International award accolades for Emmi Itäranta and Maria Turtschaninoff!

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ItarantaTurtschaninoffprizesnewsletterWe are thrilled to announce that two of our authors, Emmi Itäranta and Maria Turtschaninoff, have been shortlisted for prestigious international literary awards.

Emmi Itäranta, whose speculative fiction debut Memory of Water (Teos 2012) has been sold in 18 languages, has been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2015, recognizing the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2014. Itäranta is one of six authors nominated, and the winner will be announced on May 6th. She has also been included on the Honor List of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, recognizing “science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.”

Earlier this year Itäranta was also nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award as well as the Golden Tentacle award, a category of the Kitschies fantasy and speculative fiction awards.

For more information on Emmi Itäranta’s work and available territories, see our Spring 2015 catalog page.

Maria Turtschaninoff, author of the Finlandia Junior Prize-winning Maresi (Schildts & Söderströms 2014), has been nominated for the 2015 Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize. Nominees are selected from each of the Nordic regions; altogether 14 authors are nominated.

Rights to Maresi have been sold in six territories. For more information, see our Spring 2015 catalog page on Maria Turtschaninoff.

Established in 2013, the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize is worth 350,000 DKK (about 47,000 Euros). The award is one of five cultural prizes given by the Nordic Council, and the winner will be announced in Reykjavik on October 27th. See here for more information.

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.

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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.

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