author
Irene Mendelin
1864–1944
A pioneering Finnish poet and translator, she helped open the door for women publishing original poetry in Finnish. Her work blends lyric feeling with a strong sense of social conscience.
2 Audiobooks
Koivikossa I
by Irene Mendelin
Koivikossa II
by Irene Mendelin
About the author
Born in Jyväskylä in 1864, Irene Mendelin was a Finnish poet, translator, and civic activist. She studied in Jyväskylä and later at the Finnish Continuing College in Helsinki, and for many years supported herself through office work at the customs chamber in Jyväskylä before retiring to Saarijärvi.
Mendelin is remembered as the first woman in Finland to publish her own original poetry collections in Finnish. Her poems began appearing in print in the 1880s, and she went on to publish several collections as well as translations. Project Gutenberg’s listings also show how widely her writing and translations have been preserved for later readers.
Alongside her literary work, she was active in public life and associated with the labor movement. She died in 1944, leaving behind a body of work that marks an important early chapter in Finnish poetry by women.