Elin Toona, Author at Estonian World

Elin Toona

Elin Toona is an Estonian writer. In 1944, she fled with her mother and grandmother to Germany, where she studied in an Estonian elementary school. In 1947, she settled in the UK, first in Leeds, then in London, where she studied at a children's school, Pitman College and a theatre school. She worked in a London knitting mill, as an office secretary, and as a television actor. She has also lived in Singapore and the Bahamas, and since 1970 mainly in Florida, the US. Elin Toona has written novels, published poetry, short prose and articles in both Estonian and English, and books about her grandfather, the poet Ernst Enno, and her grandmother, Ella Enno.

Elin Toona on surviving Estonia’s ‘great escape’ of 1944

Elin Toona / September 20, 2022

In September 1944, fearful of the advancing Red Army, approximately 80,000 Estonians left their country behind and escaped to the West. Elin Toona, who was just 6 years old at the time, gave a speech on 19 September 2022 entitled, “Into exile – last refugee”, at an international conference in Tallinn memorialising the historical event; […]

Elin Toona on surviving Estonia’s ‘great escape’ of 1944 Read More »