Who is Writing?

I am Minna Saarelainen, born in Lappeenranta, Finland, in 1966.

I write under the name M. R. Malkki, my maiden name from before marriage.

I began writing in elementary school, when I noticed that my classmates reacted to the text exactly as intended. The jokes landed. The moments unfolded correctly. Written language revealed itself not merely as a school requirement, but as a way of transmitting experience.

As a teenager, I wrote stories and kept them in a drawer. There were no goals, no plans for publication. I wrote simply because the stories insisted on being written.

One of the earliest stories dates back to my early teens. I arrived at school one morning slightly dazed, having spent the entire early hours writing down a plot and sketching the landscape of a dream before it could fade.

Many of my later works have come into being the same way: through dreams, sudden visions, or fleeting thoughts so vivid they demanded to be captured before disappearing. My first work that could truly be called a book emerged in precisely this manner.

At present, eight books or story collections have been published. Several have sequels or parallel works in progress, alongside entirely new projects taking shape. Writing runs alongside my work as a multidisciplinary entrepreneur, sometimes leading, sometimes following, but always present.

This blog serves as a space where I gradually open both the books and the processes behind them: how they come into being, and why.

You are welcome to follow along.