KALLE OSKARI MATTILA

Hi, I'm Kalle, a writer from Finland living in Los Angeles.

My first article was published in Finland's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, when I was 13 years old. Two decades and four countries later, I now hold a Master of Fine Arts in nonfiction writing from Columbia University and my journalism and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post,The Boston Globe, Vogue, The Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Paris Review, Business Insider,Monocle, and elsewhere.

I also teach writing, and have taught creative nonfiction in the undergraduate creative writing program at Columbia University and online at Writing Pad.

My essays have been translated to Greek, Portuguese, Italian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Thai. One of my investigative pieces for The Atlantic was anthologized – alongside work by writers like Malcolm Gladwell – in Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, published by Bedford/St. Martin’s. That essay, among other works, is now taught at universities across America.

I am currently at work on an essay collection, as well as a memoir, a chapter of which appeared in The New York Times' Modern Love column. Actor Cory Michael Smith performed my essay at the Modern Love Live event at Provincetown Film Festival and The Boston Globe called it a “crowd favorite.” That reading was later aired as a Modern Love Podcast episode on NPR and is now available to stream on Spotify and iHeart Radio, among other platforms.

You can read interviews of me in Finnish media at Ilta-Sanomat, Finland’s most popular news source, MTV, Finland’s biggest commercial news network, and Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily newspaper. Ylioppilaslehti also published an extensive, 10-page profile detailing my writing life.

Before moving to the States, I worked in managerial positions at Penguin Press at Penguin Random House in London – one of the most prestigious nonfiction imprints in publishing – and at Demos Helsinki, Finland’s leading nonpartisan think tank.

As a narrative consultant, I continue to advise major companies and nonprofit organizations on storytelling, editorial strategy, and long-form writing.

I live and work in the United States on an EB-1 “extraordinary ability” green card, which I was granted for my creative nonfiction writing.

For assignments and anything else, feel free to get in touch at kalle.mattila[at]columbia.edu

© Kalle Oskari Mattila, 2026. All rights reserved.