U.S and UK accolades for Johanna Sinisalo and Emmi Itäranta!

Itaranta_Sinisalo_Dec2014Two of Finland’s most imaginative authors, Johanna Sinisalo and Emmi Itäranta, have drawn serious international attention in late 2014.

Johanna Sinisalo’s The Blood of Angels (Teos 2011), published this fall by Peter Owen, has been praised by Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, and received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist.

In addition, well-known science fiction and fantasy site Tor.com recently published an excerpt of The Blood of Angels and hosted a book giveaway that drew a slew of enthusiastic responses from readers.

“At the intersection of science and fiction, award-winning Finnish author Sinisalo digs deep into a character who’s searching for answers about his child, his life, and what may come after. Stunning prose takes the reader down a twisting path between gritty eco­terrorism and another world, with winged messengers leading the way.”
Library Journal, starred review

“Sinisalo juxtaposes one man’s personal grief with impending ecological disaster in this compelling and intimate rumination on animal rights, world food supply, and the indispensable role of bees to our environment…The story is told with a quiet, literary precision.”
Booklist, starred review

Sinisalo’s latest novel, The Core of the Sun (Teos 2013) was published in Germany by Klett-Cotta this year, and is scheduled for a 2015 World English publication by Grove Atlantic.

Meanwhile, The Guardian has named Emmi Itäranta’s speculative fiction debut Memory of Water (Teos 2012), published this summer by Harper Voyager, one of the year’s best science fiction books. Memory of Water has previously received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. Itäranta’s independent follow-up, City of Woven Streets, is slated for a 2015 publication.

“Too few non-Anglo-phone genre writers make it through the language barrier and into our bookshops. One who has is Emmi Itäranta, whose poetic and melancholy debut Memory of Water (Harper Voyager) was originally published in her native Finnish. Itäranta, now resident in Kent, translated it herself into flawless English. But how many non-Anglophone writers have such polylingual skills?”
The Guardian newspaper

RIGHTS SOLD: THE BLOOD OF ANGELS
Original publisher:
FINLAND, Teos
WORLD ENGLISH, Peter Owen
FRANCE, Actes Sud
POLAND, Foksal

RIGHTS SOLD: THE CORE OF THE SUN
Original publisher:
FINLAND, Teos
CZECH REPUBLIC, Euromedia
FRANCE, Actes Sud
GERMANY, Klett-Cotta
WORLD ENGLISH, Grove Atlantic

Reading material:
The Blood of Angels

English edition
French edition
Finnish edition
The Core of the Sun
German edition
English sample
Finnish edition

RIGHTS SOLD: MEMORY OF WATER
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
WORLD ENGLISH, HarperCollins (2-book deal)
ARABIC, Dar Al Muna
BRAZIL, Record (2-book-deal)
BULGARIA, Perseus
CZECH, Albatros Media/Plus
DENMARK, Turbine
ESTONIA, Koolibri
FRANCE, Place des Editeurs (2-book deal)
GEORGIA, Palitra L Publishing
GERMANY, DTV/Reihe Hanser
HUNGARY, Metropolis Media (2-book deal)
ITALY, Piemme
JAPAN, Nishimura Shoten (2-book deal)
KOREA, The Book in My Life
NORWAY, Gresvik Forlag
SPAIN, Ediciones B.
TURKEY, Dogan Egmont

RIGHTS SOLD: CITY OF WOVEN STREETS
WORLD ENGLISH: HarperCollins
BRAZIL: Record
FRANCE, Place des Editeurs
HUNGARY: Metropolis Media
JAPAN: Nishimura Shoten

Reading material:
Memory of Water
English edition
German edition
Spanish edition
City of Woven Streets
English sample

Contact: info@ahlbackagency.com

About author


Emmi Itäranta

Emmi Itäranta (b.1976) holds two MA degrees, one in Drama and another in Creative Writing. Her award-winning debut novel Memory of Water (Teemestarin kirja) was published in Finland in 2012 to great accolades, followed by The Weaver (Kudottujen kujien kaupunki) in 2015. Her latest novel The Moonday Letters (Kuunpäivän kirjeet) was published in September 2020.

Itäranta’s writing has been compared to that of Ursula K. Le Guin. Her honours include the Young Aleksis Kivi Prize 2013, the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize 2012 and first place in the Teos Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literary Contest 2011.

Memory of Water has sold to over 25 languages to date, and it has also been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award recognizing the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2014, and the Golden Tentacle award. In addition, Itäranta has been included on the Honor List of the Otherwise Award (formerly James Tiptree, Jr. Award).

Itäranta’s CV is an eclectic mix of writing-related activities, including stints as a columnist, theatre critic, press officer and dramaturge. Her poems, short stories, articles and essays have appeared in anthologies, film magazines and science fiction magazines in the UK and Finland. She now lives in Finland after 14 years in the United Kingdom.

About author


Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is a Finlandia Prize-winning superstar of Finnish speculative fiction. In addition to her nine novels, she has also written short fiction and film and television screenplays. Her works have been translated into twenty languages.

Sinisalo has won several literary prizes also abroad, such as the 2004 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2017 Prometheus Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2008, the Prix Escapades in 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017. In 2022, Johanna Sinisalo was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal for services to Finnish literature.