Päivi M. Laakso (1967–) is from Tornio in Finland but lives and works in Norway. She published her debut in 2001, the novel I love Sun (Jeg elsker sol), and has since written two more novels - the last one was Clearing the Air (Myggfangerne) from 2016.

She is as well as a writer also a reknowned artist, and has had several exhibitions in later years.

The Jury says:

Laaksos books gives us room to cry and laugh, a classical theatre-mask play in the tension between the tender and the grotesque. But her text also differs in the way she writes, with a unique visual energy - probably experienced and gathered from her other art: painting.

The Jury is the literary council of the Norwegian Authors Assosiation.