Loukko by 
We are so very happy to announce that 36 URNS: A History of Being Wrong by Sirpa Kähkönen has been awarded the Finlandia Literature Prize 2023!
The prize, awarded to an outstanding work of fiction, is worth 30,000 euros.
Massive congrats, Sirpa Kähkönen and her Finnish publisher Siltala!
The winner this year was chosen by professor, dancer, and artist Jorma Uotinen, who praised 36 URNS saying:
“The work helped me to empathise with the life of another person. It touched me, causing an emotional avalanche. The impact of the book is comparable to a well-targeted blow to the chest. The book has not given me peace, I keep on stumbling upon my own emotional blockages.
The book is a controlled literature work, perceptive and insightful. Confesssion-like. The text is clear and precise.
The author has the skill to study life, to study another person in an understanding way, without resentment or bitterness. She digs deep into the roots of existence and finds a way to combine objective review with a subjective and psychologically loaded content.
The personal experience of the author grows into a universal reach, and she finds something globally applicable about humans, hate, anger, lies, hope, dreams and their crumbling, death.
The world is not only what one can see. This brings forth a masterpiece, which is worth living for.”
– Jorma Uotinen, Finlandia Literature Prize 2023 Grand Juror
36 URNS is also nominated for the Savonia Literature Prize. In Finland, the title has sold 10 000 copies in Finland since its publication in August, and internationally, the title has already sold to Estonia and Hungary. Rights in other territories are still available for this stunning gem of a novel!
Once more our most heartfelt congratulations to Sirpa for the well-deserved win!
36 uurnaa – Väärässä olemisen historia
Siltala, August 2023, 267 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Siltala (orig.)
ESTONIA: Koolibri
HUNGARY: Polar
Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition
