Minna Canth was born as Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnsson in Tampere, Finland. At 9, the family moved to Kuopio, where her father ran a draper’s shop. She received a complete formal education, which was not common for working-class girls in this period. After graduating high school, she attended Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary – the first high-education institute in Finland to accept women. There, she met her husband, Johan Ferdinand Canth, who was her Science teacher.
At 21, Canth began her writing career, assisting her husband in editing the newspaper Keski-Suomi. She wrote articles for the newspaper, particularly on women’s issues, advocating for women’s rights and gender equality, and expressing her belief that girls should be educated the same as boys and learn subjects such as nature, science, and economy. Her writing caused controversies, and in 1876, causing Canth and her husband to get fired from the newspaper and quickly hired by the competing newspaper, the Päijänne. At the time, Canth began to write short stories, publishing some of them in the newspaper and compiling them in her first book, Novelleja JA Kertomuksia, published in 1878.
In the following year, her husband died, and Canth, now a 35 years old widow, mother of seven, returned to Kuopio to manage her father’s shop. She became a successful businesswoman, provided for her children, and gained the financial freedom to follow her passions for writing and activism. Her home became a cultural gathering place where men and women discussed literature, science, and social issues.
She wrote articles for magazines as well as short stories, plays, and novellas. With time, her writing became more realistic, portraying urban social problems authentically and genuinely. In her work, Canth explored the patriarchal norms that governed the lives of working-class people and the limited opportunities of women. It is evident in her 1885 play Työmiehen vaimo (The Worker’s Wife), which tells the story of a woman whose alcoholic husband control and spend the money she earns. Another example is Sylvi, published in 1893. The play follows a young woman that can’t divorce her old husband and marry the man she loves. One of Canth’s most significant and radical works is the play Anna Liisa, in which she portrayed the life of a 15 years old girl who becomes pregnant outside of marriage and kills her baby.
Canth died of a heart attack at the age of 53.
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