Hannu Salama

Hannu Salama (2010)

Hannu Sulo Salama (born October 4, 1936 in Kouvola , Kymenlaakso ) is a Finnish writer who was convicted of alleged blasphemy in his book Midsummer Dance in 1964 and received the Nordic Council's literary prize in 1975 for the novel Siinä Näkijä missä tekijä .

Life

Salama, who came from a working-class family, spent his childhood in Pispala, a district of Tampere, and initially worked like his father as an electrician and then as a laborer on a farm .

He made his literary debut in 1961 with the novel Se tavallinen tarina , but only achieved wider attention with his 1964 book Juhannustanssit (German title: Midsummer Dance , 1966), as he was sentenced to imprisonment in 1966 for allegedly contained blasphemy , which for some time later for parole was suspended. Although he was pardoned by President Urho Kekkonen in 1968 , new editions of Midsummer Dance until 1990 were only censored .

In the following years he wrote numerous short stories and other novels such as Minä, Olli ja Orvokki (1967). Despite his own descent from a working class family, he never saw himself as a workers' writer , but retained his critical attitude towards both the political left and the political right . However, his works also dealt with life in the working class, their simple problems and controversies with the upper class .

For his book Siinä Näkijä missä tekijä , published in 1972 , he was awarded the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1975. He achieved fame above all through his Finlandia-sarja (Finland series) with books such as Kosti Herhiläisen perunkirjoitus (1976), Kolera on raju bändi (1977) and Pasi Harvalan tarina I / II (1981 and 1983). He was also awarded the Eino Leino Prize in 1985 and the Aleksis Kivi Prize in 1990.

In the television series Suuret Suomalaiset (Great Finns) broadcast between October and December 2004 , he was voted 82nd among the most important personalities in Finland. Most recently, the novel Sydän paikallaan appeared in 2009 . Many of his books have been filmed for television or cinema.

Web links

• Hannu Salama in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Entry on the homepage of the Otava publishing house