Niemi, Mikael

Swedish author, born and raised in Pajala in Tornedalen, near the Finnish border. His grandmother was Saami and his father a Finnish-speaking man from Tornedalen who did not learn Swedish until school. When eighteen, Mikael Niemi moved to Luleå, where he studied electronics and telecommunications in high school. After high school, he had a number of employments next to writing. He worked in a factory, as a supply teacher, student assistant, and at a small book publishing company. After spending some time in southern Sweden, he again lives in Pajala with his family. According to himself, his life-style is not very different from that of most other people in Pajala, that is, he grows potato, hunts elk, and fishes when not writing.