Pentti Holappa

{{Short description|Finnish poet, writer and politician}}

File:Pentti-Holappa.jpg

Pentti Vihtori Holappa (11 August 1927 – 10 October 2017) was a Finnish poet, writer and politician.{{Cite web |url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9878729 |title=Finlandia-palkittu kirjailija Pentti Holappa on kuollut |date=12 October 2017 |website=Yle Uutiset |language=fi |access-date=2017-10-12}} Born in Ylikiiminki to a relatively poor family of modest means, he held numerous jobs before becoming a political journalist and eventually obtaining a government post.{{cite web|url=http://neba.finlit.fi/booksfromfinland/bff/298/kiiskinen.htm|title=Gardens of Life and Death|author=Jyrki Kiiskinen|website=Books from Finland|date=Feb 1992|access-date=12 October 2017}} He was self-educated, but produced around fifteen volumes of poetry, as well as several novels and essays. He also worked as a translator; among the poets and authors whose work he translated into Finnish are Charles Baudelaire, Pierre Reverdy, and J. M. G. Le Clézio. He received the Finlandia Prize in 1998 for his novel Ystävän muotokuva: Portrait of a Friend.

Between February and October 1972, Holappa was Minister of Culture and Education in the Paasio II Cabinet representing the Social Democratic Party of Finland.{{cite web|url=http://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/government/history/governments-and-ministers/report/-/r/m2/238|title=Details of minister - Holappa, Pentti Vihtori|website=Finnish Government|access-date=12 October 2017}}