Elvi Sinervo-Ryömä described herself as a “professional revolutionary” and was a central figure in the left-wing group of artists known as Kiila. She came from a tradesman community in Österbotten, but went to university and to polytechnic. She was married, had three children and, like her husband, was imprisoned from 1941 to 1944 due to her political activity. Her writing belongs to the tradition of anti-Fascist literature.
She made her debut in 1937 with the book Runo Söörnäisistä (SS) and published her main work Viljami Vaihdokas (N), which is about the importance of belonging to a community. In Toveri, älä petä (SS), 1947, an imprisoned woman is placed outside the community of prisoners. Besides novels and short stories, she wrote plays and poetry. She went silent after the second Modern Breakthrough in the 1950s.
