author
Hilja Kilpi
1844–1927
Best remembered for the 1915 play Sillankorvan emäntä, this Finnish writer brought rural family life and social tensions to the stage. Her work remained notable long after her death, later inspiring a film adaptation.
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About the author
Born Hilja Vanhakartano in Porin maalaiskunta, Finland, on November 14, 1884, she became a Finnish writer whose best-known work was the play Sillankorvan emäntä. She was also the wife of the novelist Volter Kilpi, though her own writing gives her a distinct place in Finnish literary history.
Sillankorvan emäntä was published in 1915 and is the work most closely associated with her name. Set within a western Finnish farming family, it helped establish her reputation and was later adapted into a film released in 1953.
Hilja Kilpi died in Turku on April 20, 1927. Surviving portraits appear to be scarce, but a period wedding photograph with Volter Kilpi is available from Wikimedia Commons.