Elsa Soini was a librarian and, in her novels, sided with the modern, rebellious woman. In literary history, she is regarded as a popular author, whose major work is a biographical novel about the young Aleksis Kivi. However, she often experimented with the conventions of the novel, for example in Jumalten ja ihmisten suosikit, 1926, and in her novel Uni, 1930, in which she considers the problems of traditional gender divisions.
Together with the radio speaker Serp (pseudonym for Seere Salminen), she wrote manuscripts in the 1930s and 1940s for the popular radio and film series Suomisen perhe.
