Timo Parvela (b. 1964) is a Finnish writer and one of Finland’s most prolific and widely read authors. He has published what amounts to a small library of works for children, young people and adults alike. As is often the case today, Parvela is particularly fond of writing series, among which Ella and Friends stands out. He has been writing about Ella, a primary school girl, since 1995, taking his readers on a wide range of adventures while also addressing, in a child-friendly way, the complexities and challenges of contemporary life, such as distance learning. A considerable number of Ella’s adventures have been translated into Estonian; the first, Ella in the Theatre (Ella teatterissa, originally published in 1996), appeared in Estonian in 2006, translated by the beloved children’s poet and lyricist Ott Arder. The latest, the 39th instalment, is titled Ella and Friends Smarter than Artificial Intelligence (Ella ja kaverit tekoälyä terävämpinä). As the title suggests, Ella, her classmates and their teacher pit their wits against a phenomenon that no one can now avoid.
Timo Parvela
