Minna Canth

Also known as Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnsson, Ulrika Wilhelmina Canth, Ulrika Canth, Ulrika Wilhelmina (Minna) Johnsson, Ulrika Johnsson, Ulrika Wilhelmina (Minna) Canth

Finnish writer, editor

Film & TV

Tampere, Finland

Finnish writer and social activist.

via TMDB

Key facts

Born: Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson , 19 March 1844, Tampere , Finland, Russian Empire
Died: 12 May 1897 (1897-05-12) (aged 53), Kuopio , Finland
Occupations: writer, playwright
Notable work: The Pastor's Family , The Worker's Wife , Anna Liisa
Spouse: Johan Ferdinand Canth (husband)
Children: Anni Canth (daughter), Elli Canth (daughter), Hanna Canth (daughter), Maiju Canth (daughter), Jussi Canth (son), Pekka Canth (son), Lyyli Canth (daughter)
Parent s: Gustaf Vilhelm Johnson (father), Lovisa Ulrika Archelin (mother)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Ulrika
Gender: female
Citizenship: Grand Duchy of Finland
Place of birth: Tampere
Place of death: Kuopio
Occupation: short story writer
Languages spoken: Finnish
Native language: Finnish
Field of work: journalism
Image: Minna Canth.jpg
Number of children: 7
Work location: Tampere
Residence: Kuopio

Show 12 more facts

cause of death: myocardial infarction
place of burial: Kuopio
Commons category: Minna Canth
date of death: 1897-05-12
date of birth: 1844-03-19
topic's main category: Category:Minna Canth
birth name: Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnsson
manner of death: natural causes
described at URL: www.minnansalonki.fi
name in native language: Minna Canth
start of work period: 1878-00-00
writing language: Finnish

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Minna Canth ( Finnish pronunciation: [minːɑ kɑnt]; born Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson; 19 March 1844 – 12 May 1897) was a Finnish writer and social activist. Canth began to write while managing her family draper's shop and living as a widow raising seven children. Her work addresses issues of women's rights, particularly in the context of a prevailing culture she considered antithetical to permitting expression and realization of women's aspirations. The Worker's Wife and The Pastor's Family are her best known plays, but the play Anna Liisa is the most adapted to films and operas. In her time, she became a controversial figure, due to the asynchrony between her ideas and those of her time, and in part due to her strong advocacy for her point of view.

Minna Canth was the first major Finnish-language playwright and prose writer after Aleksis Kivi, the national author of Finland, and the first Finnish-language newspaper woman. She was also the first woman to receive her own flag flying day in Finland called Minna Canth Day, starting on 19 March 2007. It is also the day of social equality in Finland.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Minna Canth” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.