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Finnish writer, journalist, and translator, whose career in literature, beginning from his first collection of poems in 1935, spanned over 50 years. Viljo Kajava published nearly 40 books, mostly poems. While Kajava's early works dealt with his native Tampere and the proletarian condition, after the World War II he became known as an advocate for humanistic views and optimistically colored poems of life, work, family, and city. Vielä piirrän viivan (1996), Kajava's final collection of poems, came out when he was 87. 

"He has long since
----lost his vigour in these streets,
all he grows now
----is a beard, case histories,
----application forms, protest."
(from 'This Is How It Is,' translated by Keith Bosley, A Way to Measure Time: Contemporary Finnish Literature, edited by Bo Carpelan, Veijo Meri, Matti Suurpää, Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1992, p. 106; 'Tällaista se on,' teoksessa Vallilan rapsodia, 1972)

Viljo Kajava was born in Tampere, the son of Konrad Johannes Kajava, a tailor, and Martta Johanna Granlund. (The name "Kajava" means a "seagull".) In his childhood Kajava witnessed the conquest of Tampere during the Finnish Civil War (1917-18); it was "a mental and physical shock" for him. Kajava's father fought in the Red Guards as a machine gunner and was sent to a prison camp after the defeat of the Reds. Later in life, Kajava returned to the traumatic events in his writings. The family had hard times in Hämeenlinna in the 1930s when his father was fired from his job and defamed in a local newspaper. Both of his parents encouraged Kajava in his literary efforts and bought books for him.

His first poems Kajava wrote while he was still at school. He edited the Hämeenlinna Lyceum magazine Vasama and was given awards for its best poem a couple of times. Kajava's pseudonym was "Välke." Among his friends was the future film director Nyrki Tapiovaara, who made him to switch to free verse.

Supported by the recommendation of Mika Waltari, Kajava entered the Nuoren Voiman Liitto (Young Writers' Organization). After graduating in 1931, Kajava studied for a period at the University of Helsinki, without taking a degree. In 1933, he married Maj Inkeri Aulio; they had one child.

All major publishers turned down Kajava's debut collection of poems, Rakentajat (1935, The builders), which drew its subjects from pacifism and the life of workers. Eventually it was published by the small Kirjailijain kustannusliike, established by Erkki Vala, with whom Kajava had become acquainted in the literary group Tulenkantajat (The Fire Bearers). Kajava also contributed to the magazine Kirjallisuuslehti. With Elvi Sinervo, Arvo Turtiainen, and others, he was a founding member of the Kiila (Wedge), a circle of authors and artists. Its members favored radical free verse and had Marxists sympathies.

But more than the theory of socialism, Kajava was influenced by the Swedish writer Harry Martinson, and great American (Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg) and Russian (Aleksandr Blok, Sergei Esenin, Vladimir Mayakovsky) authors. From the world of class struggle Kajava gradually moved towards impressionistic and nature orientated lyric. In addition to writing poetry, he translated works from such authors as Jaroslav Hašek, August Strindberg, Tarjei Vesaas, Pär Lagerkvist, and Erle Stanley Gardner.

Kajava's second collection of poems, Murrosvuodet (1937), was published by Gummerus, one of the most respected trade publishing houses in Finland. This work, again proletarian by nature, depicted his birth town Tampere with its factories and machines ("turbiinit ahtavat itseensä Näsijärven penikulmaiset villit voimat" - 'Suomalainen Muusa'), anonymous workers ("nokiset miehet palasivat tehtaista, / valkoinen sanomalehti kainalossaan" - 'Lapsuus'), cramped outskirts and broken dreams and hopes ("Arkipäivä pusertaa ihmisten kasvot / ryppyihin ja hikeen: / koneitten pedonhyrinä / sumentaa heidän ajatuksensa" - 'Keskipäivä'). Growing up in a factory town is the predominant theme. Almost all of the poems were written in free verse. The critic and poet Lauri Viljanen paid attention to this and said in his review that Kajava uses too much words to express himself. ('Proletaari-runoutta' by Lauri Viljanen, Helsingin Sanomat, 11.4.1937, in 30-luvun runot by Viljo Kajava, Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2000, p. 322) Hyvästi, muuttolintu (1938), Kajava's third collection, satisfied the poet himself.

