Frans Eemil Sillanpää was one of the most famous Finnish writers and in 1939 became the first Finnish writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature "for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature". His best-known novels include The Maid Silja from 1931.
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister, and held various other cabinet positions. He was the third and most recent president from the Agrarian League/Centre Party. Head of state for nearly 26 years, he dominated Finnish politics for 31 years overall. Holding a large amount of power, he won his later elections with little opposition and has often been classified as an autocrat. Nevertheless, he remains a respected figure.
Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian. He was extremely productive. Besides his novels he also wrote poetry, short stories, crime novels, plays, essays, travel stories, film scripts, and rhymed texts for comic strips by Asmo Alho.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1936.
Pertti Olavi "Spede" Pasanen was a Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor. During his career he directed, wrote, produced or acted in about 50 movies and participated in numerous TV productions, including the comedy Spede Show and the game-show Speden Spelit. Much of his more commercial work was in collaboration with Vesa-Matti Loiri and Simo Salminen. Pasanen's films and TV shows, often made quickly and on a low budget, usually received little critical recognition but were popular among Finnish audiences from the 1960s onwards. He was the owner of his own film production company, Filmituotanto Spede Pasanen Ky.
Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann and Golo Mann. He is well known for his 1936 novel, Mephisto.
Paavo Juhani Haavikko was a Finnish poet, playwright, essayist and publisher, considered one of the country's most outstanding writers. He published more than 70 works, and his poems have been translated to 12 languages.
Rickard Johannes Sandler was a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He served as minister without portfolio in the Swedish government from 10 March 1920 to 30 June 1920, minister for finance from 1 July 1920 to 27 October 1920, minister without portfolio from 13 October 1921 to 19 April 1923, minister of commerce and industry from 14 October 1924 to 24 January 1925, Prime Minister from 24 January 1925 to 7 June 1926, and as minister for foreign affairs from 24 September 1932 to 19 June 1936 and again from 28 September 1936 to 13 December 1939. Sandler is the only social democratic prime minister who did not also hold the post of party chairman. He is also the second-youngest prime minister of Sweden, aged 41 when he took office.
Tulenkantajat was a literary group in Finland during the 1920s. Their main task was to find a way to take Finland from so-called backwoods culture to the new, modern European level of literature. They did not consider their manifestos to form a program of any sort, but instead stated that their group was the "new feeling of life", building on humility, courage, and the sense of community. The group published their own magazine Tulenkantajat. The editorial of the first issue emphasized the group's unconnectedness to any political party, if not even apoliticism. However, less than a decade later the group disbanded partly due to political conflicts, as some members ended up being strictly on the left while others openly promoted the values of the Academic Karelia Society.
Kolmannen Valtakunnan vieraana is an essayistic book by Finnish writer Olavi Paavolainen based on his visit to Nazi Germany and the Nuremberg Rally in 1936.
Katri Vala (1901–1944) was a Finnish poet, critic, school teacher, and central member of the literary group Tulenkantajat with Olavi Paavolainen, Elina Vaara, Lauri Viljanen, Ilmari Pimiä, Viljo Kajava, and Yrjö Jylhä.
Yrjö Olavi Samuli Kokko was a Finnish writer and veterinarian. He wrote more than 20 books, among them Pessi and Illusia, Singing Swan of fate Bird, The Way of the Four Winds and Ungelon Torppa (1958).
Jaakko Paavolainen, was a Finnish historian, PhD 1966. He became professor in history at the University of Turku 1986–1989.
Aale Maria Tynni-Haavio was a Finnish poet and translator. She is best known for editing and translating European poetry ranging from the Middle Ages into Finnish in a comprehensive anthology of entitled Tuhat Laulujen Vuotta in (1957). She participated in the Art Competitions of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, and won the Gold Medal in the Lyric Works, Literature category for "Laurel of Hellas".
Olavi is a Finnish masculine given name from Olav/Olaf name. Notable people with the name include:
The Eino Leino Prize is an annual prize award to top writers in Finland since 1956, with particular emphasis on poets.
Sign of the Beast is a 1981 Finnish drama film directed by Jaakko Pakkasvirta. It is based on the 1946 book A Gloomy Soliloquy by Olavi Paavolainen, based on his war diaries written during the Winter War and the Continuation War. The film was selected as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 54th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Väinö Ilmari Kunnas was a Finnish Expressionist painter. During his brief career, he went from Expressionism to experiment with more abstract modern styles. His major works consist of portraits of cultural personalities and depictions of the urban environment.
In Finland, the far right was strongest in 1920–1940 when the Academic Karelia Society, Lapua Movement, Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) and Export Peace operated in the country and had hundreds of thousands of members. In addition to these dominant far-right and fascist organizations, smaller Nazi parties operated as well.
Vietti Brynolf Nykänen was a Finnish architect, writer and politician.
