Born: 16-Sep-1888
Birthplace: Ylä-Satakunta, Hämeenkyrö, Finland
Died: 3-Jun-1964
Location of death: Helsinki, Finland
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Author

Nationality: Finland
Executive summary: The Loveliness and Wretchedness of Human Life

Frans Eemil Sillanpää was the first Finnish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, taking the honor in 1939. He was born in Finland when it was part of Russia. His father was a farmer and peasant, and Sillanpää's work was frequently centered on peasant life. His best-known work, Nuorena Nukkunut (published in English as The Maid Silja or, alternately, Fallen Asleep While Young) tells the story of a farm family's financial ruin, their peasant daughter's subsequent work as a chambermaid, her illicit affair with her employer, and her eventual death from tuberculosis. His novels have been adapted into movies several times, most notably the well-received 1988 Finnish film Ihmiselon Ihanuus Ja Kurjuus (The Loveliness and Wretchedness of Human Life).

Father: Frans Henrik Henriksson a/k/a Frans Henrik Koskinen (farmer)
Mother: Loviisa Vilhelmiina Mäkelä Iisaksdotter
Wife: Sigrid Maria (b. 1898, dated 1912-16, m. 1916, d. 1939, eight children)
Wife: Anna Armia von Hertzen (Sillanpää's secretary, m. 1939)

    High School: Tampere Grammar School, Tampere, Finland (1908)
    Medical School: University of Helsinki (attended 1908-13)

    Nobel Prize for Literature 1939
    Asteroid Namesake 1446 Sillanpää
    Risk Factors: Alcoholism

Author of books:
Elämä ja Aurinko (Life and Sun) (1916)
Ihmislapsia Elämän Saatossa (Children of Man in Life's Procession) (1917)
Hurskas Kurjuus (Meek Heritage) (1919)
Rakas Isänmaani (Beloved Fatherland) (1919)
Hiltu ja Ragnar (Hiltu and Ragnar) (1923)
Enkelten Suojatit (Wards of the Angels) (1923)
Omistani ja Omilleni (About my Own and to my Own) (1924)
Maan Tasalta (From the Earth's Level) (1924)
Töllinmäki (Shanty Hill) (1925)
Rippi (Confession) (1928)
Kiitos Hetkistä, Herra (Thanks for the Moments, Lord) (1930)
Nuorena Nukkunut (The Maid Silja) (1931)
Miehen Tie (A Man's Way) (1932)
Virranpohjalta (From the Bottom of the Stream) (1933)
Ihmiset Suviyössä (People in the Summer Night) (1934)
Viidestoista (The Fifteenth) (1936)
Elokuu (August) (1944)
Ihmiselon Ihanuus Ja Kurjuus (The Loveliness and Wretchedness of Human Life) (1945)
Poika eli Elämäänsä (The Boy Lived His Life) (1953, memoirs)
Päivä Korkeimmillaan (Day at its Highest) (1956, memoirs)

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