Merete Mazzarella

Merete Mazzarella (born February 4, 1945, in Helsinki) is a Swedo-Finnish prize-winning author and literature researcher.

Life and work
Mazzarella's mother was Danish, and father a Finnish ambassador. Her father's mother tongue was Finnish, but they spoke Swedish at home for practical reasons. Mazzarella learnt about Finland Swedish culture through literature.

From 1973 to 1995, Mazzarella worked as a lecturer in at Helsinki University. She acquired her doctorate in 1981 on the subject of Swedish Nobel laureate Eyvind Johnson. Mazzarella held a temporary professorship in Nordic literature at Helsinki University from 1995 to 1998 and was a permanent professor from 1998 to 2008.

Mazzarella has written for Hufvudstadsbladet in Finland, as well as Sydsvenska dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter in Sweden.

Mazzarella is since 2012 married to Lars Hertzberg.

Awards

 * 2008, (Vuoden tiedekirja) for Fredrik Charlotta Född Tengström: en nationalskalds hustru about Fredrika Runeberg, the wife of J. L. Runeberg
 * 2009, nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Ingen saknad, ingen sorg: en dag i Zacharias Topelius liv
 * 2015, Mazzarella's Själens nattsida was nominated for the 2015 Runeberg Prize
 * 2021, Mazzarella was awarded the Swedish Academy Finland Prize