Marika Maijala

Marika Maijala (born 1974) works in writing, illustration, visual arts and animation. She currently works at the House of Artists on Harakka Island, Helsinki, and studies painting at the Free Art School Helsinki. Her artistic practice is based on play, experimentation, trial and error in the spirit of DIY.
Marika has received several awards and nominations for her work as a children’s book illustrator, for example the Finnish State Prize for Artistic Illustration in 2020 and the Rudolf Koivu Award for Best Children’s Book Illustration twice (2009 and 2019). . Her first book as a children’s author, Ruusun matka (2018), was nominated for the Nordic Council Children’s and Young People’s Literature Prize and was presented at the Bologna Illustrators’ Exhibition. Her stories and illustrations have been published all over the world. Marika is currently working with the support of a three-year art grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.