Anni Blomqvist

Anni Viktoria Karlsson (7 October 1909 in Vårdö, Åland Islands, Finland [ [http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anni_Blomqvist Finnish Wiki page] ] - 26 June 1990 in Vårdö, Åland Islands, Finland) was a Finnish novelist.

Biography

Blomqvist was the first of ten children of fisherman Viktor Karlsson and wife Anna. Living with the family was Anni's maternal grandmother, who would serve as the basis for the protagonist in the "Anna Beata" trilogy of books.

Blomqvist married seaman Valter Blomqvist in 1936. Together they had four children, Tommy (b. 1939), twin daughters who died only hours after birth in 1940, and Bengt (b. 1945). The family supported itself by fishing, shipping and small-scale farming.

Blomqvist was an active member of her community. As chairwoman of the local Martha organization, she arranged courses and organized vaccinations. She also worked to bring electricity to the Åland Islands. Her first short story was published in 1949, when she won first prize in a writing competition.

In 1961, Valter and Tommy disappeared during a fishing trip. Their bodies were never recovered; their boat had presumably been overtaken by a storm. Anni began a diary as a way to deal with her grief. Her debut novel, "I stormens spår" was published in 1966, and was well-received.

Two years later, the first novel in the "Stormskärs-Maja" series, "Vägen till Stormskäret", was published. The series of five books, Blomqvist's most famous work, chronicled the life of a woman named Maja, the wife of a fisherman, who strugges with a hard life and living in a patriarchical society. The "Stormskärs-Maja" novels were adapted for a popular television series in 1975. After the last novel in the series, "Vägen från Stormskäret", was published in 1973, she began collaborating with Stig Jaatinen of Helsinki University on a study of the people and community on the Åland Islands. This study was published as "Simskäla" in 1977.

"Anna Beata", the first novel in the "Anna Beata" trilogy, was published in 1979. The stories were partially based on the life of her maternal grandmother.

In 1987, her son Bengt drowned. She wrote about this tragedy in the autobiographical "Havet finns inte mer", published in 1989. Blomqvist died in her home. She lived her entire life in Vårdö. Her home is now a museum, and yearly scholarship is awarded in her name.

References

Bibliography

Fictional

*"I stormens spår" (1967)
*"I nöd och lust" (1978)

tormskärs-Maja series

*"Vägen till Stormskäret" (1968)
*"Med havet som granne" (1969)
*"Maja" (1970)
*"I kamp med havet" (1971)
*"Vägen från Stormskäret" (1973)

Anna Beata trilogy

*"Anna Beata" (1979)
*"Anna Beata möter kärleken" (1981)
*"Anna Beata får ett eget hem" (1983)

Autobiographical and factual

* "Simskäla" (1977) "(with Stig Jaatinen)"
* "Vandring i barndomslandet" (1986)
* "Havet finns inte mer" (1989)

External links

* [http://www.mhbibl.aland.fi/forf/index.php?id=25&lang=engelska Biography of Anni Blomqvist, Library of Mariehamn, Åland]
* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/annib.htm Anni Blomqvist biography]
*