Joki, Aulis J.

Aulis J. Joki was a Finnish linguist (and translator), born in Viipuri (nowadays Vyborg) in 1913. He died in Helsinki in 1989.

Joki received his doctorate of philosophy in 1953. He was a lecturer in Finnish at Stockholm University from 1951 to 1958 and from 1957 a researcher at the Suomen Research Institute and an associate professor at the University of Helsinki, where he served as professor of Finnish-Ugric linguistics from 1965 to 1977.

He became the world's leading expert on Samoyedic languages at an early stage and subsequently concentrated mainly on Uralic-Altaic and Indo-Uralic language contacts. In 1973 he published a groundbreaking monograph, Uralier und Indogermanen, which deals with earlier contacts between Uralic and Indo-European languages and peoples.

Joki also made a contribution as one of the editors of the etymological dictionary Suomen kielen etymologinen sanakirja and as a foster of a new generation of scholars.

Valli, Suvi

Suvi Valli, b. 1977 in Viitasaari, Finland, is a Finnish author and translator. She has published three books of poems and a book of essays called Hallittua kaatumista, which was nominated for the national Runeberg Prize in Finland. Her third book of poems received the Nihil Interit Prize as the best Finnish poetry book of the year.
Her translations from German into Finnish include works by Johann Gottfried Seume and Judith Schalansky, as well as contemporary German and Austrian poetry. Seume’s travel journal Mein Sommer 1805 was published in Finland in 2018 under the title Kesä 1805. Valli has also published cut-up collages, animations, and poetry videos.

Oksala, Teivas

Teivas Oksala, (1936-2018), FT, retired Professor h. c., worked as a researcher at the Academy of Finland and taught Latin, Classical Literature and General Literature at the Universities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä and Tampere as a lecturer and professor.

Gottlund, Carl Axel

Carl Axel Gottlund, born 1796 in Finnish Uusimaa, was a Finnish folklore collector, university lecturer and, although he himself was Swedish speaking, a champion of Finnish language and culture who died in Helsinki in 1875.

In Norway and Sweden, he is remembered for rediscovering the immigrated forest Finns in Värmland and Hedmark, and for his commitment to strengthening their culture. While a student in Uppsala, Gottlund undertook a study trip on foot through the "Finnskogs" in Sweden and Norway in 1821.

In 1818 he published the treatise De proverbiis fennicis and the first printed collection of Finnish ancient songs Pieniä runoja. Suomen pojillen ratoxi (Small songs for the pleasure of the sons of Finland; second part 1821). From 1839, he was employed as a lecturer in Finnish language at the University of Helsinki.

As a linguist, Gottlund was in constant conflict with his Finnish colleagues such as Lönnrot. Gottlund wanted to base the written language on the eastern Finnish Savolaks dialect, which he himself only partially mastered, and his etymological speculations were characterized by the same romantic swooning as much of his other work.

Talvio, Maila

Maila Talvio (originally Maria Winter), born 1871 in Helsinki, was a daughter of clergyman Adolf Magnus Winter. The family had nine children. She lost her father when she was only nine years old. Anyhow her mother guaranteed her a good education. In 1898 she married a scholar of Slavic linguistics J. J. Mikkola (1866-1946). As a couple they travelled a lot. The Baltic countries were especially close to them. In 1910’s they participated in campaigns against then deadly disease, tuberculosis. Talvio’s novel Ne 45 000 (1932, Those 45 000) deals with the subject.

She wrote and translated under the name Maila Talvio. She published nearly fifty works including novels, short stories, plays, speeches, non-fiction. Her trilogy Itämeren tytär (1929-1936, Daughter of the Baltic) tells about the history of Old Helsinki.

Talvio also translated a lot, nearly fourty works. Besides H. C. Andersen’s fairy tales, she also translated Maurice Maeterlinck’s fantasy play L’Oiseau bleu (Lintu sininen 1913). Her translations include even nine novels by Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz, Henrik Ibsen’s Et Dukkehjem (Nukkekoti 1913), works by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Carl Blink and Ivan Turgenev.

Maila Talvio is said to have been a controversial person. Her sympathies for German culture and her contacts with Nazi Germany damaged partly her reputation. She died in 1951.

In the 1980´s there rose a new interest in her writings. In Helsinki there is a park carrying her name and ”The Daughter of the Baltic”-memorial by Laila Pullinen.

Haavikko, Paavo

Paavo Haavikko (1931–2008) is one of Finland’s most important poets, aphorists, writers and publishers. During his lifetime, Haavikko and his works were frequently recognised with awards, most notably the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1984, the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize in 1993, and the State Prize for Finnish literature in 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1975 and 1982. In 1963, he won the Eino Leino Prize for poetry, and in 1966, he won the Finnish Literature Society’s Aleksis Kivi Prize. In 1996, Haavikko was named the recipient of the Nordic Playwright Award. In 2008, Haavikko received the Finnish Writers’ Union Award.