Väinö Linna
Väinö Linna | |
|---|---|
Väinö Linna at Palm Beach, Florida, on a trip to the United States, in March 1963. | |
| Born | 20 December 1920 Urjala, Finland |
| Died | 21 April 1992 (aged 71) Tampere, Finland |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Notable works | The Unknown Soldier Under the North Star trilogy |
Väinö Linna (pronounced [ˈʋæi̯nø ˈlinːɑ] ⓘ; 20 December 1920 – 21 April 1992) was a Finnish author and a former soldier who fought in the Continuation War (1941–44). Linna gained literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier, published in 1954), and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the North Star, published in 1959–1963 and translated into English by Richard Impola). Both have been adapted to a film format on several occasions; The Unknown Soldier was first adapted into a film in 1955 and Under the North Star in 1968 as Here, Beneath the North Star, both directed by Edvin Laine.