Veijo Meri

Veijo Meri was born on October 25, 1928, in Vyborg into an army family. Living in military garrisons throughout his youth, Meri developed a singular, deadpan grotesque vision of human organizations.

In 1957, his international breakthrough novel Manillaköysi (The Manila Rope) told the story of soldier Joose Keppilä hauling a found piece of heavy rope home from the front lines, wrapped tightly around his torso until he nearly suffocates. Translated into over twenty languages, his dry absurdist fiction earned him the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1973.