Pentti Vihtori Holappa (11 August 1927 – 10 October 2017) was a Finnish poet, writer and politician. Born in

Ylikiiminki Ylikiiminki ( sv, Överkiminge) is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the city of Oulu on 1 January 2009. It was located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a popul ...

to a relatively poor family of modest means, he held numerous jobs before becoming a political journalist and eventually obtaining a government post. He was

self-educated Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individu ...

, but produced around fifteen volumes of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, as well as several

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s and

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s. He also worked as a translator; among the poets and authors whose work he translated into

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

are

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

, and

J. M. G. Le Clézio Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (; 13 April 1940), usually identified as J. M. G. Le Clézio, of French and Mauritian nationality, is a writer and professor. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel ''Le P ...

. He received the

Finlandia Prize The Finlandia Prize ( fi, Finlandia-palkinto; sv, Finlandiaprisen) is a set of Finnish literary prizes awarded by the Finnish Book Foundation to "celebrate reading and highlight new Finnish first-rate literature." Considered the most prestigious ...

in 1998 for his novel ''Ystävän muotokuva: Portrait of a Friend''. Between February and October 1972, Holappa was Minister of Culture and Education in the

Paasio II Cabinet Rafael Paasio's second cabinet was the 55th government of Finland. The administration ran from 23 February 1972 to 4 September 1972. It was a minority government formed by the Social Democratic Party. Rafael Paasio resigned as Prime Minister on 4 ...

representing the

Social Democratic Party of Finland The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP, fi, Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue ; sv, Finlands socialdemokratiska parti), shortened to the Social Democrats ( fi, link=no, Sosiaalidemokraatit; sv, link=no, Socialdemokrater) and commonly kno ...

Bibliography

* ''Long Words: Poems 1950–1994'' (1997) * ''Ystävän muotokuva: Portrait of a Friend''

References

External links

Website.
1927 births 2017 deaths People from Oulu Writers from Northern Ostrobothnia 20th-century Finnish poets Finnish male novelists Finnish essayists Finnish translators Finlandia Prize winners Finnish male poets Finnish LGBT poets Finnish LGBT novelists Finnish LGBT politicians Gay poets Gay novelists Gay politicians 20th-century essayists 20th-century Finnish novelists Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Government ministers of Finland 20th-century male writers 20th-century translators {{Finland-writer-stub