Eija Timonen | Professor in Media Studies

For the longest time in my life I had imagined art and research to have their own separate lives. As if when writing children's literature and working as a script writer I would use one part of my brain and when engaging in rational and analytical observation of the world I would use the other. I gradually noticed, however, that these two areas are deeply interwoven and that without doing research I could not write fiction. Research also helped me resolve questions and problems emerging from my artistic work. Finally research and an artistic practice came together in my doctoral dissertation.

I believe that human action is motivated by passion or enthusiasm for something. At least with me it works a charm. At any given time, I will consciously and unconsciously observe the world from the perspective of what interests me, latching onto things and people who seem to share my direction. In this way, seemingly disparate phenomena unite, which in the best cases results in a new tapestry, for example a children's book, a study or research project.

Areas of artistic practice:

Children's fiction (children's books, TV programmes, CD ROMS), especially fairy tales and stories for children and young people drawing on folk traditions