007: ''Ella in der Schule'' ("Ella at school"), Carl Hanser-Verlag, 144 pp., * 2008: ''Ella in der zweiten Klasse'' ("Ella in second grade"), Carl Hanser-Verlag, 160 pp., * 2009: ''Ella auf Klassenfahrt'' (originally ''Ella luokkaretkellä'' (1997), "Ella's class trip"), Carl Hanser-Verlag, 160 pp., ; also available as an audio CD read by Friedheim Ptok. Igel Records, * 2010: ''Ella und der Superstar'', Carl Hanser-Verlag, 160 pp., ; also available as an audio CD read by Friedheim Ptok. Igel Records,

Published English translations

* 2016: ''Bicycling to the Moon'', 128pp.,

Awards

* 1991: Central Finland Regional Arts Award * 1992: One of the IBBY Honour List awardees for his 1989 book ''Poika'' ("A boy"), of which the judging committee wrote, "The author shows an extraordinary command of modern Finnish, and he conveys his protagonist's thoughts in fresh and authentic language not often found in books for young people." * 2000: One of the IBBY Honour List awardees for his 1997 book ''Ella luokkaretkellä'' ("Ella's class trip"). * 2006: Finlandia Junior Award (€26,000) for children's and youth literature, for ''Keinulauta'' ("Seesaw"), a prize shared equally by his illustrator

, who helped develop the idea for the book. Contest judge Jukka Virtanen praised ''Keinulauta'' as "exciting, funny, wise and beautiful."

References

External links

Timo Parvela's website

Timo Parvela's Amazon biography

Timo Parvela biography on Gecko Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parvela, Timo 1964 births Living people People from Jyväskylä Finnish children's writers Writers from Central Finland Finnish-language writers 21st-century Finnish writers