Many leftist writers were imprisoned for their anti-fascist opinions (Elvi and Aira Sinervo, Raoul Palmgren, Jarno Pennanen, Arvo Turtiainen). Kajava, who had lost his youthful idealism, did not want to write agitprop any more: "Sosialistiset taidekriitikkomme vaativat lisää taistelulauluja, lisää kapinaa, lisää agitaatiota. En voi enää. Sanon, että haluan kirjoittaa maasta, kukista, suuresta luonnosta, haluan kirjoittaa lyyrillisesti väljempää elämänilmaa; poliittista ihmista minusta ei tule. . . . Eräs nuoruuden illuusio on eletty loppuun." (from 'Viljo Kajava,' in Yrjö Kailaasta Aila Meriluotoon: suomalaisten kirjailijain elämäkertoja, edited by Toivo Pekkanen and Reino Rauanheimo, Porvoo: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtyö, 1947, p. 380) Kajava broke his ties with the crumbling Kiila. Subsequently, he was treated "as good as dead" by Sinervo and other writers and artists of the group. 

From 1940 to 1944 Kajava was a staff member of the periodical Aseveli, founded by Suomen Aseveljien Liitto (Finland's Union for Brothers-in-arms). During the Continuation War (1941-44), Kajava served in the army at the information department. Supporting the official policies, Kajava made war propagand for the anthologies Sotatalvi (1942) and Laulun miekka  (1944), and contributed to the Hakkapeliitta magazine, funded by the Suojeluskunta (Civil Guards). He also published three own books, of which Muistatko vielä Paulin? (1943) was partly autobiographical.

With Mika Waltari, Kajava participated in 1942 in the Writer's Congress in Weimar, where the highlight was Joseph Goebbels's speech. According to Waltari, they refused to do the Heil Hitler salute, when the orchestra played 'Horst Wessel' and 'Deutchland, Deutscland, über alles'. Because of their act, the film about the event had to be recut. Kajava was a member of the Europäische Schriftsteller-Vereinigung, which had been initiated by Goebbels. He still believed in the "brotherhood in arms" between Germany and Finland in 1944, when the German defeat was already obvious.

After the Moscow armistice, the Kajavas moved to Sweden for personal reasons. They had adopted an Ingrian Finnish girl, named Rosa, and because there was a possibility that she could be returned to the Soviet Union, they decided to leave the country. (Majority of the Ingrians, who left Finland, believing that they could go back to their homes, were deported directly to Siberia or Central Asia.)

From 1945 to 1948, Kajava lived in Stockholm. To earn his living, he first washed dishes at a restaurant, and then he was employed by an insurance company, Svenska försäkringsanstalten. While in Sweden, he met among others Harry Martinson, and wrote two Swedish-language books, Till havets fåglar (1948) and Någonstans (1949). Both were published by Wahlsröm & Widstrand. Some of the poems dealt with Kajava's feeling of the fragility of life: "att hela live var ingenting annat / än några snabba vingslag, / några steg in hastigt tempo –." (from 'Lyckan,' in Tuuli, valo, meri: runoja vuosilta 1935-1982 by Viljo Kajava, Helsingissä: Otava, 1984, p. 134)

At the suggestion of his old friend Arvo Paasivuori, a member of the Parliament (1945-48), Kajava returned to Finland in November 1948. He worked as a subeditor of the magazine Suomen Kuvalehti, edited by Ilmari Turja, until 1954. Kajava's poetry collections, Siivitetyt kädet (1949) and Hyvä on meri (1950), showed his acquaintance with new trends in poetry. From 1949 to 1965 he contributed to the newspaper Suomen Sosialidemokraatti.

The old grudges were not forgotten after the war. Palmgren portrayed him in negative light in the roman à clef 30-luvun kuvat (1953), published under the psedonym R. Palomeri. Kajava was one of the side characters, poet Olavi Kaakkuri. Arvo Turtiainen was Aaro Torvelainen.

In 1956 Kajava won the first Eino Leino Society Award – the organization had been founded by the modernists in 1947. Despite tensions between modernists and traditionalists, Kajava's humanistic wisdom was widely accepted among the younger literary generation. Noteworthy, he remained silent about his Nazi activities for the rest of his life.

