![Vuorio_Maria_2010_mv2[1]](http://www.ahlbackagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Vuorio_Maria_2010_mv21-192x268.jpg "Vuorio_Maria_2010_mv2[1]")
Maria Vuorio
Maria Vuorio (b. 1954) works in Helsinki as a full time writer. She has written fairytales, picture books, collections of stories, and youth and children’s novels, but her gift for atmospheric writing has also been a hit with adult readers. Vuorio is known for her sensitive characterizations of not only children and youth, but also nature. Her prose is rich and diverse, and her stories are packed with philosophy.
She has been nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize three times, and her fairytale novel The Trousers of a Rabbit won the Arvid Lydecken Award in 2006. In 2009, the Ministry of Education gave Vuorio the esteemed Finland award for her long and illustrious artistic career.
Written by Maria Vuorio
The Queen’s Cloak and Other Knotty Issues
The Queen’s cloak was woven 700 years ago for the coronation of the Queen of Denmark but is now on display at an exhibition, which is touring the major castles of the Nordic Countries. Finland, too, is preparing to exhibit the treasure. Then something terrible happens. Or was it good news for somebody? Life prevails, but in what manner? How is Finland going to explain it all to Denmark?
The reader is presented with additional dilemmas to mull over in the other stories of Knotty Issues – some are solved, others maybe not. A horse has to ponder whether quantity or quality is more important in friendship, and a fox is surprised to find himself in the dock as a result of a shady case. A strange tram appears from round the corner. Should you be a little wary of it? And is a girl called Goldfinch bold enough to walk through a dark castle at night carrying a key?
The Queen’s Cloak uses the fairy tale format, humour and unexpected questions to illuminate its themes: friendship, identity, the difference between knowledge and fantasy, survival and freedom.
The stories glitter consistently with the gold dust of imagination despite the weighty subjects.
Written by Maria Vuorio
One Great Day
One Great Day consists of fourteen youth novels for all those looking for enchantment and great reads.
The unexpected can happen any day!
Written by Maria Vuorio | Illustrated by Mika Launis
Squirrel and Swallow
Rights sold: Japanese
Squirrel and Swallow is a story about love and about the woodland life in the winter. But most of all it is a story of true friendship.
Written by Maria Vuorio | Illustrated by Mika Launis
Happy Hare
Rights sold: Japanese
Hare is a helpful and curious participant in the woodland life an Happy Hare is a chain of stories about him and his hops from task to task.
Winner of Arvid Lydecken Children’s Book Award 2006
Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency Oy Ltd.
info(at)ahlbackagency.com | +358 400 512 101 | www.ahlbackagency.com | Korkeavuorenkatu 37, FI-00130 Helsinki, Finland
