title: Hella Wuolijoki
text: Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; 22 July 1886 – 2 February 1954), also known by the pen name Juhani Tervapää, was an Estonian-born Finnish writer known for her Niskavuori series.
  
  Early life
  Hella Wuolijoki was born as Ella Marie Murrik in the hamlet of Ala in Helme Parish (now in Tõrva Parish), Valga County, Governorate of Livonia. She began her studies in Tartu, before moving to Helsinki in 1904. In 1908, she married Sulo Vuolijoki (1881-1957), a personal friend of Lenin. They divorced in 1923. Later, 
  Hella Vuolijoki began spelling her surname with a W.
  
  Career
  
  Author
  Wuolijoki wrote several books under the male pseudonym Juhani Tervapää that were characterised by strong female characters. The 1947 film The Farmer's Daughter was adapted from her 1937 play Juurakon Hulda, which she also wrote as Juhani Tervapää. She collaborated with Bertolt Brecht on the initial version of his Mr Puntila and his Man Matti.
  
  Spy
  
  In the 1920s and 1930s, Wuolijoki hosted a literary and political salon that discussed culture and promoted left-wing ideas. She had secret connections with the Soviet intelligence and security structures. 
  
  Finnish police suspected her of being an illegal resident spy, but there was no solid proof until 1943, when she was arrested for hiding Kerttu Nuorteva, a Soviet paratrooper spy on a mission to acquire information about the political sentiment and the German troops in Finland, and sentenced to life imprisonment. She was released in 1944, after the armistice that ended the Continuation War.
  
  Post-war and death
  
  Wuolijoki was a member of the Finnish Parliament and the head of the SKDL parliamentary group from 1946 to 1947. Wuolijoki also served as the director of the national broadcasting company, YLE, from 1945 to 1949.
  
  Wuolijoki died in Helsinki in 1954, aged 67.
  
  Personal life
  
  Her younger sister, Salme Dutt, was an influential member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Salme was married firstly to politician Eino Pekkala and secondly to the fellow communist R. Palme Dutt. Wuolijoki was the grandmother of Erkki Tuomioja (b.1946), Finland's minister for foreign affairs between 2011 and 2015, through her daughter Vappu.
  
  Works 
   Juurakon Hulda (1937)
   Entäs nyt, Niskavuori? (1953)
  
  References
  
  External links
  
   Hella Wuolijoki in 375 humanists 9.1.2015, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki
  
  1886 births
  1954 deaths
  People from Tõrva Parish
  People from Kreis Fellin
  Estonian emigrants to Finland
  Finnish people of Estonian descent
  Finnish People's Democratic League politicians
  Members of the Parliament of Finland (1945–1948)
  Finnish people of World War II
  Estonian women novelists
  Finnish women novelists
  Pseudonymous women writers
  Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Finland
  Finnish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
  20th-century Finnish novelists
  20th-century Finnish women writers
  20th-century Finnish women politicians
  Women members of the Parliament of Finland
  20th-century Estonian novelists
  Women in World War II
  20th-century pseudonymous writers
  Finnish salon-holders