Markku Ropponen

A novelist
Born 1955

Librarian Markku Ropponen had been dabbling in poetry, but his first crime novel Pronssijuhlat (Bronze Feast) was published in 1990. Ever since then he has been busy writing: a new book has come out nearly every year. Besides crime fiction he has written radio plays, a collection of short stories and some other novels. But it was not until the spring of 2009 that Ropponen quit his day job and went on to write full-time.

When starting a story not even the writer knows where it will take him. The plot takes shape as the text keeps coming. The rhythm for writing is steady: a few pages every morning. Next day he carries on where he left off. The text is more or less complete, and it doesn’t need much revising.

Instead of literary models Markku Ropponen prefers to talk about writers who have swept him away. He likes Mika Waltari, Jarkko Laine and Saul Bellow for example, but there’s no point in looking for their influence in his own work. Characteristic of Ropponen’s work is a discerning depiction of Finnish nature and the human mind and a certain kind of lyricism. Humorous language and a sly attitude reveal everyday life in a new light.

Crime fiction afficionados have been discovering Ropponen and spreading the word. One of the more sympathetic characters is the private eye Otto Kuhala, who took the stage in Puhelu kiusaajalle (2002). The scene of the Kuhala-series is set in Jyväskylä, the novelist’s hometown.

(Published in 2/2010)