Arto Salminen

Arto Salminen (22 October 1959 – 15 November 2005) was a Finnish writer known for his social commentary.

Salminen, who was born in Helsinki, had also worked as a journalist and taxi driver; he wrote six novels which criticised with a morbid black sense of humour such current phenomena in Finnish society as neoliberalist politics, the decline of the welfare state, tabloid media, reality television and so on. His books gained a small cult following in Finland and they also received excellent reviews even though they did not sell particularly well.

His 1998 novel Varasto (Stockroom), in which the stockroom of a paint company becomes a microcosm of contemporary Finland, was dramatized for the theater in 2005.

Salminen received the Koskenkorva Prize in 1998, and the Olvi Prize in 2004. He was also a Runeberg Literary Award finalist in 2002. He died of a sudden stroke at Hausjärvi in November 2005.

Salminen's novel Varasto was posthumously adapted as a successful comedy film in 2011.