New Talents Join Ahlbäck Agency

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We are excited to welcome new talents to Ahlbäck Agency this summer. Join us in welcoming our new talents aboard and read on to get to know their work a little better!

FICTION

Anu Kaaja

We are proud to welcome author Anu Kaaja to Ahlbäck Agency. Warm welcome, Anu!

Anu Kaaja (b. 1984) is an awarded and critically acclaimed author living in Helsinki. She has an MA in film screenwriting, but soon since graduating she has made herself a career as a full-time author. Kaaja’s writing is visual, full of vivid mental images that draw inspiration from art history, cinema, and popular culture. Her work is both entertaining and full of layers, symbolism, and playful language.

During her career Kaaja’s readers have learnt to expect the unexpected. She is inspired by the chameleon-like musician David Bowie to never repeat herself and finds a new approach for each book. Kaaja has become a favourite among avid readers, bookstagrammers and the Finnish literary scholars. Her work has already been a subject of study for several researchers and a part of a doctoral thesis.

The Silhouette Cutter (2026) is a novel about the beauty of darkness and the mysteries of love, death, sphinxes, owls and cats. It tells the story of a literary researcher with an obsession and combines the elements of fantasy, speculative fiction and horror into a spellbinding multilayered tale about a book within a book. The critic of Helsingin Sanomat praised Kaaja as “the master of intelligent, socially critical, funny and magical storytelling on an international level” and compared her writing to the works of Salman Rushdie.

Stay tuned, submissions will begin very soon!

Linnea Kuuluvainen

We are delighted to welcome author Linnea Kuuluvainen to Ahlbäck Agency. Warm welcome, Linnea!

Linnea Kuuluvainen debuted in 2024 with The Thick of the Forest, in which two women’s lives intertwine in a dystopic future where nature is taking revenge against mankind. The novel was nominated for the Best Debut of the Year Award and was sold to five territories.

Her second novel The Drowning Game follows a young woman with self-destructive impulses who is having a hard time in life as she meets a charming young man. On a parallel storyline, readers follow a young girl as she spends one last weekend with the boyfriend she is planning on leaving soon. Their stories combine in unexpected ways, weaving together a plot of love, obsession, and violence.

Kuuluvainen’s style is distinctive: she writes an enchanting, lush prose and brings to life flawed, intense characters that get under one’s skin and whose stories are intertwined in unexpected ways.

A third novel is already in the works, so stay tuned for more news on Kuuluvainen’s authorship!

Sisko Savonlahti

We are excited to welcome author Sisko Savonlahti to Ahlbäck Agency. Warm welcome, Sisko!

Sisko Savonlahti’s debut novel Maybe This Summer Everything Will Change (2018), which follows a woman in her thirties who tries to navigate life after a rough patch, was a Top Ten Bestseller and was nominated for the Best Debut of the Year Award.

Her second novel I Must Have Wanted This (2021) follows a woman who seemingly has everything she could possibly want but starts wondering if she did really want it. The book received warm praise and was hailed as a sharp exploration of womanhood.

Savonlahti shines in portrayals of contemporary women who struggle with themselves and with the expectations of society. Her prose stands out for its warmth and humor, which carry the characters through hardship, resulting in a text that is engaging, sharp, and relatable.

More news is coming up soon for Sisko Savonlahti’s authorship, so watch this space!

NON-FICTION

Risto E.J. Penttilä

We are delighted to welcome author Dr. Risto E. J. Penttilä  to Ahlbäck Agency. Warm welcome, Risto!

Dr Risto E. J. Penttilä (b. 1959) is one of Finland’s best-known experts on international  affairs and a long-standing commentator on politics and society. Dr Penttilä has founded a political party, worked for the World Economic Forum, and Oxford Analytica. He has a D.Phil. from Oxford and a BA from Yale.

His book The History of Finland In a Nutshell tells the essential facts about the history of the country in an engaging way: magical numbers, good tsars and bad, Sweden’s kings, Finland’s wars and all the things that shaped Finland into the country it is today.

 

SCREENWRITERS AND DIRECTORS

Oskari Sipola

We are thrilled to announce that we have started representing writer-director Oskari Sipola. Warm welcome, Oskari!

Oskari Sipola is an acclaimed Finnish writer-director whose work spans feature films, television and original series. Known for blending emotional depth, sharp humor and visual precision, his work explores love, identity and human relationships with intelligence and sensitivity.

His latest feature, The More Loving One (2025), showcases his distinctive voice, exploring love and human relationships with warmth and nuance. Alongside acclaimed work for Yle and Viaplay, Oskari has established himself as one of the most versatile filmmakers of his generation.

We are very excited to welcome Oskari to the agency and look forward to the projects ahead. He is open for collaborations across film and television.

That’s all from us for now. Stay tuned for more!

About author


Anu Kaaja

Anu Kaaja (b. 1984) is an awarded and critically acclaimed author living in Helsinki. She has an MA in film screenwriting, but soon since graduating she has made herself a career as a full-time author. Kaaja’s writing is visual, full of vivid mental images that draw inspiration from art history, cinema, and popular culture. Her work is both entertaining and full of layers, symbolism, and playful language.

Kaaja’s first book was the short story collection Metamorphoslip (2015), which drew attention with its both shocking and exhilarating depictions of sex, violence, and metamorphosis, combined to queer and feminist themes. The book won the Jarkko Laine Award.

Kaaja’s first novel Leda (2017) is an epistolary 18th century retelling of the myth of Leda and the swan, which takes its unreliable narrator to the next level. It was nominated for the Runeberg Prize and won the Toisinkoinen Award, selected by the literature students at the University of Helsinki. Kaaja adapted the novel into a popular puppet theatre play directed by Merja Pöyhönen in 2020.

Kaaja’s third book Katie-Kate (2020) is a collage novel about women’s role in media, combining the British royals, mainstream porn, glamour models, and Disney princesses. This story of a Scandinavian Kate Middleton lookalike stuck in a menage à trois with an elderly royalist couple won the Kalevi Jäntti award.

Her fourth book The Ribbon Bow (2023) tells the story of a hedonistic and melancholy writer on a self-appointed grand tour in Europe. Recovering from heartbreak she is looking for enjoyment in cafés, museums, and techno clubs. While meeting new lovers and making lists of the hottest renaissance boys and the coolest baroque still lives, she discovers that loving objects is often easier – and more satisfying! – than loving people. The book was nominated for the Runeberg Prize and the Nordic Council Literature Prize and has inspired readers to travel and see the artworks described in the text.

The Silhouette Cutter (2026) is a novel about the beauty of darkness and the mysteries of love, death, sphinxes, owls and cats. It tells the story of a literary researcher with an obsession and combines the elements of fantasy, speculative fiction and horror into a spellbinding multilayered tale about a book within a book. The critic of Helsingin Sanomat praised Kaaja as “the master of intelligent, socially critical, funny and magical storytelling on an international level” and compared her writing to the works of Salman Rushdie.

During her career Kaaja’s readers have learnt to expect the unexpected. She is inspired by the chameleon-like musician David Bowie to never repeat herself and finds a new approach for each book. