Leena Maria began to write stories as soon as she learned to write. Fairy stories, horse stories, fantasy stories… As a girl, after the family had gone to bed, she sat in the silence of the night and wrote. When she wasn’t writing, she illustrated her writings. She learned to paint of her own, and has had her work exhibited in several art exhibitions at home and abroad.

Then life happened - and though the writing continued, other things took over. After having fulfilled her childhood dream of studying Egyptology, there finally was time to reach for the other childhood dream of being an author. Her first series Nephilim Quest has now four books and the fifth and final one is coming out soon. The series is based on ancient human mythology and the history of ancient Egypt. These were written under the pen name Leena Maria. (#1 Shadowhunter, #2 Moon Daughter, #3 Amarna, #4 The Khopesh of the Gods)

Leena Maria holds the MA in Egyptology (the University of Manchester, UK). Though her studies were academic, her books celebrate the power of imagination. History is definitely not dry in Leena's novels!

Leena is also writing illustrated children’s books about ancient Egypt under her name Leena Pekkalainen. The first one came out in the fall of 2016 (How I Became a Mummy - Mr Mummific's tongue-in-cheek explanation about mummification for children of all ages) and the sequel (Mummies, Monsters and the Ship of Millions) came out in the fall on 2017. Her book Tutankhamun in My Own Hieroglyphs is traveling the world together with the KING TUT: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh exhibition on its world tour of ten cities. The third book of the Nephilim Quest series (Amarna) in now out.

Leena divides her time between researching ancient Egypt, and writing novels.

In addition to history, she has always been interested in human mythology, which weaves into her stories. Also animals and nature are close to her heart - thanks to the long childhood summers spent at the beautiful Finnish archipelago, observing birds, insects, sea and forest animals for hours on end. Ancient forests and the sea have an especially important place in her heart.

Leena Maria lives in the southwest corner of Finland, in Finland’s oldest city Turku which was established 800 years ago.