Pentti Holappa

Pentti Vihtori Holappa was a Finnish poet, writer and politician. Born in Ylikiiminki to a relatively poor family of modest means, he held numerous jobs before becoming a political journalist and eventually obtaining a government post. He was self-educated, but produced around fifteen volumes of poetry, as well as several novels and essays. He also worked as a translator; among the poets and authors whose work he translated into Finnish are Charles Baudelaire, Pierre Reverdy, and J. M. G. [Le Clézio]. He received the Finlandia Prize in 1998 for his novel Ystävän muotokuva: Portrait of a Friend.
Between February and October 1972, Holappa was Minister of Culture and Education in the Paasio II Cabinet representing the Social [Democratic Party of Finland].
Holappa acknowledged his homosexuality at a young age. He met Olli-Matti Ronimus in 1953, after which the two moved in together. They lived in France on-and-off in the 1950s, where they learned the French language.