Two Ahlbäck Agency titles won the Blogistania award!

We are super excited to announce that THE MELTING POINT by Annukka Salama has won the Blogistania Kuopus Award for best YA book of 2025, and SNOWSINGER by Emmi Itäranta won the Blogistania Finlandia Award for best fiction book of 2025!

The Blogistania Award highlights works appreciated by Finnish social‑media book influencers. A total of 69 social‑media book influencers participated in the vote. These influencers publish book reviews on blogs, podcasts, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Goodreads, and StoryGraph. Eligible for nomination were books published in 2025 for which the influencer had posted a review on their own channel.

The Blogistania literary award vote is organized voluntarily by Finnish book influencers. The first Blogistania vote was held by book bloggers in 2012. Since then, the award has expanded to become a shared prize for all social‑media literature influencers. This year the award is being presented for the 15th time.

REQUEST MATERIALS FOR THE MELTING POINT HERE

The Melting Point is a high-stakes YA sports romance set in the icy heart of Finland, where competition meets slow-burn enemies-to-lovers attraction. It’s a perfect combination of enemies-to-lovers romance, hockey action, and feel-good YA storytelling for the fans of Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, Icebreaker by Hannah Grace, and Rachel Reid’s Game Changers and, last but definitely not least, Heated Rivalry!

DOWNLOAD MATERIALS FOR SNOWSINGER HERE

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.

THE MELTING POINT
Sulamispiste
WSOY, 2025, 360 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)
FRANCE: Rageot Editeur (2 books)
NETHERLANDS: Kluitman (2 books)
SWEDEN: Bokförlaget Opal

Reading materials:
English sample and draft translation
English synopsis
Finnish edition

SNOWSINGER
Lumenlaulaja, Teos 2025, 410 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
ESTONIA: Argo

Reading materials:
English translation
English synopsis
Finnish PDF

Annukka Salama

Annukka Salama (b. 1980) is a Finnish YA author from Tampere. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees. In addition, she has studied fashion design and architecture.

Salama’s young adult novels are known for their fast-paced plots and addictive romances. Her stories also give space to LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent perspectives. Salama’s books enjoy wide popularity among readers and have consistently performed well in annual Blogistania awards voted by book bloggers. In 2024 and 2025 she won the Queer Book of the Year Award.

Photo credit: Tiia Mahkonen

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