A Playground Worth a Thousand Programmes
Beyond Tellerrand · 2025 · 40 min
Speaking
The big, beautiful ideas of computer science.
Author of Hello Ruby (published in almost 40 languages). Designing computer playgrounds. Her first book for adults, about the big ideas of computer science, came out in Finland in 2025.
Two minutes on stage
Current keynote
To See the World in a Grain of Sand
Every AI talk seems to be either “here's how to prompt better” or “we're all doomed.” I think there's a more interesting conversation to be had.
In this talk I take the audience inside the actual ideas of computer science — how word embeddings turn language into geometry, what we mean when we say a machine “learns,” and why Murakami's line “one opposite of efficiency is imagination” might be the best lens for thinking about AI.
I've spent a decade making computer science tangible for children, designed a computer playground in Helsinki, and written a book about these ideas for adults. This talk is what happens when all of that meets the question everyone is asking right now.
Also available as a fireside conversation, panel, or tailored workshop. Educators see professional development.
What audiences say
“Linda's talk was staggeringly good. In a world grinding through crises, with economic growth cancelled again and a general sense of despair, it was wonderful to hear something this hopeful — something that believes in a better future.”
“An incredible talk that opened completely new perspectives on the most timely of subjects. Genuinely original thinking — she brought in the wider context of history and humanity in a way that was impossible to ignore. It changed how I think about this.”
“Linda is a wonderful speaker who makes difficult things feel human.”
- 2.4M+views on her TED talk
- 37languages Hello Ruby is published in
- 10+ yearson stages from Helsinki to Seoul
Recent stages, 2024–2026
Where Linda has been speaking
Corporate
Google · Huawei · F-Secure · Finnair · Elisa · Deutsche Telekom · Deloitte · Schibsted
Conferences
Gartner · Nordic Business Forum · Web Summit · Beyond Tellerrand · World Knowledge Forum
Government & institutions
City of Helsinki · NY CS4All · UNESCO · EU Commission
Education
WeTeach_CS / UT Austin · Tec de Monterrey · MIT · BETT · CSTA · HundrED
Featured talks
Recordings
AI Is Our Multiple-Choice Test
2025 · 58 min
Happy AI education, Finnish-style
SEF, Seoul · 2024 · 32 min
A delightful way to teach kids about computers
TED · 2015 · 11 min · 2.4M+ views
Press kit
Photos
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Bio
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Linda Liukas is the author of Hello Ruby and Nähdä maailma hiekanjyvässä, and the designer of a computer playground in Helsinki.
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Linda Liukas is a Finnish author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated Hello Ruby, a children's book series about computer science published in almost 40 languages, and her TED talk about teaching computing to children has been watched 2.4 million times. In 2024 she opened a computer playground in Ruoholahti, Helsinki, where children learn about binary numbers and algorithms by climbing on them. Her first book for adults, Nähdä maailma hiekanjyvässä, came out from Otava in 2025 and follows the map of computer science from Ada Lovelace's first line of code to the machines we argue about today. She grew up in Helsinki and has lived in Paris since 2022.
Booking
Bring Linda to your stage.
Write to speaking@helloruby.com with a short note about your event — where, when, and the audience you have in mind. I read every one.
Email speaking@helloruby.comRepresented by
Verbal — Olli Bergman
olli@verbal.fi
Kollab — Emma Alftan
emma.alftan@kollab.fi
We Are Minds — Nicolas Teil
nicolas@weareminds.com