Umayya Abu-Hanna ( Arabic: أمية أبو حنا) (born 17 March 1961) is a Palestinian-Finnish ^[2] writer, journalist, and former member of the Helsinki City Council born in Haifa, Israel into a Palestinian family. She moved to Finland in 1981. In 2011, she moved to Amsterdam where she resides with her South African daughter. ^[3]

Career

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In the 1980s, Abu-Hanna was a member of the Helsinki City Council (for the Green Party) and a member of the Real Estate Board of Helsinki.^{[ citation needed]}

In the 1990s, she was a journalist, documentary maker and columnist. She became known to the wider public as the first non-white presenter of the weekly current affairs news-program Ajankohtainen Kakkonen at the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE.^{[ citation needed]}

In the 2000s, she was member of the Arts Council Finland (2004–2009) and was the first chair of its Multicultural Board. Abu-Hanna was also the cultural diversity adviser of the Finnish National Gallery.^{[ citation needed]}

Her first novel, Nurinkurin, was published in 2003. Her book on identity, Sinut, was published in 2007. A manual for the cultural field, Multikulti, was published in 2012. ^[4] A cultural history of modern Helsinki, Alienin Silmin, was published in 2014. She co-authored A changing world, perspectives on heritage, with case studies of museums in Afghanistan.^{[ citation needed]}

Bibliography

• Nurinkurin (2003)
• Sinut (2007), ^[5]
• Multkikulti (2012)
• Alienin silmin (2014)
• A Changing World, perspectives on heritage (2014)
• Columns, Metro
• Columns, Suomen Kuvalehti
• Columns, Helsingin Sanomat
• Columns, Finnair's in-flight magazine: Blue Wings

Awards

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• Larin Paraske Award, The Kalevala Women's Association (2008)
• "Finn of the Year", The Finnish Civic Society (2004)
• Finland Award (2003), Ministry of Education ^[6]
• Bonnier Group Award (2002) for journalistic innovation

References

External links

• Homepage