Kavaja's later collections include Tampereen runot (1966, Poems of Tampere), in which he returned to his childhod memories of the battle of Tampere, and Vallilan rapsodia(1972, A Vallila rhapsody), depicting the working-class section of Helsinki. "Lapsuuteni elin  tehtaitten keskellä. / Nuoruuteni voimakkaat kesäpäivät / telakalla ja jyrsinkoneen ääressä / – taistelija taistelijoiden joukossa – / ja viimein vanhuuteni Vallilassa / eikä taistelulipusta ole jäljellä / muuta kuin punainen verho keittiön ikkunassa." (from 'Omaelämäkerrallista,' in Tuuli, valo, meri: runoja vuosilta 1935-1982, p. 383; originally published in Vallilan rapsodia) When Arvo Turtiainen wrote odes to Rööperi (Redhill), another working-class area, Kajava celebrated the milieu and people of Vallila, its wooden houses, small shops, the sunny Inari Road, the kids outside jumping rope, old men sitting on the benches of the public sauna. A writer sits at his typewriter. The street shakes when buildings are demolished to make way for the new.

For further reading: 'Viljo Kajava,' in Uuno Kailaasta Aila Meriluotoon: suomalaisten kirjailijain elämäkertoja, edited by Toivo Pekkanen and Reino Rauanheimo (1947); Tulenkantajat: ryhmän vaiheita ja kirjallisia teemoja 1920-luvulla by Kerttu Saarenheimo (1966); A History of Finnish Literature by Jaakko Ahokas (1973); 'Kajava, Viljo,' in Kirjailijat puhuvat: Tulenkantajat, edited by Ritva Haavikko (1976); 'Viljo Kajavan runouden murros' by Kai Laitinen, in Rivien takaa: nykykirjallisuuden tutkimusta kirjailijahaastattelujen pohjalta, edited by Ritva Haavikko (1976); Kapinalliset kynät: itsenäisyysajan työväenliikkeen kaunokirjallisuus by Raoul Palmgren II-III (1984); Kansanrintaman valo: kirjailijaryhmä Kiilan maailmankatsomus ja esteettinen ohjelma vuosina 1933-1943 by Kari Sallamaa (1994); 'Poets of the 1930s' by Markku Envall, in A History of Finland's Literature, edited by George C. Schoolfied (1998); 'Viljo Kajavan alkutaival' by Kai Laitinen, in  1930-luvun runot by Viljo Kajava (2000); Se oli satakieli: kirjoituksia elämästä ja teoksista by Hannu Kankaanpää (2003); Sivuviiva: kirjoituksia kirjallisuudesta ja sen vierestä by Hannu Kankaanpää (2008); 'Kukaan ei ole voittaja' by Kari Saviniemi, in Kulttuurivihkot 6 (2011); 'Surulauluista riemulauluun: emotionaalisuus ja kansallinen konsensus Viljo Kajavan Tampereen runoissa' by Anna Hollsten, in Tunteita ja tuntemuksia suomalaisessa kirjallisuudessa, edited by Anna Helle & Anna Hollsten (2016); Tampereen runojen isä: Konrad Kajavan sisällissota by Jani Kortesluoma (2021). 

Selected works:

• Rakentajat: runoja, 1935 [The builders]
  
• translator: Jaroslav Hašek, Kunnon sotamies Shvejkin seikkailut maailmansodassa I-III, 1935-37
• translator: Harry Hjörne, Viides rengas, 1937
• Murrosvuodet, 1937
• Hyvästi, muuttolintu: runoja, 1938
  
• Luomiskuut = runoja, 1939
• translator: Emil Cedercreutz, Yksinäisyyttä ja ihmisvilinää, 1939
• translator: August Strindberg, Punainen huone, 1939
• Sotatalvi: runovalikoima, 1940 (with Yrjö Jylhä, Arvi Kivimaa, Ragnar Ekelund, Mika Waltari, Lauri Viljanen, Otto Varhia)
• Ankara maa: runoja, 1941
• Takojat: runoja puhekuoroille, 1941
• translator: Ebba Richert, Huolehdi Ullasta, 1942
• Muistatko vielä Paulin?, 1942 [Do you still remember Paul?]
  
