Aila Johanna Sinisalo is a Finnish science fiction and fantasy writer. She studied comparative literature and drama, amongst other subjects, at the University of Tampere. Professionally she worked in the advertising business, rising to the level of marketing designer. An important figure in the Finnish science fiction scene in the late 1980s and early '90s (winning a rare back-to-back collection of Atorox Awards for short fiction in the genre), she was also the first Finnish science fiction writer to make a mainstream breakthrough by breaking genre barriers.

Fiction

Sinisalo was awarded the Finlandia Prize for literature in 2000 for her first novel, Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi (translated as Not Before Sundown in 2003 and again as Troll — A Love Story in 2004 for the American market). The novel has been translated into several languages. Movie rights were acquired by Carter Smith in 2006. An English translation of Linnunaivot was published in 2010 by Peter Owen Publishers under the title Birdbrain (translated by David Hackston). She has named the 1967 novel Friday, or, The Other Island by French writer Michel Tournier as a major influence on her career.

Screenwriting

She is also the screenwriter of Energia Productions Iron Sky movie, a sci-fi comedy set in 2018.

Awards

Novels

Short fiction

She has published over 40 short stories, most of them fantasy and science fiction in various in sci fi magazines, journals and women's magazines. Her work has also appeared in the following anthologies:

Editor

Television

Comics