Alexandra Salmela: Finnish, Slovak, Salmela

Alexandra Salmela was born in Bratislava in 1980. She studied directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and Finnish language and literature at Charles University in Prague. Today she lives in Tampere with her family. She writes both in Slovak and in Finnish, and has, to date, written two novels: 27 aneb Smrt vás proslaví [27, Or, Death Will Make You Famous] (2010) and Antihrdina [The Anti-Hero] (2015). In addition, she has also published several children’s books: Mimi a Líza I, II [Mimi and Líza I, II] (2013, 2015), Žirafia mama a iné príšery [The Giraffe Mum and Other Monsters] (2013), Princezná opica [The Monkey Princess] (2012), Lodníci na Mississippi [Sailors on the Mississippi] (2012) and Severnejšie ako na sever [Further North Than North] (2005). Her motto is: ‘Don’t be ironic if you want people to understand you.’