Eeva Turunen made a huge breakthrough into Finnish theatre in 2014 with her monologue play About Ulla. The intense and slyly funny portrayal of obsession immediately attracted widespread attention, and in 2015 it was awarded the main prize at the national monologue festival and nominated for the Lea prize. Her second play, Isoisä, ilman muuta (Grandpa, Without a doubt), is a tragicomic work about two relatives and abandonment. Turunen has developed the text in the New Play Finland project, and the text has been translated into Hungarian and Swedish. Turunen is also a prose writer: Her debut book, Neiti U. muistelee niinsanottua ihmissuhdehistoriaansa (Miss U. recalls her so-called relationship history) (Siltala 2018), won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and was nominated for the Runeberg Prize. Her novel Sivistynyt ja miellyttävä ihminen (A Civilized and Pleasant Person) (Siltala 2022) was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for fiction and won the Kalevi Jäntti Prize. Turunen's style is characterized by psychological insight, which, however, does not get bogged down in realism, but uses the range of linguistic expression in a diverse and confident manner. Turunen is an architect by training. She also plays in bands and occasionally performs audio-literature performances.
Muutama sana Ullasta, 2015 (About Ulla)
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Having incarcerated herself in her apartment, a young woman gradually loses her grip on reality. Her friendship with a fellow student and neighbor by the name of Ulla soon acquires hints of obsession. Beneath the minutiae of daily life, the author paints a universally applicable portrait of the yearning for love and affection, of suppressed ambitions and turbulent dreams. The play has been translated into German and Italian.