Anita Wikman

1938 -

Finland

Anita Wikman was born in Nykarleby. She worked as a carer for the elderly up to 1980. She made her debut as a poet in 1974, and in both her poetry and prose she depicts a female reality that had previously not been written about, for example in Sången om Taimi och Sonja, 1984, a poetic narrative in the ancient Kalevala metre about the emigration of women, and in prose about women’s everyday lives and ageing.

Her autobiographical novel trilogy relates the story of her childhood during the war: Kråkvals, 1987, Kråkögat, 1991, and Vingklippt, 1996. She is part of the artistic collaboration with the group of women writers in Ostrobothnia and has been active in the alternative publishing house Författarnas Andelslag (the writers’ cooperative).