Väinö Linna was a Finnish author and a former soldier who fought in the Continuation War (1941–44). Linna gained literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier), published in 1954, and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the North Star), published between 1959 and 1963 and translated into English by Richard Impola. Both works have been adapted into films multiple times; The Unknown Soldier was first made into a film in 1955 and Under the North Star in 1968 as Here, Beneath the North Star, both directed by Edvin Laine.