Russian rights to Emmi Itäranta’s Memory of Water sold to Text Publishers!

EmmiNewsletterSept172015We are very happy to announce that Text Publishers, a well-known independent publishing house, has acquired Russian rights to Emmi Itäranta’s internationally celebrated speculative fiction debut, Memory of Water (Teos 2012). Rights to the novel have now sold in 19 languages! Text Publishers is also home to the works of Samuel Beckett, Pascal Bruckner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio and Nancy Huston, among others.

Set in a future Scandinavia in which water has become a scarce resource, Memory of Water tells the story of young Noria who is set to become the next tea master in her village. When her father dies, she assumes the dangerous responsibility of guarding a hidden spring.

The novel has been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Philip K. Dick Award and the Golden Tentacle award, a category of the Kitschies fantasy and speculative fiction awards. It has also been praised by the likes of Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The Guardian and The Washington Post, and been included on the Honor List of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.

Most recently Memory of Water was voted a favorite among Finnish library-goers in the annual HelMet literature awards recognizing an outstanding Finnish novel: voters called it “surprising,” “touching” and “captivating,” and “a book that offers a powerful reading experience.”

“With the lyricism of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and the world building brilliance of Atwood, Emmi Itäranta’s effortless and poignant debut novel is a coming of age story full of emotional drama and wonderment. Where Itäranta shines is in her understated but compelling characters.”
Publishers Weekly, Red star review

Itäranta’s follow-up, The City of Woven Streets (Kudottujen kujien kaupunki, Teos 2015) will publish this fall in Finland and next year in the UK and U.S. by HarperCollins as The Weaver. This literary ecological tale in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin and Sheri S. Tepper is set in a world in which dreaming is forbidden.

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, Sperling & Kupfer
JAPAN, Nishimura Shoten (2-book deal)
KOREA, The Book in My Life
NORWAY, Gresvik Forlag
RUSSIA, Text Publishers
SPAIN, Ediciones B.
TURKEY, Dogan Egmont

RIGHTS SOLD: THE 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
French edition
German edition
Spanish edition
The City of Woven Streets
Finnish edition
English synopsis
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.

Bibliography


2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Moonday Letters

Emmi Itäranta


2015, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Weaver

Emmi Itäranta


2012, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Memory of Water

Emmi Itäranta