Pentti Holappa is president of Finnish PEN and the European Academy of Poetry. "A fool in the hall of mirrors" was the title of his first book, and he was to be perpetually astonished in an incurably unfamiliar world. His intriguing parables speak from the heart. His spare and cleanly-written poems have become increasingly explicit and more popular in recent years. Holappa was awarded the Finlandia Prize for his bold novel about homosexuality, Portrait of a Friend.