(
1936-)
Finnish writer. Got into a lot of
trouble with the
law in the
60s after writing his book Juhannustanssit* (1964), in which he described
sex in a way that was not then seen
suitable. He was accused of
blasphemy and was even close to getting to
prison for writing a book. He didn't get sentenced, but his
life was never the same again after this incident. He alcoholized and later divorced from his wife.
Another important book by Salama was Siinä näkijä missä tekijä** (1972), in which he described the life of finnish communists during the World War II. Salama was from a left-wing family himself, but his views were not that idealistic of his parents and this showed in this book which was largely critized by the communists of Finland at the time. The book was written in a very realistic way, and the communists didn't want to admit this was their life as written in Salama's work. Later it has been said that this book eventually had a big impact on the collapse of Finnish communist front, obviously not the only reason for it, but it did open some eyes for sure.
Hannu Salama still lives in Finland and keeps on writing books about the everyday life of Finns.
* Freely translated, Midsummer dance
** Very difficult to translate (someone from Finland give me a hand here?), but I guess you could translate it something like Who does, sees.