Heikki Kirkinen is a professor in history at Joensuu University. He has been a visiting professor in the Finnish language, literature and culture at Sorbonne 1966–1970.

Kirkinen has written many books about the Carelia

Karelia

Karelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...

n history and the Carelian identity. One of his main interests is music; he has studied musicology and even composed music.

Publications

• Les origines de la conception moderne de l'hommemachine (1960)
• Le monde kalévaléen en France et en Finlande (1987, with Jean Perrot)
• Informatique et développement des régions marginales (1988, editor)
• Protection and development of our intangible heritage (1999, editor)
• Karjala idän kulttuuripiirissä, 1963
• Karjala taistelukenttänä, (Karjala idän ja lännen välissä, II), 1976, ISBN 951-9254-0-8
• Bysantin perinne ja Suomi, ISBN 951-9071-87-3
• Termiitti vai enkeli, ajatuksia kulttuurievoluutiosta, SKS (2002)
• Pohjois-Karjalan kalevaisen perinteen juuret, 1988, ISBN 951-717-506-X