author
Juho Laine
1856–1937
A Finnish schoolteacher turned poet and novelist, he wrote warmly about rural life, ordinary people, and the emotional turns of everyday experience. His work helped bring late 19th-century Finnish-language literature to a broad readership.
2 Audiobooks
Köynnöksiä : Kimppunen runoelmia
by Juho Laine
Onnen vaiheet
by Juho Laine
About the author
Born Johannes Laine in Viitasaari on January 30, 1856, he was first known by the surname Hanell before later using Laine. After working for a few years as a shop assistant, he studied at the Jyväskylä teacher seminary, graduated in 1880, and went on to work as a primary school teacher. Alongside teaching, he wrote poetry and prose in Finnish.
His writing includes poetry as well as fiction, and surviving editions of his work show a strong interest in the lives of rural people and in the joys and hardships of everyday life. Titles now available through Project Gutenberg include Köynnöksiä: Kimppunen runoelmia and Onnen vaiheet, which reflect both his lyrical side and his storytelling.
He died in Helsinki on November 12, 1937. Although he is not widely known outside Finland today, library and bibliography records show a substantial body of work, and he remains part of the generation that helped build Finnish-language literature in the decades after national awakening.