Dekkaristi Pirkko Arhippa bequeathed 800,000 euros to the Writers’ Association: “Huge significance”, says the executive director

Arhipa, who died last October, his real name Pirkko Syynimaana fund bequeathed by author Pirkko Arhipa will be established, the proceeds of which will support female detective writers at the beginning of their careers.

Writers’ Union executive director Ilmi Villacís tells HS that the donation is exceptional.

“This means a lot to us, because this has never happened before. In the early days of the Writers’ Union and even in the last century, there were more funds, donations and bequests, but nowadays bequests have been quite rare, especially on this scale,” says Villacís.

Villacís says that the will will be invested like other funds of the Writers’ Association. The income is distributed as grants when the investments start to produce dividends.

The Writers’ Association currently distributes around 200,000 euros in grants from the proceeds of its investments.

Information about the will came to the Writers’ Association at the end of last year.

The will also included Arhipa’s apartment in Naantali, which will be sold as part of the fund. The Writers’ Union took care of Arhipa’s funeral as well.

Archippa wanted in his will to support especially female detectives at the beginning of their careers.

“She wrote, for example, in the 70s, when there were not yet female detective writers in the same way as today,” says Villacís.

Born in Rautavaara in 1935, Arhipa’s career began in the 1960s and spanned six decades. He published crime novels and romantic entertainment under different pen names.

In 2005, the Finnish Detective Society awarded Arhipa with the Hornanlinna Certificate of Honor.

Pirkko Arhippa died in Turku at the age of 90 after a long illness last October. It was Arhipa’s last novel Rose – ball – key in 2016.

In addition to his career as a writer, Arhippa worked in Naantali city politics as a representative of the Social Democrats. He had no children.