Helmi Anni Krohn, also Helmi Setälä (31 October 1871 – 18 October 1967), was a Finnish writer and translator who wrote fiction, biographies and children’s books. She was also an editor and publisher.
Biography
Krohn was born in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
in 1871 to
Julius Krohn
Julius Leopold Fredrik Krohn (19 April 1835 – 28 August 1888) was a Finnish folk poetry researcher, professor of Finnish literature, poet, hymn writer, translator and journalist. He was born in Viipuri and was of Baltic German origin. Krohn wo ...
. Her father's original language was German but he became a professor of Finnish literature. He died in a sailing accident when she was a teenager. Krohn's brother,
Kaarle Krohn
Kaarle Krohn (10 May 1863 – 19 July 1933) was a Finnish folklorist, professor and developer of the geographic-historic method of folklore research. He was born into the influential Krohn family of Helsinki. Krohn is best known outside of Finlan ...
was a folklorist whilst her sister,
Aino Kallas
Aino Krohn Kallas (2 August 1878 – 9 November 1956) was a Finnish-Estonian author. Her novellas are considered to be prominent pieces of Finnish literature.Eemil Nestor Setälä and took the name Setälä. During the marriage she had written ''Surun lapsi'' (Child of Sorrow) which, as she later explained to a friend, prof. Zachris Castren, was as autobiographical as she dare. The book describes a woman who was surprised to find the “secrets of marriage.” The heroine, like Helmi, was annoyed that her parents had not told her about sexuality and what happened inside marriage. Helmi commented that writing the book had been a release for her. She describes that book as a "child of joy".
Krohn also wrote letters to
Erkki Melartin
Erkki Gustaf Melartin (7 February 1875, Käkisalmi – 14 February 1937, Helsinki) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. Melartin is generally considered to be one of Finland's most sign ...
and Jalmari Finne after 1906 which supply details of her ideas. The following year she became the editor of the magazine ''Lapland'' which was a job she held until 1935. From 1909 to 1910 she was the editor-in-chief of the journal '' Valvoja''.
Her divorce in 1913 was an unusual occurrence in Finland at the time. The divorce created financial concerns and she created her first biography that year of the "first Finnish woman poet," Isa Asp. She worked as an editor at the publishing company Otava from 1912 to 1919.
Krohn was an advocate for
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
. In 1950 she translated into English a book by
Einer Nielsen
Einer Nielsen (1894–1965) was a Danish physical medium and spiritualist.Kragh, Jesper Vaczy. ''Danish Spiritualism, 1853–2012''. In Christopher M. Moreman. ''The Spiritualist Movement: Speaking with the Dead in America and Around the World'' ...
who was a Danish spiritualist, discredited as a fraud. The book ''Solid Proofs of Survival'' was his last work and it was published by the Psychic Book Club.
Krohn died in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...