Author: Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen
 
  
Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen (born in 1977) is an author and poet who writes books for young people and is editor of a youth literature magazine. She has written three books for young people, and three collections of poetry. Huotarinen has also been awarded the Nuori Manner Prize of The Union of Finnish Writers and the Kalevi Jäntti Prize for young authors. Her books have been nominated for the Topelius, Debutant of the Year and Tanssiva Karhu (Dancing Bear) Prizes. Huotarinen teaches writing around Finland and coordinates virtual writing courses for young people. She is the chairperson of the Women Writers’ Committee of Finnish PEN.

 
Bibliography
2011 Light Light Light
“Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen’s novel for young people succeeds in combining her knowledge of traditional girls’ books and her ability to reveal the storyline to the readers little by little, thus capturing them in the process. First and foremost, it shows her deep respect for youth, so much maligned, at its own totally unique terms. Light Light Light gives us a promise of a revival in Finnish young people’s literature. It does not dwell on youthful angst and problem-centredness, even though the story does have its fair share of both. Light Light Light is a book for girls of all ages. It captures the imagination of today’s girls and their forty-something mothers, who reminisc about their own girlhood in the 1980s.”
- Lastenkirjahylly
“Young people’s literature occasionally deals with lesbian relationships, but Huotarinen’s book is among the most sensual and erotic of this genre. [...] Light Light Light is a book for young people which not only shakes the reader with its content, but also its style. Its sentences and word structures break away from traditional narrative style and resemble prosaic poetry and creative writing. [...] The reader is not let off easily, but if she persists with the book at Mariia’s exhaustive pace, she is rewarded with a glimpse of a beautifully ragged and explosive young woman.”
- Turun Sanomat