Kaari Utrio - Personal History

Personal History

Kaari Utrio was born in Helsinki to a middle-class family. Her father was Urho Untamo Utrio, who after the Winter War worked as CEO of Tammi, a Finnish publishing company. Her mother Meri Marjatta Utrio (née Vitikainen) worked as an editor and a translator to Finnish. There were about four thousand books in Utrio's home, and literature was greatly valued in her family.

Utrio became acquintated with literature at a young age, when her mother read her classics of world literature, such as Kipling and Shakespeare as bed-time stories. At age seven Utrio read a whole book by herself, it happened to be the rather thick Jokamiehen maailmanhistoria (World history for the everyman). At school Utrio did rather well, also in concept writing, even though she did not have any plans to become a writer at the time. Instead she wanted to become a researcher in history. Grimberg's Kansojen historia (History of peoples) offered a living description of history to the young Utrio.

Kaari Utrio matriculated in 1962 from Helsingin tyttölukio, a high school for girls only. After that, she studied history at the University of Helsinki and graduated as a Bachelor of Sciences in 1967. The following year, Utrio published her first novel Kartanonherra ja kaunis Kirstin (The lord of the mansion and the beautiful Kirstin), which was published by Tammi. The name was given by the publisher, and Utrio did not like it herself. The book was, however, a start for Utrio's numerous other historical novels, which have today appeared at a steady pace, usually one per year. Utrio has also published many factual books about history.

Utrio has three children: Karri Virkajärvi (1969), Antti Virkajärvi (1971) and Lauri Linnilä (1976). In 1974 Utrio married Kai Linnilä. The next year, they moved to Somerniemi in Somero. At first, the couple tried their hand at self-sufficient agriculture, but it stopped after a couple of years. Instead, in 1982, Utrio and Linnilä founded a publishing company called Oy Amanita Ltd. Amanita became a family corporation, because Meri Utrio worked there, and later also Lauri Linnilä and his wife joined the staff.

Utrio has worked actively in several organisations. She has been the chairman of the Minna Canth Society from 1999. Utrio is a member of Amnesty International and has been on the board of the Finnish Association of Writers for several years. She has also been active in municipal politics, because Utrio was a non-committed member of the Social Democratic group of the Somero municipal government from 1980 to 1988. She has also given many lectures in many events all around Finland.

Utrio was appointed an artistic professor for the years 1995 to 2000, which was a recognition for her work. Utrio has been an academic in the Väinö Tanner Foundation since 2000. She was awarded the Finnish State Publication Prize in 2002 for her life's work.