Born in 1961, Kjell Westö lives in Helsinki. He made his literary debut in 1986, and since then has published poetry, collections of short stories, and novels. His five great novels set in Helsinki in the twentieth century have established him as a leading name among today's Swedish-language writers in Finland. His international breakthrough came in 2006 with the novel Där vi en gang gått (Where Once We Walked), which was translated into most major European languages and for which he was awarded the Finlandia Prize, Finland's most prestigious literary prize. His novel Hägring 38 (The Wednesday Club) was awarded the Nordic Council award 2014.
