Journalist, author and translator

I.K. Inha worked as a foreign affairs journalist for the newspaper Uusi Suometar from 1888 to 1906. As a journalist for Uusi Suometar he visited Athens in 1897 and London in 1899 among other places. His proper field of occupation was foreign journalism, but he also worked as a music and art critic and as a travel photographer.

In 1896 I.K. Inha, together with Väinö Wallin, bought the so-called B-series of the Kyläkirjaston kuvalehti periodical. Inha sold his share of the periodical to Wallin in 1901, but kept working as an editor for it until 1906.

Altogether Inha translated around 40 books into Finnish. Both of his major literary works, Suomen maisemia (Landscapes of Finland) from 1909 and Kalevalan laulumailta (From the Songlands of Kalevala) from 1911, have reached their third edition.

Inha holds enduring merit in Finnish cultural history. The wide and multidisciplinary scope of his lifework as well as his colourful personality have upheld interest in a variety of contexts. He has been, for example, set as a character in a novel by Eeva-Kaarina Aronen, Maria Renforsin totuus (The truth of Maria Renfors).

As a result of the wide photographic exhibitions organised in 2006 Inha began to be mentioned as Finland’s national photographer.