Maria Kaaren Takolander was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1973 to Finnish parents.

She writes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Maria won the Australian Book Review Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, was one of the runners-up for the Australian Book Review Peter Porter Poetry Prize, and came second in the Australian Book Review Calibre Essay Prize. Her words can also be found on bronze plaques in the Geelong CBD and at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

Maria is the author of six books. Her most recent is a novel called The End of Romance (Text 2026), which was completed with the assistance of an Australia Council 'New Work' grant, a Neilma Sidney Travel Fund award, an Arteles Creative Centre residency, and an Australian Institute of Marine Science residency.

She is also the author of another work of fiction, The Double and Other Stories (Text 2013), which was funded by an Australia Council ‘New Work’ grant, shortlisted for the Melbourne Prize for Literature’s ‘Best Writing Award’, and named a best book of 2013 by The Australian and other forums.

Maria has published four books of poems. Trigger Warning (UQP 2021) won the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2022 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. The End of the World (Giramondo 2014) was named one of the best books of the year by Australian Book Review and reviewed in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Ghostly Subjects (Salt 2009) was short-listed for a 2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award. She is also the author of the chapbook Narcissism (Whitmore Press 2005). A program about her poetry aired on Radio National in 2015, and she has performed her poetry on ABC TV and radio as well as at numerous events, including the 2017 Medellín International Poetry Festival in Colombia.