Finnish author Eeva Kilpi dies at 98

Finnish writer Eeva Kilpi has died at the age of 98, publisher and biographer Anna-Riikka Carlson told Yle on Saturday.

Carlson, who worked as a publisher of Finnish fiction at WSOY and later became Kilpi’s friend, described her as a bold advocate for emotions, nature, and animals. Kilpi’s works, including wartime memoirs, gave voice to children, evacuees, women, and the natural world, Carlson said.

“She was truly ahead of her time as a defender of animals and nature. She was ready to fight for the forests—not just write about them, but take concrete action to protect them,” Carlson said.

Kilpi’s legacy extends beyond published poems and novels. Carlson, who wrote a biography of Kilpi in 2024, now holds boxes of Kilpi’s unpublished diaries and notes, which she says contain a complete worldview left for readers.

“What is most comforting now is that in those boxes, among which I now live, there is an entire life written down. A whole worldview. She left it for all of us readers, and nothing really ends completely,” Carlson said.