Aleksis Kivi (Nurmijärvi, 1834 - 1872). Born as Alexis Stenvall. Finnish writer, author of the first important work in Finnish language entitled Seitsemän veljestä (The Seven Brothers). In addition to being the first authors of prose and lyric in Finnish, it is still considered one of the best. Kivi was born into a family of tailors. In 1846 he moved to Helsinki and in 1859 he entered the university of this city, where he studied literature and became interested in theater. His first work was Kullervo based on the classic drama called Kalevala. From 1863 he devoted his time to writing. He wrote twelve works and a collection of poems. His novel The Seven Brothers took him ten years of work and was harshly treated by critics of the time who considered it too vulgar. These objections contributed to create in the author a feeling of rejection; origin, probably, of the mental imbalance that ended his life.