Mika Waltari was a Finnish author, journalist, critic, poet, playwright, essayist, and screenwriter, born on September 19, 1908, in Helsinki, Finland. He is considered one of the most prolific Finnish authors, with a wide range of work that includes at least 29 novels, 15 novellas, 6 collections of stories or fairy-tales, 6 collections of poetry, and 26 plays. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages, making him the internationally best-known Finnish writer.
Waltari's childhood was marked by the loss of his father, a Lutheran pastor, when he was just five years old. His mother, Olga Johansson, was left to support her three children with the help of Waltari's uncle, Toivo. Despite the financial struggles, Waltari's mother encouraged him to enroll in the University of Helsinki as a theology student, but he soon switched to philosophy, aesthetics, and literature, graduating in 1929. As a student, he contributed to various magazines, wrote poetry and stories, and published his first book in 1925. In 1927, he traveled to Paris, where he wrote his first major novel, Suuri illusioni ('The Grand Illusion'), a story of bohemian life.
Throughout his career, Waltari was known for his strict work ethic and hectic writing schedule. He worked as a journalist and critic, contributing to various newspapers and magazines and traveling widely in Europe. He also wrote in many genres, moving easily from one literary field to another. During the Winter War (1939–1940) and the Continuation War (1941–1944), Waltari worked in the government information center, placing his literary skills at the service of political propaganda.
Waltari's most successful historical novel, The Egyptian, was published in 1945. Its theme of the corruption of humanist values in a materialist world seemed curiously topical in the aftermath of World War II, and the book became an international bestseller, serving as the basis of the 1954 Hollywood movie of the same name. He wrote seven more historical novels, placed in various ancient cultures, among which The Dark Angel, set during the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, is probably the best. In these novels, he gave powerful expression to his fundamental pessimism and also, in two novels set in the Roman Empire, to his Christian conviction.
Waltari's personal life was marked by periods of depression, and he sometimes needed hospital treatment. Despite these challenges, he continued to write, participating in literary competitions to prove the quality of his work to critics. He created one of his most popular characters, Inspector Palmu, a gruff detective of the Helsinki police department, who starred in three mystery novels, all of which were filmed. Waltari also scripted the popular cartoon Kieku ja Kaiku and wrote Aiotko kirjailijaksi, a guidebook for aspiring writers that influenced many younger writers.
In 1957, Waltari became a member of the Finnish Academy and received an honorary doctorate at the University of Turku in 1970. He passed away on August 26, 1979, leaving behind a vast and diverse body of work that continues to be celebrated and studied today.