Anu Nousiainen

Anu Nousiainen has a M.Sc. in Political Science from Helsinki University. She is currently staff writer for the leading Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (www.hs.fi) and its monthly magazine (http://www.hs.fi/kuukausiliite/). The magazine has over a million readers in a country of 5.5 million people, and it is known for its award-winning long-form journalism.

Nousiainen has worked for the paper's city desk, foreign desk, Sunday section and the monthly magazine for over 20 years. She was its Far East correspondent in the 90’s based in Hong Kong and Shanghai. She’s covered Deng Xiaoping's death, the Hong Kong handover, Asian economic turmoil, and the end of the Suharto rule, but also daily lives of ordinary people. After returning to Europe she’s done reporting trips to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Darfur and Zimbabwe among others.

During her career she's been most interested in reportage and narrative writing. Some of her most recent stories have dealt with a religious cult, malaria research center on the Thai-Burma border, the life of the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik, and lesbians who received prison sentences in Finland in the 50's. In 2011 she was shortlisted for the Bonnier Journalism Award for the Best Story, and in 2012 she received the Bonnier Journalist of the Year Award, which is the most prestigious journalism award in Finland.