Hollo — was professor of pedagogy at the University of Helsinki, an essayist, and a major translator of literature into Finnish.

He lived for eight years in the United Kingdom, and had three children (Hannes, Kaarina, and Tamsin) with his first wife, poet Josephine Clare.

In the 1960s, Hollo lived in London, England, and worked at the Finnish section of BBC World Service.

Hollo taught creative writing in eighteen different institutions of higher learning, including SUNY Buffalo, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

From 1985, he taught in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, where he held the rank of Full Professor.