Leena Parkkinen (b. 1979) made her breakthrough with the debut novel for adults called AFTER YOU, MAX - a novel that brought her the prestigious Debutant of the Year prize 2009. The rights for this debut novel are sold to Finland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Poland. As an author, Leena Parkkinen is a third generation storyteller. She hails from a family in which a good tale has always been appreciated more than the truth. At parties, grandfather used to attract an audience who would listen to him in silence. Grandfather's son, Leena's father, became a famous children's author. The father told everyone that his son would one day become a great writer. Nature had other ideas. A daughter was born one week prematurely while the father was on a working trip to Uppsala in Sweden. According to Parkkinen, this was nature's way of saying that sometimes it's good to shake up things a little. Leena Parkkinen was by no means always going to be a writer; as a child, she dreamt of becoming an artist. When the budding artist's paper ran out, she drew on envelopes, till receipts and walls. Her childish scrawls could even be found on the father's tax return. Parkkinen became a student of graphic design, because her mother was of the opinion that Leena had to get a proper job first, before doing other, more enjoyable things.