• Talkoomarssi, 1942
  
• Kahden sydämen talo: runoja, 1943
• Hellyys: runoja, 1944
• translator: Erle Stanley Gardner, Kleptomaanin jäljet, 1944
• editor: Suomalainen äiti: äitikuvauksia uudemmasta kotimaisesta kirjalloisuudesta, 1945
  
• editor (with Otto Varhia): Viesti mereen: antologia Ruotsin uutta runoutta, 1946
• Suljetuin silmin: runoja, 1946
• Till havets fåglar, 1948
• Någonstans, 1949
• Siivitetyt kädet: runoja, 1949 [The winged hands]
  
• Hyvä on meri, 1950 [Good is the sea]
  
• Yksinäisiä naisia: novelleja, 1950 [Lonely women: short stories]
  
• Vihreä kartta: novelleja, 1951 [The green map: short stories]
  
• translator: Walter Bayer, Viimeinen paimen, 1953 (radio play)
• editor: Pär Lagerkvist, Runoja, 1953
• translator: Walentin Chorell, Matkamies, 1953-54 (play)
• translator: Inger Hagerup, Terveisiä Katarinalta, 1954 (radio play)
• Jokainen meistä: runoja, 1954
• Muuttumatta: runoja, 1955
• translator: Felix Braun, Jairuksen tytär, 1955 (radio play)
• translator: Tarjei Vesaas, Suojailma, 1955 (radio play)
• translator: August Strindberg, Uninäytelmä, 1955 (radio play)
• Ennen iltapäivää: runoja, 1956
• translator: Tarjei Vesaas, Sininen nappi, 1956 (radio play)
• Peikot: saturunoja, 1956 (illustrated by Annele Tahkolahti-Synterä)
• Lintukauppias, 1957 [The man who sells birds]
  
• Tuliteema: runoja, 1957 [Fire theme]
  
• Nuoruuden aamu ja ilta: romaani, 1958
• Taivaan sineen, 1959
• Kosketus, 1959
• Viljo Kajavan kauneimmat runot, 1959
• Kymmenen ilmansuuntaa: runoja, 1961 [The ten points of the compass]
  
• Ne tuovat viestin..., 1962
  
• Ei kukaan ole voittaja, 1962
• translator: Elmer Diktonius, Runoja, 1963
• translator: Gösta Ågren, Tykinlaukaus, 1965 (radio play)
• translator: Rudolf Värnlund, U 39, 1966 (radio play)
• Ruusuja lunta: runoja, 1966
• Tampereen runot, 1966 [Poems of Tampere]
  
• Käsityöläisen unet: runoja, 1968 [The dreams of a craftsman]
  
• Valitut runot, 1969 [Selected poems]
  
• Reykjavikin valot: runoja, 1970
• Vallilan rapsodia: runoja, 1972 [A Vallila rhapsody]
  
• Rannan tasangot vuoret: runoja, 1974
• Läheltä: runoja, 1975
• Rannat, rannat: runoja, 1977
• Kosketus: runoja
  
• Valveilla kuin unessa: runoja, 1980
  
• Jäähyväiset eiliselle: runoja, 1982
  
• Tuli, valo, meri: runoja vuosilta 1935-1982, 1984
• Talvituuli: runoja, 1987 [Winter wind]
  
• Tähän saavuin: runoja, 1989
  
• Aika rakasta, aika laulaa: runoilija muistelee, 1990 (edited by Kristiina Lyytinen),
• Maan ja meren runot: runoja, 1992
• Vielä piirrän viivan: runoja, 1996
• Valoksi maan päälle – Viljo Kajavan kauneimmat joulurunot, 1998 (edited by Jarkko Laine)
• 1930-luvun runot, 2000 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura; foreword by Kai Laitine)
  
• Sinusta, minusta, hissistä ja jazz-bandista: nuoruudenrunoja 1927-1931, 2000 (edited by Jarkko Laine)
• Viljo Kajavan kauneimmat runot, 2009 (edited by Anja Salokannel)