Maria Turtschaninoff (1977) is a Swedish-Finnish author best known for her young adult sci-fi thrillers. Turtschaninoff wrote her first book, the cookbook Min mat och mammas (2006), with her mother Christine Saarukka, followed by her debut novel De ännu inte valda. Her breakthrough came with the 2014 sci-fi novel Maresi: Krönikor från Röda klostret, which won the Junior Finlandia Award and the literary prize of Svenska Yle, the Swedish programme of the Finnish National Broadcaster. The book’s title character is a girl living and studying in an orphanage named the Red Abbey. When a frightened girl named Jai arrives, fleeing from the wrath of her father, and a ship appears that may belong to Jai’s father, wild and exciting adventures ensue. In 2016, Turtschaninoff published Naondel, the prequel to Maresi that tells the story of the founder of the Red Abbey. Maria Turtschaninoff will talk to journalist Nikolai Karajev.