Helmi Anni Krohn, also Helmi Setälä (31 October 1871 – 18 October 1967), was a Finnish writer and translator who wrote fiction, biographies and children’s books. She was also an editor and publisher.

Biography

Krohn was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in 1871 to

Julius Krohn Julius Leopold Fredrik Krohn (19 April 1835 – 28 August 1888) was a Finnish folk poetry researcher, professor of Finnish literature, poet, hymn writer, translator and journalist. He was born in Viipuri and was of Baltic German origin. Krohn ...

. Her father's original language was German but he became a professor of Finnish literature. He died in a sailing accident when she was a teenager. Krohn's brother,

Kaarle Krohn Kaarle Krohn (10 May 1863 – 19 July 1933) was a Finnish folklorist, professor and developer of the geographic-historic method of folklore research. He was born into the influential Krohn family of Helsinki. Krohn is best known outside of Finla ...

was a folklorist whilst her sister,

Aino Kallas Aino Krohn Kallas (2 August 1878 – 9 November 1956) was a Finnish-Estonian author. Her novellas are considered to be prominent pieces of Finnish literature.Eemil Nestor Setälä Eemil Nestor Setälä (; 27 February 1864 – 8 February 1935) was a Finnish politician who served as Chairman of the Senate of Finland from September 1917 to November 1917, when he was author of the Finnish Declaration of Independence. Setäl� ...

and took the name Setälä. Architect and writer

Salme Setälä Salme Setälä (from 1919–1930 Cornér; 18 January 1894, Helsinki — 6 October 1980, Helsinki) was a Finnish architect and writer. She graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1917. She worked in a number of architecture offices ...

was their daughter. During the marriage, Krohn had written ''Surun lapsi'' (Child of Sorrow) which, as she later explained to a friend, Prof. Zachris Castren, was as autobiographical as she dared. The book describes a woman who was surprised to find the "secrets of marriage." The heroine, like Krohn, was annoyed that her parents had not told her about sexuality and what happened inside marriage. Krohn commented that writing the book had been a release for her. She describes that book as a "child of joy". Krohn also wrote letters to

Erkki Melartin Erkki Gustaf Melartin (7 February 1875 – 14 February 1937) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. Melartin is generally considered to be one of Finland's most significant national Romant ...

and after 1906 which supply details of her ideas. The following year she became the editor of the magazine ''Lapland'' which was a job she held until 1935. From 1909 to 1910, she was the editor-in-chief of the journal ''

Valvoja ''Valvoja'' ( Finnish: ''Observer'') was a Finnish language literary and cultural magazine that existed between 1880 and 1922. History and profile ''Valvoja'' was launched in 1880 by a group of individuals who would become prominent academics an ...

''. Her divorce in 1913 was an unusual occurrence in Finland at the time. The divorce created financial concerns and she created her first biography that year of the "first Finnish woman poet,"

Isa Asp Isa Asp (4 February 1853 – 12 November 1872) was the "first woman Finnish poet". She is considered Finland's first lesbian icon. She died aged nineteen of tuberculosis leaving about 100 poems the most known of which is "Lullaby to a Wave". Aft ...

. She worked as an editor at the publishing company Otava from 1912 to 1919. Krohn was an advocate for

Spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

. In 1950, she translated into English a book by

Einer Nielsen Einer Nielsen (1894–1965) was a Danish physical medium and spiritualist.Kragh, Jesper Vaczy. ''Danish Spiritualism, 1853–2012''. In Christopher M. Moreman. ''The Spiritualist Movement: Speaking with the Dead in America and Around the World'' ...

who was a Danish spiritualist, discredited as a fraud. The book ''Solid Proofs of Survival'' was his last work and it was published by the Psychic Book Club. Krohn died in

in 1967.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krohn, Helmi 1871 births 1967 deaths Writers from Helsinki 20th-century Finnish women writers Finnish editors Finnish women editors Finnish publishers (people) Finnish biographers Finnish women biographers Finnish people of German descent Spiritualists Writers from the Russian Empire Finnish translators Finnish women children's writers Finnish children's writers