About
I write books and design experiences that help people make sense of technology. My work spans from children’s coding stories to city-scale learning environments, from TED talks to jungle gyms.
I move between two cities, two languages, and many modes of work: writing, speaking, designing, parenting.
Selected Work
Hello Ruby →
A children’s book series that teaches computational thinking through storytelling, imagination, and play. Each title introduces a foundational topic in computer science, without screens.
Playgrounds →
Interactive public spaces that invite children to explore computer science concepts through their bodies, senses, and curiosity. Built in partnership with cities and educators.
Maailma hiekanjyvässä →
A poetic, humanistic map of computer science. Narrative non-fiction for adults on the people, ideas, and materials behind our machines.
Who I Am
I’m a Finnish author, illustrator, and educator working at the intersection of technology, education, and public imagination. I created Hello Ruby, a children’s series about the inner life of computers, and I’ve worked with educators, policymakers and business leaders around the world on how we might teach computing differently.
My latest project is Maailma hiekanjyvässä, a book for adults about how computers see the world—and how we might see back. I also design playgrounds and urban learning environments inspired by computer science. I'm originally from Helsinki, but I've lived in Paris since 2022.
What I Believe
Computers are more than code. They are cultural objects, full of metaphors, mysteries, and magic. I believe in embodied computing, public learning, and the power of poetic thinking in technical worlds. My work is about making the invisible visible, and maybe even a little delightful.
Lineage
Some people who inspire my work:Seymour Papert, Alan Kay, Ursula Franklin, Claire L. Evans, Björk, Sherry Turkle, Robin Wall Kimmerer, James Bridle, Sep Kamvar, Tove Jansson, John Berger, Deb Chachra, Robin Sloan, Fred Rogers, Maria Montessori, Loris Malaguzzi, Calvin & Hobbes, Taro Gomi, Bret Victor, Ellen Ullman, Paul Ford, Hannu Rajaniemi, Isamu Noguchi, Armi Ratia, Shigeru Miyamoto, Patrick Collison, Hayao Miyazaki, Edith Cobb, Yukihiro Matsumoto
Books
A list of books I've read in 2025. More on Goodreads.
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- What Now? - Ann Patchett (Sep 12, 2025)
- In Memory of Memory - Maria Stepanova (Sep 12, 2025)
- Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain - Maryanne Wolf (Sep 10, 2025)
- The Dance of Life: The New Science of How a Single Cell Becomes a Human Being - Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz (Sep 02, 2025)
- Tove Jansson ja maailman lapset - Tuula Karjalainen (Aug 29, 2025)
- Day - Michael Cunningham (Aug 25, 2025)
- Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck (Aug 17, 2025)
- Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays - Siri Hustvedt (Aug 04, 2025)
- Huomenna kerron kaiken - Juha Itkonen (Jul 29, 2025)
- Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines - Evelyn Fox Keller (Jul 22, 2025)
- The Sisters - Jonas Hassen Khemiri (Jul 22, 2025)
- Blue Sisters - Coco Mellors (Jul 14, 2025)
- Biological Relatives: IVF, Stem Cells, and the Future of Kinship - Sarah Franklin (Jul 10, 2025)
- State of Wonder - Ann Patchett (Jul 09, 2025)
- The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood - Belle Boggs (Jul 09, 2025)
- How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made - Philip Ball (Jul 05, 2025)
- Bel Canto - Ann Patchett (Jun 30, 2025)
- Motherhood - Sheila Heti (Jun 27, 2025)
- Nelisiipinen lokki - Matias Riikonen (Jun 26, 2025)
- William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love: Art, Poetry, and the Imagining of a New World - Philip Hoare (Jun 24, 2025)
- Helsinki - Erään kaupungin historia> - Henrik Meinander (Jun 05, 2025)
- My Work - Olga Ravn (May 2025)
- Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays - Nicole Graev Lipson (May 2025)
- One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder - Brian Doyle (May 2025)
- Les Yeux de Mona - Thomas Schlesser (May 2025)
- Where the Axe Is Buried - Ray Nayler (May 2025)
- Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir - Craig Mod (May 2025)
- Reunamerkintöjä - Kadonnutta Eurooppaa etsimässä - Ville-Juhani Sutinen (Apr 2025)
- Kaskaat - Emmi-Liia Sjöholm (Apr 2025)
- Building SimCity - Chaim Gingold (Apr 2025)
- Abundance - Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson (Apr 2025)
- Three Days in June - Anne Tyler (Apr 2025)
- Sielunpiirtäjän ilta - Joel Haahtela (Apr 2025)
- Karkuteillä - Aura Nurmi (Apr 2025)
- Of Ants and Dinosaurs - Cixin Liu (Apr 2025)
- The Pacific Circuit – Alexis Madrigal (Apr 2025)
- This Strange Eventful History – Claire Messud (Mar 25, 2025)
- The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus – Emma Knight (Mar 17, 2025)
- Dream Count – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Mar 11, 2025)
- Käräjät – Markus Nummi (Mar 5, 2025)
- The Ministry of Time – Kaliane Bradley (Feb 15, 2025)
- Once There Was – Kiyash Monsef (Feb 11, 2025)
- The Nvidia Way – Tae Kim (Feb 5, 2025)
- Send Nudes – Saba Sams (Feb 3, 2025)
- Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry (Feb 2025)
- Kaarna – Tommi Kinnunen (Jan 24, 2025)
- The Magic of Code – Samuel Arbesman (Jan 23, 2025)
- Any Person Is the Only Self – Elisa Gabbert (Jan 20, 2025)
- Powerhouse – James Andrew Miller (Jan 15, 2025)
- When in French – Lauren Collins (Jan 9, 2025)
- Lehmä synnyttää yöllä – Pajtim Statovci (Jan 3, 2025)