Konkka, Yuhani (1904-1970), a literary man

Subject / Literature. Mass Media./Personnel
Konkka, Yuhani (1904, Konkkala located near Toksovo settlement -1970), a writer, tramslator. In 1915 Yuhani Konkka joined at the People's College in Impilakhti Town and then at the theological seminary in Sortavala. In 1919 Konkka's family mooved to Finland and Yukhani Konkkala joined as a volunteer in the Northern Ingermanlandia Regiment of G.V. Elfvengren. Diring 1921-1922 he participated in the Civil War in Karelia. He took "White"'s side. In the 1920s the Konkkas lived in Rautu (now it is Sosnovo settlement). In 1927 Konkka graduated from the Journalistic Public High School (Sanomalehtitutkinto Yhteiskunnallinen korkeakoulu). He started to write poems (from the eight-year age he wrote in Finnish, from the twelve-year age he wrote in Russian too. In 1929 Yuhani Konkka published his first novel "My Geroi" ("We are Heroes"; «Me sankarit») narrated about the civil war in Karelia under the pseudonym (Urho Torikka). His most famous novel "Ogni Petrograda" (Lights of Petrograd"; «Pietarin valot», 1958) is autobiographical. The novel tells about the Civil war on Karelian Isthmus. Konkka translated works of Russian and Soviet writers - N.V. Gogol, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, M.A. Sholokhov, B.L. Pasternak and others - in Finnish. From 1937 till 1944 and from 1951 till 1954 Konkka worked at the Publishing House "WSOY" (Porvoo Town). During 1949 -1958 Yuhani Konkka was a member of the Finnish Writers' Union Board. In 1958 Yuhani Konkka visited USSR as a member of the Finnish writers delegation, he came into Toksovo village. In 1961 Konkka was awarded to the M. Agrikola Prize and the Finnish Writers' Union Prize in 1962. Konkka's works were not published in Russian. Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich
Elfvengren, George Wilhelm (Urye)
Gogol, Nikolay Vasilyevich
Konkka, Yukhani
Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich
Sholokhov, Mikhail Aleksandrovich
Tolstoy, Leo (Lev) Nikolayevich, Count
Neighbouring Territories/Finland
Neighbouring Territories/Karelian Republic
Historical Toponyms/Konkkala Village
Neighbouring Territories/Karelian Republic/Sortavala Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Priozersk District/Sosnovo Settlement
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Toksovo Urban Settlement
Konkka Juhani. URL: http://www.lappeenranta.fi/?deptid=12982