Mari Teede

Mari Teede is a children’s author. Her first book Appi, me muutusime kassideks (2016, illustrated by Kadi Kurema) is a fast-paced and surreal story of a family living in the Mustamäe residential area, with the family members turning into cats while looking for their cat, and then experiencing all the problems and joys of feline life – including how badly humans can treat animals. Teede’s most recent book is titled Ingmar ja meri (2023, illustrated by Marja-Liisa Plats). Ingmar is a little boy who moves to the Kopli district in Tallinn with her mother – this life change brings a new home, a new school, a new environment and all this does not go smoothly. Yet in addition to the difficulties, the book describes a young person coming into contact with a great element. This is nice because it is not often that the sea is a character in a book; it is far too expansive, too self-evident. On the other hand, writing about the sea makes it possible to show it as something more interesting and profound than just a sandy beach and water – you can extract life force from the sea. In 2021, Ingmar ja meri won third place at the children’s stories competition organised by the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, the Täheke magazine and Tänapäev Publishers, and it was nominated in the children’s books category of the annual awards of the Estonian Cultural Endowment in 2023.