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We have lovely news! SNOWSINGER by Emmi Itäranta has been nominated for Runeberg Prize 2026!
This is what the jury had to say about Snowsinger:
From the moment it was published, Emmi Itäranta’s work has stood out as iconic: a luminous reimagining of the Kalevala’s Louhi, and a powerful reclamation of the strength of the Finnish Kalevala woman. Writing this book is, at its core, a profoundly feminist and political act. Yet Snowsinger is above all a passionate tribute to the magical force of words and storytelling. ‘This is how we show the world,’ Itäranta writes in the book, ‘that we have our own heroic past—worthy of myths and songs, belonging to the civilized world. Worthy of the written word, worthy of independence.’”
DOWNLOAD MATERIALS FOR SNOWSINGER HERE
The enchanting origin story of Louhi, the witch queen of Pohjola from the Finnish national epic Kalevala. Emmi Itäranta’s award-winning debut novel Memory of Water (2012) is a classic and an international hit: published in 28 territories.
Award-winning author Emmi Itäranta’s latest novel Snowsinger takes the readers to a mythological past, a world of magic and shapeshifting. Harmony and respect reign between humans, nature, and animals. Until the idyll is broken and the lust for power, the desire for revenge, and greed arise.
Lauha is living her childhood in Pohjola where strong women rule, each of them with their spell-shape, or animal form. When Lauha is nine, a foreign tribe attacks Pohjola and kills most of her family, while Lauha flees with her mother and two younger sisters. After many hardships, Lauha ends up in the safety of a women’s forest community known as Metsänpeitto, where she lives silently for years.
After a tragic incident, Lauha decides to have revenge on the conquerors of Pohjola and reclaim her home. Defending Pohjola and keeping her family safe shapes Lauha into Louhi, a woman feared by many. The painful memories of her escape drive Louhi to choices that have fateful consequences to the people of Pohjola and to Louhi herself.
SNOWSINGER
Lumenlaulaja, Teos 2025, 410 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
ESTONIA: Argo
Reading Material:
English chapters 1-8, English synopsis, Finnish PDF
