Ahlback Agency December Newsletter

Happy Holidays! Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year!

“I rather want to be invited to Little Mouse’s Christmas.” – The Times
2017 has been a special year, with Finland celebrating its centenary of independence this month, and we reflect on a fruitful year of bringing Finnish literature to readers, both young and old, around the world.

Forthcoming in 2018

  • FINDING SISU by Katja Pantzar – Hodder (UK, March 2018);
    US title: THE FINNISH WAY: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness through the Power of Sisu – TarcherPerigee (US, June 2018)*“Anyone who enjoyed reading about hygge will surely embrace the simple and life-changing practices that Katja describes…” – Marian Lizzi, Editor-in-Chief, TarcherPerigee
    *cover & title subject to change
  • ONEIRON by Laura Lindstedt – Oneworld Publications (WE, March 2018)
    “A visionary book.” – Marie Claire Italia
  • THE NIGHTINGALE MURDER by Leena Lehtolainen (Maria Kallio series Book 9) – Amazon Crossing (US, March 2018)

Published in 2017

  • THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO by Jussi Valtonen – Oneworld Publications (UK, November 2017)
    “Classy and engrossing drama.” – Daily Mail
  • ESCAPE FROM SUNSET GROVE by Minna Lindgren – Pan Macmillan (UK, August 2017)
    “A Finnish Miss Marple.” – Independent
  • BELOW THE SURFACE (Maria Kallio series Book 8) by Leena Lehtolainen – Amazon Crossing (US, November 2017)
    “Lehtolainen’s crime series has reached cult status already.” – Bunte, Germany
  • CRUEL IS THE NIGHT by Karo Hämäläinen – Soho Press (US, April 2017)
    “This English-language debut by a prize-winning Finnish author has a great hook . . . [for] readers who enjoy books like L.S. Hilton’s Maestra and Caroline Kepnes’s You, in which the game is the goal.”  – Library Journal 
  • NAONDEL by Maria Turtschaninoff (Book 2 in the Red Abbey Chronicles) + MARESI paperback ed – Pushkin Press (UK, January-April 2017)
    “Will stay with the reader long after the book is closed.” The Guardian, on Naondel
  • MONSTER NANNY by Tuutikki Tolonen – Houghton Mifflin (US, November 2017)
    “Imaginative fantasy, and plentiful dialogue makes it prime for reading aloud.” — Booklist
  • AS RED AS BLOOD by Salla Simukka – Crown/PRH (US, January 2017)
    “Limned in stark red, white, and black, this cold, delicate snowflake of a tale sparkles with icy magic.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review
  • LITTLE MOUSE’S CHRISTMAS by Riikka Jäntti – Scribble/Scribe Publications (WE, October 2017)
    “Beautifully illustrated … put together with enormous charm.” – The Times

AWARDS
PROMETHEUS AWARD 2017 – Johanna Sinisalo for The Core of the Sun
LUKUVARKAUS AWARD 2017, FINLAND – Salla Simukka for Sisterland
NOMINATIONS
INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2018 – Minna Lindren for Escape from Sunset Grove
CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2017 – Maria Turtschaninoff for Maresi
ASTRID LINDGREN AWARD 2017 – Maria Turtschaninoff for Maresi
NORDIC COUNCIL LITERATURE PRIZE 2017 – Laura Lindstedt for Oneiron

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year!

About author


Jussi Valtonen

Jussi Valtonen (1974) is an author and psychologist from Helsinki. He has studied neuropsychology in the United States and screenwriting in the UK, and has also worked as a science reporter. He has written three novels and a short story collection.

Carried by Wings (Siipien kantamat, Tammi 2007) was given second place in Bonnier’s novel competition, and received a warm reception from both critics and bloggers. In 2014 Valtonen was awarded the Finlandia Prize, the country’s highest-profile literary award, for They Know Not What They Do (He eivät tiedä mitä tekevät, Tammi 2014).

About author


Karo Hämäläinen

Karo Hämäläinen (b. 1976) has two passions: literature and the stock market, and has a 15-year background as an economics reporter. He works as the managing editor managing editor of Parnasso, Finland’s best-known literary publication. Hämäläinen’s novel The Buyout was shortlisted for the Savonia Prize in 2011 and received the Tampere Literary Prize in 2012.

Hämäläinen has studied both in the humanities and in economics. Following stints in Helsinki, Munich and Berlin, he now lives in Tampere, Finland. He is a popular lecturer and guest commentator, and has had his own radio show. In his professional work, he uses Finnish, English, German and Swedish. In his spare time, Hämäläinen likes reading and running; his record marathon time set in 2010 is 3:04:04.

