Alisa Manninen – författare

Minna Canth is one of the most important figures in Finnish literature, famous as a champion of social reform and observer of human nature. Translated by Alisa Manninen, the author of the biography Minna Canth: Writing to Challenge, these classic plays show Canth at her finest.The Workman's Wife (1885)When Johanna marries Risto, the money she had earned becomes his. Risto's drinking drags them into poverty and Johanna searches desperately for work. Meanwhile, he turns to Homsantuu, the Roma woman he abandoned. Though she is defiant when scorned by society, Homsantuu's longing for love leaves her vulnerable. The two women face a world in which the forces of law and justice are turned against the powerless.Anna Liisa (1895)A farm owner's daughter admired by all for her beauty and moral principles, Anna Liisa is in love with a fine young man. Just before their engagement is about to be celebrated, a secret from her past resurfaces to threaten her hopes for the future. As Anna Liisa struggles to keep her life from falling apart, it is her own conscience that must grow stronger than the people who seek to control or help her.

Born into a working-class family in nineteenth-century Finland, Minna Canth became a trailblazer as the country's first woman playwright: she shocked audiences with her daring and won them over with her skill. At the same time, she ran a business that made her one of the most successful merchants in her city and raised her seven children.Canth discovered in her middle age that she could begin a professional career in more than one field and change her society too. As a social realist who wrote in Finnish and championed the rights of women and workers, Canth was at the heart of an era of national awakening that prepared Finland for independence from Russia. A woman who did not hesitate to challenge authority and expose injustice, she had both admirers and enemies.This biography by Alisa Manninen, the translator of Canth's plays The Workman's Wife and Anna Liisa, explores how she became a national icon in her own lifetime by being unafraid to be political.