Born in Tallinn in 1947, Mari Saat is an Estonian economist and writer who has published four novels and a number of short story collections, children's books and non-fiction works, She has received many awards since the publication of her first collection of short stories, Katastroof, in 1973, including the Estonian Cultural Endowment's Prose Award in 1992, 1999 and 2008, the latter for The Saviour of Lasnamäe.