Solveig Margareta von Schoultz (5 August 1907 – 3 December 1996) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish writer and teacher. She wrote poetry, children's novels, short stories, plays, and television and radio dramas.

Biography

Solveig von Schoultz was born in

Porvoo Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...

in 1907 to Albert Segerstråle, a reverend, and Hanna Frosterus-Segerstråle, a painter. She was the youngest of eight children. She studied at the

Nykarleby Nykarleby (; , ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. The town is situated in Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population is approximately , while the Jakobstad sub-re ...

Seminarium during 1925–26, where she qualified as a primary school teacher. She worked as a freelance journalist for the Swedish-language newspaper '' Borgåbladet''. In 1931, she married Sven von Schoultz, a lawyer, and took his surname under which she would publish for the rest of her career. She worked as a schoolteacher at Laguska Skolan, a private girls' school 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 ...

, from 1937 until 1972. In 1961, she divorced Sven von Schoultz and later married the Finnish composer

Erik Bergman Erik Valdemar Bergman (24 November 1911 – 24 April 2006) was a composer of european classical music, classical music from Finland. Bergman's style ranged widely, from Romanticism in his early works (many of which he later prohibited from bein ...

. She had two daughters, Ursula and Barbara. von Schoultz made her writing debut in 1932 with the children's book . She was best known, however, for her poetry; she published 15 collections of poems between 1940 and 1996. Her first collection of poems, published in 1940, was titled , and her final collection, published in 1996, was titled . The themes addressed in her poetry include existential issues, womanhood and motherhood. She also wrote numerous short stories, dealing mainly with love and relationships, which were published in anthologies including (1947), (1958) and (1983). She also wrote fifteen radio plays, four television dramas, three theatrical plays and one novel. von Schoultz won numerous awards for her writing: the Svenska Dagbladet Literature Prize in 1947, the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

of Finland Award in 1970, the

Edith Södergran Edith Irene Södergran (4 April 1892 – 24 June 1923) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish poet. One of the first modernists within Swedish-language literature, her influences came from French Symbolism, German expressionism, and Russian f ...

Prize in 1984, the

Bellman Prize The Bellman Prize () is a literature prize for "an outstanding Swedish poet" awarded yearly by the Swedish Academy () The prize was first established by Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish ...

in 1986, the

Nils Ferlin Nils Ferlin (11 December 1898 – 21 October 1961) was a Swedish poet and lyricist.''A History of Swedish Literature'' by Ingemar Algulin, (Stockholm: Swedish Institute, 1989) pp. 247–248. Biography Nils Ferlin was born in Karlstad, Värml ...

Prize in 1988, the Längmanska Prize in 1993, and the

Samfundet De Nio Samfundet De Nio (''The Nine Society'' or ''Society of the Nine'') is a Swedish literary society founded on 14 February 1913 in Stockholm by a testamentary donation from writer Lotten von Kraemer. The society has nine members who are elected for ...

Special Prize in 1996. Additionally, she won the (State Literary Award) five times, and was awarded an honorary

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree by the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

in 1986. She published her memoirs, titled , in 1996, the same year that she died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoultz, Solveig von 1907 births 1996 deaths Finnish women novelists Finnish women poets People from Porvoo Writers from Helsinki Finnish poets in Swedish Finnish writers in Swedish Finnish schoolteachers 20th-century Finnish women writers 20th-century Finnish novelists 20th-century Finnish poets Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish women memoirists