Jarkko Laine was a Finnish poet and a writer of prose and plays. He also translated American literature to Finnish.

Jarkko Laine was born in Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. He became known from the 1960s underground movement, deriving inspiration from popular culture, pop music and comics. He provided some lyrics for the band Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940

Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940

Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940 was a provocative Finnish rock band in the years 1969 and 1970. Their only album is called Underground-Rock. Lyrics for the band were provided under pseudonyms by M.A. Numminen and the Turku poets Markku Into and Jarkko Laine...

, and for popular singer Rauli Badding Somerjoki he wrote such song lyrics as 'Bensaa suonissa', 'Hymyile Miss Universum' and 'Pilvet karkaa, niin minäkin' (the latter being the title song of Aki Kaurismäki

Aki Kaurismäki

-Career:After studying Media Studies at the University of Tampere, Aki Kaurismäki started his career as a co-director in the films of his elder brother Mika Kaurismäki. His debut as an independent director was Crime and Punishment , Dostoyevsky's famous crime story set in modern-day Helsinki...

's film Drifting Clouds). Jarkko Laine was the editorial assistant for the literature magazine Parnasso in the years 1969-1986 and its editor-in-chief in the years 1987-2002. He was also the President of The Union of Finnish Writers in the years 1987-2002.

Novels

• Haamumaili (1968)
• Niin kulki Kolumbus (1969)
• Kuin ruumissaatto (1970)
• Vampyyri eli miten Wilhelm Kojac kuoli kovat kaulassa (1971)
• Nick Naantali itäisillä mailla (1974)
• Futari (1977)
• Vaikeita asentoja (1982)
• Naapuri (with M.A. Numminen and Markku Into
  Markku Into
  Markku Into is a legend of Finnish poetry and one of the main members in Finnish 1960s underground movement of Turku. Markku Into has written collections of poetry, prose and plays. He has also translated into Finnish such American Beat generation writers as Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti...
  
  , 2002)

Collections of short stories

• Saksalainen vävy (1988)
• Maailman yksinäisin mies (1992)

Collections of poetry

• Muovinen Buddha (1967)
• Tulen ja jään sirkus(1970)
• Niin se käy (1971)
• Nauta lentää (1973)
• Valitut runot (1975)
• Viidenpennin Hamlet (1976)
• Paratiisi (1978)
• Elämä on vuokrahuone (1980)
• Amerikan cowboy (1981)
• Villiintynyt puu (1984)
• Elokuvan jälkeen (1986)
• Traagisen runoilijan talo (1986)
• Runot 1967-1987 (1987)
• Oodi eiliselle sanomalehdelle (1989)
• Pyhä maanantai (1991)
• Iloisen neekerin katu (1992)
• Toinen mustakantinen vihko. Kriipustuksia, muistiinpanoja, reunamerkintöjä (2003)

Plays

• Virtasen Masa (1972)