Emma Puikkonen

Nowadays I live in Helsinki, but I also work in Turku. Professionally I have a foot in both cities – I’m a writer in theatre director in one, a playwright and theatre director in the other. I am presently doing planning work for a communal writing medium, which is a joint project between Helsinki City theatre and Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. My earlier works are the novels Turkulainen näytelmä (A Turku Play), published in 2002, and Näköala (Perspective), from 2004.

I currently have two writing projects underway, a novel, which has been in the works for a long while, and a libretto for a children’s opera. Work on the novel now seems to be gaining a new lease of life thanks to the peaceful working environment of Saari Residence. Work on the libretto has been interesting. I have held writing workshops for children in Turku on the theme of the future, and I will incorporate parts of their output into the libretto. The composer of the opera is Markku Klami, and it will be performed in schools in Turku in 2011, as part of the events to mark the city’s status as a European capital of culture that year.

At Saari I produced the first and second drafts of a novel, and held writing workshops in Turku for children, as part of my work on a libretto. From these materials I got the first, rough draft of the libretto worked out during my stay also.