About author


Katja Pantzar

Helsinki-based writer, editor and journalist Katja Pantzar was raised in Canada with stints in New Zealand and the UK. Pantzar’s The Finnish Way has been translated into 24 languages. She is the author of three guides to the Finnish capital: The Hip Guide to Helsinki, Helsinki by Light and 100 Things to Do in Helsinki. Pantzar’s writing has appeared in a wide range of media, from The Globe and Mail to Elle. Her work has been widely covered around the world, including in Le Figaro, Le Monde, El País, Vogue, Real Simple, and more.

About author


Laura Lindstedt

Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015), a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death, earned her the coveted Finlandia Prize of 2015 and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2017. Lindstedt’s success has continued with My Friend Natalia (Teos 2019) which has earned critical acclaim and has been sold to 12 territories. Together with author Sinikka Vuola, she has authored 101 tapaa tappaa aviomies (101 Ways to Kill Your Husband, Siltala 2022) which has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize of 2024.

She is currently completing her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute.

About author


Leena Lehtolainen

Leena Lehtolainen is the top female crime author in Finland: her new titles always head straight to #1 on the Finnish bestseller lists.

Lehtolainen created her successful protagonist, detective Maria Kallio, in 1993. Having already featured in 16 novels and a complete TV series, a new Maria Kallio TV reboot series was launched in Fall 2021 on C More. Lehtolainen’s novels have been translated into 30 languages and have sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.

And just like the events in Bodyguard, a that takes the heroine Hilja Ilveskero all around Europe, Lehtolainen’s own work takes her to book festivals, exhibitions and other events across the globe.

Leena Lehtolainen has also published outside the crime genre; her book The Charm of Figure Skating was voted sports book of the year 2010 in Finland, and A Life in Six Scenes showed her return to literary fiction.

The Crossing of the Green Dragon is her first title for YA audiences.

In her free time, Lehtolainen enjoys all kinds of music and follows lynx trails in the forests – just like Maria Kallio.

About author


Maria Turtschaninoff

Maria Turtschaninoff is known for crafting lyrical, historically inspired fantasy stories starring strong female protagonists. In addition to J.R.R. Tolkien, she counts Philip Pullman, Ursula K. Le Guin and C.S. Lewis among her favorite authors. She is a two-time winner of the Society of Swedish Literature Prize, winner of the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, winner of the Thank You for the Book Award, a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2020-2024), and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize.

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Inherited Land has been sold to 23 territories. Maria has a Master of Arts in human ecology and works full-time as a writer.

About author


Minna Lindgren

Minna Lindgren (b. 1963) is a freelance journalist and columnist known for her whimsical writing style and fearless approach to topics as strange as opera and death. In addition to novels, she has authored nonfiction books on classical music. In 2009, Lindgren won the Bonnier Journalism Prize for her article entitled “Father’s Death” (“Isän kuolema”).

Lindgren is best known for the Sunset Grove trilogy, which has been sold to 18 territories, and the final part, The End of Sunset Grove, was nominated for the International Dublin Literature Award in 2019. She has also written four standalone novels and a non-fiction book about the history of opera.

Minna Lindgren’s books have been critical and commercial successes, in Finland and internationally.

About author


Riikka Jäntti

Riikka Jäntti, a 2003 graduate of University of Industrial Art of Helsinki, now part of Aalto University, is a Helsinki-based illustrator and author who has created art for both nonfiction and fairy tale books for children. Her first children’s book was published in 2005. Jäntti is best known for the adorable Little Mouse series that has publishers in 20 territories, including Australia, Nepal, and China!

In her illustrations, she uses pen and ink as well as watercolor and gouache. In 2009 Jäntti won the first-ever Tieto-Lauri, an award for children’s and juvenile non-fiction, for her illustrations in Viidakkotanssi (Jungle Dance). The book was written by Markku Löytönen about the explorer Rafael Karsten in Ecuador.

About author


Salla Simukka

Salla Simukka is the author of the international success story The Snow White Trilogy: rights are sold in 52 territories and in Hollywood. She has written several novels for young readers and her accolades include the Topelius Prize 2013 and the Finland Prize 2013. Simukka has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award  every year 2021–2024. Where It All Begins, published in 2022, is her first novel for adults and in 2024 she started a collaboration with JP Ahonen on a middle grade novel.

Previously Simukka has written book reviews for the newspapers, translated all kinds of texts into Finnish, worked as an editor at a literary magazine and as a screenwriter for a popular TV show for young audiences.  She has also been working on the programme of Turku Book Fair in 2017–2020.

About author


Tuutikki Tolonen

Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, a Finnish literary magazine for children. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award.  Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny trilogy sparked during a family breakfast. “My son Leo, then six, said: ‘I heard on the radio yesterday that all moms have to go on vacation and monsters will take their places,” she says.

Her other bestselling series is the Agnes-series, of which the first book "Agnes and the Garden of Dreams" was in 2021 nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award. Tolonen tells that the inspiration for Agnes comes for her interest for weird and inexpicable tales, ghost stories and mysteries: "I wanted to write a book my daughter Aili, then nine, would like to read - not too long, not too scary, but very curious."