Elina Ahlback Literary Agency’s 10th anniversary celebration & New Deals

Exactly ten years ago on June 9th 2009 the Agency was founded by Elina Ahlbäck.

As it was 10 years ago, our mission is to represent the best of Finnish literature, and be the leading Nordic agency to export Finnish authors’ works world-wide – and to ten-fold the literature exports!

We are excited to do a celebration round-up of our recent sales!

 

Film news:

A dystopian drama, based on Emmi Itäranta’s novel Memory of Water has received production support. The Production company is Bufo. Read more.

Fiction news:

The Ice-Cream Man by Katri Lipson has been sold to Germany to Schenk Verlag. Read more.

Non-Fiction news 

Rahva Raamat bought Estonian rights to a nonfiction title The Meaning of Your Life by Frank Martela – rights sold to 6 territories now. Read more.

Euromedia acquired Czech rights to Lotta Sonninen’s hilarious activity book: The Little Book of Bad Moods for MothersRead more.

Children’s news 

Rahva Raamat has acquired the Estonian rights to The Little Mouse series by Riikka Jäntti. Their 6-book-offer included the upcoming part Little Mouse’s Summer which will be published in 2020.

In SwedenHegas has bought rights to the first two books of Magdalena Hai’s hilarious horror series: The Little Shop of NightmaresRead more.

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


Frank Martela

Professor Frank Martela, PhD, is a philosopher and researcher of psychology specializing in the question of meaning in life. His articles have appeared in Scientific American Mind, Harvard Business Review, Salon, CNBC and his work has been featured on Quartz and on the BBC. His research has been published extensively in numerous academic journals such as Nature Human Behaviour, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Journal of Personality, Metaphilosophy, Southern Journal of Philosophy, and Academy of Management Review. He has spoken to more than one hundred audiences worldwide, including invited lectures in universities on five continents, including Stanford University and Harvard University. He’s been interviewed by the New York Times, Discover Magazine, New Scientist, Vice News, Fox News, and Monocle Observer among others. He is Assistant Professor at Aalto University in Finland.

Outside of work, Frank is a father to three lovely children, an amateur-level soccer player, with an occasional skiing trip in the winters. He is made in Green Bay, so Packers holds a special place in his heart.