author
Aatu Koskelainen
1849–1930
Raised in poverty and largely self-taught, this Finnish memoirist turned a hard childhood into a vivid story of work, wandering, and determination. His writing offers a rare first-person view of ordinary life in 19th-century Finland.
1 Audiobook
Leivän ja seikkailun haussa: Hämäläisen mökinpojan tarina
by Aatu Koskelainen
About the author
Born in 1849 in Hämeenkoski, Aatu Koskelainen grew up in severe poverty and was sent to work young. He trained as a shoemaker, spent time as a journeyman in Saint Petersburg and Helsinki, and later worked as a caretaker and doorman, including at the University of Helsinki and in Finnish theatre.
Koskelainen taught himself to write after discovering newspapers, a small local lending library, and the poems of Paavo Korhonen. Around 1910 he wrote memoirs based on his own life, and they were published in 1918 as Leivän ja seikkailun haussa.
His work stands out as a plainspoken account of a poor rural boy trying to survive and make his way in the world. He died in 1930, and his memoir remains valued as part of Finland's tradition of life writing by ordinary people.