Aleksis Kivi

Alexis Stenvall, known by his Finnish pen name Aleksis Kivi, was born on October 10, 1834, in Nurmijärvi, the son of a village tailor. In an era when Finnish high culture was conducted almost exclusively in Swedish, Kivi boldly chose to write in the vernacular Finnish spoken by ordinary folk.

Kivi authored celebrated plays including Kullervo (1864) and the comic masterpiece Nummisuutarit (The Heath Cobblers, 1864). In 1870, he published his magnum opus Seitsemän veljestä (Seven Brothers), following seven headstrong brothers fleeing societal discipline into the wilderness of Impivaara before returning as educated, productive citizens. Crushed by poverty and savage criticism from conservative critic August Ahlqvist, Kivi died at age thirty-eight, his famous dying words being: 'Minä elän' (I live).