Kirsti Katariina Simonsuuri (26 December 1945, Helsinki – 29 June 2019, Helsinki[1]) was a Finnish professor, writer, poet, and researcher of ancient literature. Her honors included the J. H. Erkko Award for Best First Book (1980) and the Wolfson Fellowship Award from the British Academy (1981).[2]

Biography

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Simonsuuri received her bachelor's degree (1968) and master's degree (1971) from the University of Helsinki. In 1972, she received a second master's degree from the University of Cambridge and five years later, a Ph.D. from the same school.[3]

From 1978–1981, Simonsuuri was a professor of literature at the University of Oulu. In 1981–1982, she was a British Academy Wolfson Fellow at the Warburg Institute. In 1984–1988, she was Fulbright Visiting Scholar at University of California, Los Angeles, Harvard University, and Columbia University. In 1989–1990, she was a visiting scholar at the Centre Louis Gernet; in 1992–1993, she was a scientific fellow at Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin; in 1994, she was a visiting fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1994–1995, she again served as a professor of literature, this time at the University of Helsinki. From 1995–1998, she was the Director of the Finnish Institute at Athens. In 1998–1999, she worked at the Academy of Finland as a research professor and then served as an academy fellow during the period of 2000 to 2005. She returned to the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, in 2001 as a Scientific Fellow.[3]

Partial works

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Non-fiction books and essays

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  • Homer's original genius: eighteenth-century notions of the early Greek epic (1688–1798). 1979. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-22198-6.
  • Nopanheittäjä. 1989. Kirjayhtymä. Helsinki. ISBN 951-26-3346-9.
  • Ihmiset ja jumalat: myytit ja mytologiat. 1994. Kirjayhtymä. Helsinki. ISBN 951-26-3944-0.
  • Akropolis. 1999. Tammi. Helsinki. ISBN 951-31-1623-9.

Poetry collections

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Prose

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Translations

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Anthologies

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  • Enchanting Beasts. An anthology of modern women poets of Finland. 1990. Forest Books. Lontoo. ISBN 0-948259-68-X.

References

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  1. ^ Kirjailija Kirsti Simonsuuri on kuollut. Yleisradio, 29 June 2019 (in Finnish).
  2. ^ Europa Publications (2003). International Who's Who in Poetry 2004. Taylor & Francis. pp. 299–. ISBN 978-1-85743-178-0.
  3. ^ a b "Kirsti Katariina Simonsuuri". University of Helsinki. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.

Further reading

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  • Väyrynen, Taru (1999). Odysseia Ouluun: Kirsti Simonsuuren Pohjoisen yökirjan viesti ja vastaanotto. Helsinki: Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura (Finnish Literary Society). ISBN 951-746-106-2.