Ahlback Agency titles nominated for Best Book of the Year + Bookbeat awards!

Aamos Honka

Aamos Honka has been a part of the Finnish intelligence community for over a decade and continues to work for the Finnish government. Drawing from his professional expertise, Aamos crafts gripping and realistic thrillers that delve deep into the high-stakes world of international espionage. He lives with his family in the picturesque Finnish archipelago, where he finds inspiration for his writing. In his free time, Aamos enjoys hunting and ice swimming.

Anna Harju

Anna Harju (b. 1983) enjoys atmospheric detective stories with a compelling, complex plot. By profession, she is a translator and communication multitasker. She enjoys the solitude of early mornings, sprinting in silent forests and questioning the ordinary. Unlike her character, Taro Auramo, she is terrified of heights but shares his impulsive nature and feeling of not always fitting in.

Traces is her debut novel and takes place in Tampere, the sauna capital of the world and the largest inland city of the Nordics, where Harju is from.

Photo credit: Jan Lönnberg

Arttu Tuominen

Arttu Tuominen (b. 1981) is a Spiegel bestselling author and environmental inspector based in Pori, Finland. During the evenings, he writes dark and tough crime novels. He is best known for his psychologically nuanced and gripping crime novels. Tuominen's novels are acclaimed for their intense atmosphere, compelling plots, and richly drawn characters.

His River Delta series has sold over 230,000 copies in Finland alone and has been published in six different languages. Tuominen has received numerous accolades, including the Vuoden Johtolanka (Clue of the Year) award for The Oath and the Palle Rosenkrantz Prize from the Danish Crime Academy for Jeopardy. In addition he has been nominated for the prestigious Glass Key Award. His novels have earned praise from both critics and readers, firmly establishing him as a leading voice in Finnish crime fiction.

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, and The Moonday Letters (Kuunpäivän kirjeet) in September 2020. Her new title Snowsinger (Lumenlaulaja) was published in 2025.

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.

Photo credit: Liisa Takala

Hannele Lampela

Hannele Lampela's lovable works have been praised above all for their rich humor and ability to truly show the world from a child's perspective. She has the ability to enchant her readers, and that is why both children and adults love her stories. Lampela's works have been dramatized for example by the Finnish National Theater, Kuopio City Theater and YLE's radio plays. She has been awarded the prestigious Kaarina Helakisa Prize for her work and she has been nominated for Runeberg Junior award in 2019 and for Storytel Award, and Arvid Lydecken Award five times, most recently in 2025.

In addition to her fictional works, Lampela has written and created  a world of stories for the next national ABC book of Finnish schools. First graders across the country will learn to read through Hannele’s texts. Lampela lives in a small wooden house in the middle of apple trees with her family, and spends her days not only writing, but also pampering herself and others on a regular basis.

Juha Itkonen

Juha Itkonen (b. 1975) is one of the most recognized voices in contemporary Finnish literature. He has published eight novels, a novella collection, a children’s book, several plays, and an epistolary novel co-written with Kjell Westö. His works often explore themes of family, generations, and parenthood, and are known for their emotional depth, energy, and a touch of melancholy.

He has received the Finnish State Prize for Literature, the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, and the Veijo Meri Prize, and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize. In 2019, his novel Beyond Our Reach (Ihmettä kaikki, Otava in 2018).) was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize.

Itkonen loves music, both as a listener and a player, which shows in his books. The passing of time is an eternal mystery at the core of his writing – his novels tend to have a melancholy undertone, yet they are also filled with life, humor, and energy. He lives in the Arabianranta district of Helsinki with his wife, Maija Itkonen, and their four children.

A film based on his novel The More Loving One (Anna minun rakastaa enemmän, Teos 2005) was released in Fall 2025.

Mari Renko

Mari Renko (b. 1994) is an Eastern Finnish author from Kuopio. She writes both the two-timeline romantic book series The Yellow House Chronicles aimed at adults, as well as Häiveen tapauskirjat, which combines YA fantasy and detective adventures. She wrote her debut novel Pearl Ring, Enclosed after growing tired of the one-dimensional male heroes in romantic books. Her goal is to show that the world is full of different love stories, each worth telling, even if they don’t end in marriage and children, or even if the love in question is something other than romantic love.

In fantasy, Mari is fascinated by other worlds where one can escape everyday life, and by gripping adventures into which important themes can be woven, without forgetting romance.

Mari has studied medicine and writing. She is also active on book-related social media, where she talks about her writing and shares writing tips.
On Instagram and TikTok, you can find Mari under the username @renkomari.

Photo credit: Anna-Katri Hänninen Bazar kustannus

Ninka Reittu

Ninka Reittu is an illustrator and children's book writer.

Reittu lives in an old clergy house in Liperi, Finland, with her son and carpenter husband. Their family also includes two cats, several dogs, and a flock of sheep.

In addition to her own picture books Messi ja Mysteeri and Sinä olet superrakas, she has illustrated the titles of Hannele Lampela (The Itty-Bitty Princess) and Kreetta Onkelin.