Film deals and glowing reviews: an amazing year for Tammi authors Salla Simukka, Tuutikki Tolonen, Max Seeck & more

This year has been extremely exciting for Tammi Publishers, one of the leading publishers in Finland, and home to best-selling Finnish authors and international successes. We are delighted to share with you a brief overview of the exciting things that have been happening for Tammi authors, which Elina Ahlback Literary Agency is proud to represent.

Max Seeck: The Angels of Hammurabi
Newcomer Max Seeck has blown everyone away with his debut novel The Angels of Hammurabi. The fast-paced, dark thriller set in Finland and Croatia has been praised by critics and readers in Finland, as the next star in Nordic Noir, with rights sold in Germany to Blanvalet/Random House and Estonia to Pegasus. Seeck is writing a sequel, due to be published in August 2017.

Salla Simukka: The Snow White Trilogy and Sisterland
Simukka’s incredible success of As Red as Blood, As White as Snow, and As Black as Ebony with 52 territories sold has continued this year with some major news: the series will be relaunched in the US by Random House, starting in 2017, and is set for film treatment in Hollywood with Zero Gravity Management. In addition, Tammi released Simukka’s first middle-grade novel, Sisterland, this autumn. World English rights sold to Random House US, and foreign rights have sold in France, Japan, Belgium, The Netherlands, Latvia and Estonia.

Tuutikki Tolonen: Monster Nanny
This monstrous family story has been capturing the hearts of children and adults alike: foreign rights to Monster Nanny (Tammi 2015) have been sold to 15 territories to date, with film rights optioned by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions (The Martian, Gladiator). The second volume, Monster Route was published in Finland this October. These monsters will be sticking around, no doubt! Read more about the film news here.

Maria Turtschaninoff: The Red Abbey Chronicles
Finlandia prize-winner Maresi has charmed readers around the world with its feminist fairytale. It has been hailed both contemporary and timeless – read the review in The Guardian. Turtschaninoff’s Maresi and its prequel, Naondel have sold in to 17 languages – its haunting and powerful tale of the The Red Abbey Chronicles resonating powerfully with today’s society. News about the film rights being optioned by Film4 just broke and is causing a lot of excitement in the press, including Variety, The Guardian, Women and Hollywood blog.

Marko Hautala: The Whispering Girl
Dubbed ‘Finland’s Stephen King’, award-winning Hautala produced a chilling new thriller, The Whispering Girl, that was published in August to great reviews and has sold in the Czech Republic and Estonia. Hautala’s previous novel, Granny Hatchet (2014) is bringing chills to readers in English, Czech and German. Read a five-star blog review here.

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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. In 2024, Maria Turtschaninoff won the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize (10,000 euro award) for her literary masterpiece Inherited Land.

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.