Mirjam Polkunen (1926–2012)

Mirjam Polkunen was born in Jyväskylä, Finland, and began her literary career as a poet. She became a major figure in the Finnish literary scene. From 1965, she worked as an arts journalist and editor for YLE, Finland's public service broadcaster, and as head of its theater department from 1974. She was a dramaturge for countless YLE Radio productions for early a quarter century. She also edited poetry and prose, notably the novels of Helvi Hämäläinen, written in the 1950s, but rejected at the time by the publisher. The novels were finally published in the 1990s, edited by Polkunen, after Hämäläinen gave her the original manuscripts. Polkunen received the Eino Leino Prize in 1969 and the Arvid Lydecken Prize in 1970. In 1972, she won the Mikael Agricola Prize for the translation of Italo Svevo's 1923 psychological novel Confessions of Zeno.