Hannu Rajaniemi
# Hannu Rajaniemi

Hannu Rajaniemi (born 9 March 1978) is a Finnish American author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Oakland, California, and was a founding director of a commercial research organisation ThinkTank Maths.

## Early life

Rajaniemi was born in Ylivieska, Finland in 1978. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Oulu, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Mathematical Physics from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to starting his PhD candidature, he completed his national service as a research scientist for the Finnish Defence Forces.

While pursuing his PhD in Edinburgh, Rajaniemi joined Writers' Bloc, a writers' group in Edinburgh that organizes semi-regular spoken word performances and counts Charlie Stross amongst its members.

## Career

Early works included his first published short story "Shibuya no Love" in 2003 and his short story "Deus Ex Homine" in Nova Scotia, a 2005 anthology of Scottish science fiction and fantasy, which caught the attention of his current literary agent, John Jarrold.

Rajaniemi gained attention in October 2008 when John Jarrold secured a three-book deal for him with Gollancz, on the basis of only twenty-four double-spaced pages. His debut novel, The Quantum Thief, was published in September 2010 by Gollancz in Britain and was published in May 2011 by Tor Books in the U.S. The novel has been nominated for the 2011 Locus Award for Best First Novel. A sequel, The Fractal Prince, was published in September 2012 by Gollancz in Britain, and in October 2012 by Tor in the U.S. The third book in the series is called The Causal Angel, and was published in July 2014 by Gollancz in the U.K. and by Tor in the U.S.

Rajaniemi has stated that the literary works of Jules Verne originally inspired both his career in science, as well as his science-fiction writing. Other influences include Maurice Leblanc, Arthur Conan Doyle and architecture blogger Geoff Manaugh. He also co-founded Helix nanotechnologies.

## Awards and honors

* 2012 Tähtivaeltaja Award, winner (best science fiction book published in Finnish) for The Quantum Thief.
* 2011 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards, winner, Short Form category, translation of Hannu Rajaniemi's "Elegy for a Young Elk".
* 2011 Locus Award for Best First Novel, nominee, The Quantum Thief
* 2011 John W. Campbell Memorial Award, third place, The Quantum Thief
* 2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award, nominee, The Fractal Prince

## Personal life

Rajaniemi lives in San Francisco, California with his wife. Before moving to the U.S., he lived in the United Kingdom for over ten years.

