Paavo Haavikko (1931-2008) was a Finnish poet and playwright. He published his first collection of poetry in 1951, at the age of twenty. After three more poetry collections, two three-act plays, and two novels, Haavikko's first English-translated piece was published in 1961. He is the laureate of the 1984 Neustadt Prize.
"He seems not only to see but also to say, sometimes tortuously but at the same time quite clearly and incorruptibly, how things are. The world speaks 'indistinctly, fast and about everything...