Leif Salmén


Leif Henry Salmén was a Finnish author, journalist and poet.His parents were pharmacists Ture Salmen and Raili Brotell.

Career

Between 1966 and 1971, Salmén worked various jobs, including as an office clerk and as a port, metal and sawmill worker. Salmén studied at Helsinki University with philosophy as his major between 1971 and 1976. During this period, he also began his media career, working as a freelance journalist from 1969 to 1976, for the Finnish News Agency from 1973 to 1975, and as a production manager at Lilla Teatern in 1975. He was a member of the Communist Party of Finland from the 1970s until mid-1980s. Salmén was a Taistoist.
Salmén was a TV journalist working for Yleisradio from 1976 to 1989. He worked for the Swedish-language news service TV-Nytt from 1978 and became a political journalist in 1980.He was among the best-known media personalities in Finland in the 1980s because of his rapid-fire interviews and uncompromised grilling of politicians and the elite.
After that Salmén worked as a columnist, essayist and a poet. Several of his books were translated into Finnish. Among other honours, Salmén received the Eino Leino Prize in 2013.

Works

Vår korta stund tillsammans. Söderström, 1976Att varje dag. Söderström, 1978Begäret. Söderström, 1980Lähdön jäljet. 1980 Dans och tystnad. Söderström, 1982Finländsk bokföring: Dagbok från tredje republiken. Söderström, 1983Popocatepetl. 1983Ikon. Söderström, 1986Vintermonolog: Dagbok från tredje republiken. Söderström, 1987Duvorna på Plaza Real. Söderström, 1990Livet i förorten. Söderström, 1992Fjärde republiken: Oregelbundna anteckningar. Söderström, 1994Men Marx menade motsatsen. Söderström, 1996Promenader i Leninparken. Söderström, 2000Palatset vid Bosporen: Essäer. Söderström, 2005Ner från Akropolis. Söderström, 2008Den underjordiska moskén. Schildts & Söderströms, 2013Det orientaliska rummet. Förlaget, 2017