August Ahlqvist

Who was August Ahlqvist?

Karl August Engelbrekt Ahlqvist, who wrote as A. Oksanen, was a Finnish poet, scholar of the Finno-Ugric language, author, and literary critic.

He was born in Kuopio, on August 7, 1826, the illegitimate child of Baron Johan Mauritz Nordenstam; his mother Maria Augusta Ahlqvist was a servant. He died November 20, 1889, in Helsinki, Finland.

As a scholar Ahlquvist contributed to reformation of the Finnish language, and was highly esteemed for his work in the Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian and related languages. His pungent criticism of Aleksis Kivi's Seitsemän veljestä caused the publishers to postpone its issue.