Sillanpää, Frans Eemil 1888–1964

Sillanpää, a novelist, short story writer, editor, and poet, was one of Finland's greatest writers. The realism in his fiction has been attributed both to his peasant background and to his scientific studies at the University of Helsinki. While The Maid Silja is probably his best-known work, most critics agree that People in the Summer Night is his most highly developed novel. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1939. (See also Contemporary Authors, obituary, Vol. 93-96.)