Guest of Honour Mauri Kunnas
Picture: Katja Lösönen
Tampere Kuplii is honored to have Mauri Kunnas as the guest of honor and festival artist for the 2017 Tampere Kuplii –comics festival.
At present Mauri Kunnas (b. 1950) is undoubtedly Finland’s most successful author of children’s books. To date, way over forty books of his have been published, in thirty-four languages in thirty-six countries – including Finnish and Finland –, for a total of almost 9 million copies.
Mauri Kunnas’ first picture book was published in 1975, marking the start of his spectacular career. His books for children have aroused enormous interest around the world. The best-known internationally is Santa Claus. It has already been translated into twenty-six languages.
Though mostly known of his children's books Mauri Kunnas has always been a comic book artist. His first comics appeared in small press magazines such as Helmiä Sioille and Tapaus Keuruu. Those were followed by Kotlant Jaarti in newspaper and a lengthy run of Nyrok City in monthly Magazine format. Concentrating in childeren's books left little time to comics creation but in 2012 a long-time-dream/homage to the Beatles came true with publication of comics album Piitles.
Mauri Kunnas offers the reader an unparalleled joy of discovery: His brilliantly coloured illustrations are filled with rich and humorous details. He has an unrivalled gift for taking history and casting it in a new and hilarious way, as well as for giving old stories and legends his own delightful twist. And his books always exude an atmosphere which is contagiously warm and happy.
http://maurikunnas.net/?lang=en