[4] Her father moved to Kotka in 1893 to become the building manager of a sawmill, but Onvera stayed behind in Helsinki to attend school.

At secondary school, Onerva had been inspired by theater and she seriously entertained the possibility to become a professional actor.

[8] In autumn 1902 Onerva enrolled in the department of history and philology at the University of Helsinki, but she never graduated.

[10] The young lovers moved to Räisälä on the Karelian Isthmus, to the family estate of the Strengs.

However, Onerva missed her childhood home and longed after her father, whom she visited often during early into the marriage.

Onerva would get some income by working as an interim teacher and by opening a cinema with her husband in Lahti.

[13] Onerva met Eino Leino for the first time in the beginning of the 1900s while still studying before her matriculation exam.

[24] In the end of the 1930s, Onerva was transferred to Kivelä Hospital and from there to Veikkola's sanitarium because of her severe alcoholism.

Leevi Madetoja died in 1947, and the next year Onerva was released from the mental hospital with assistance from her friends.

[25] Onerva was a very contested and radical author of her time who had the courage to write against conventional morality.

In her works, Onerva emphasized the individual's right to act freely and make choices independently.

Talvio did not see herself as apt to review them and introduced Onerva to J. H. Erkko [fi] to ask for his comments on her poetry.

[26] Onerva's first poetry collection, Sekasointuja, was published in 1904 with the help of Albert Gebhard [fi].

Furthermore, Mirdja features the character Rolf Tanne, who has been speculated to be based on Eino Leino.

[30] Mirdja was published in 1908 and, initially, caused a lot of reprehension for its content advocating erotic freedom and its contempt for traditional family values and attracted frown from, for instance, some women.

The novel was positively received by young intellectuals, who liked its depiction of the thoughts and emotions of an independent-minded woman.

Conferring the prize on Onerva incited opposition, and the Kotimaa [fi] magazine published a women's objection in response to the nomination.

In it, Inari is a woman whose love wavers between two men, the artist Porkka and the pianist Alvia.

The paper was sustained for two years and Onerva acted as its copy editor [fi] (toimitussihteeri).

In addition to Sunnuntai, Onerva wrote theater reviews for the right wing socialist Työn Valta founded in 1917.

[33] before Sunnuntai and Työn valta, Onerva had assisted the cultural liberal Päivä paper (1907–1911).