Kaija Anneli Saariaho was a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the BBC, the New York Philharmonic, the Salzburg Music Festival, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Finnish National Opera, among others. In a 2019 composers' poll by BBC Music Magazine, Saariaho was ranked the greatest living composer.
Hertta Elina Kuusinen was a Finnish Communist politician. She was a member of the central committee (1944–1971) and the political bureau of the Communist Party of Finland; member of Finland's parliament, the Eduskunta (1945–1972); general secretary (1952–1958); and leader of the parliamentary group of the Finnish People's Democratic League.
Pirkko Sisko Määttä is a Finnish former cross-country skier who was born in Kuusamo and competed from 1982 to 1995. She won two 4 × 5 km relay bronze medals at the Winter Olympics.
Taistoism was an orthodox pro-Soviet tendency in the mostly Eurocommunist Finnish communist movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The Taistoists were an interior opposition group in the Communist Party of Finland. They were named after their leader Taisto Sinisalo, whose first name means "a battle", "a fight" or "a struggle". Sinisalo's supporters constituted a party within a party, but pressure from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union prevented the party from formally splitting. The term taistolaisuus was a derogatory nickname invented by Helsingin Sanomat and was never used by the group themselves.
Pirkko Helena Saisio is a Finnish author, actress and director. She has also written under the pen names Jukka Larsson and Eva Wein. Saisio has a broad literary output, dealing with many kinds of texts from film screenplays all the way to librettos for the ballet. Her novel Betoniyö (1981) was adapted into a feature film Concrete Night in 2013 by Pirjo Honkasalo.
Pirjo Irene Honkasalo is a Finnish film director who has also worked as a cinematographer, film editor, producer, screenwriter and actress. In 1980 she co-directed Flame Top with Pekka Lehto, with whom she worked earlier and later as well. The film was chosen for the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. In the 1990s she focused on feature documentaries such as "The Trilogy of the Sacred and the Satanic". Honkasalo returned to fiction with Fire-Eater (1998) and Concrete Night (2013), both of which were written by Pirkko Saisio. Concrete Night won six Jussi Awards in 2014, among them the Jussi for the Best Direction and the Jussi for the Best Film. Its world premiere was at the Toronto International Film Festival in Masters series.
Pirkko Anneli Ruohonen-Lerner is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Finns Party, part of the European Conservatives and Reformists.
Pirkko Mannola is a Finnish actress and singer.
Pirkko Anneli Mattila is a Finnish politician and a former Member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the Blue Reform party at the end of her tenure. She was first elected MP in the 2011 general election. Mattila replaced Hanna Mäntylä as the Minister of Social Affairs and Health in 2016, following Mäntylä's resignation. As minister, Mattila was notably responsible for examining the implementation of negative income tax in Finland.
Aarno Turpeinen was a Finnish professional footballer who played as a defender.
Pirkko Ritva Aro was a Finnish journalist and politician. She began her political career as a city councillor for the Liberal League. Later she was elected to the Parliament of Finland, where she represented the Liberal People's Party (LKP) from 1966 to 1973 and the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) from 1973 to 1979.
Pirkko Länsivuori was a Finnish sprinter. She competed in the women's 200 metres at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Pirkko Päivikki Hämäläinen is a Finnish actress. She has worked in theatres, films and on television. Frequently collaborating with director Mika Kaurismäki, she won the Best Actress Jussi Award for her role in Kaurismäki's 1989 film Paperitähti.
Pirkko Työläjärvi is a Finnish politician from the Social Democratic Party.
Pirkko Vilppunen was a Finnish gymnast. She competed in seven events at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Viola Irene Turpeinen was an American-Finnish accordion player. She was one of the most well-known Finnish-American musicians of her time, and is possibly the first woman in the world to record accordion solos.
Pirkko Irmeli Ekström was a Finnish chess player and a Finnish Women Chess Championship medalist.
Inkeri Lehtinen (1908–1997) was a Finnish communist politician. She served as the education minister of the Terijoki government during the Finnish Democratic Republic. She was among the significant Finnish women politicians during the post-World War II period.
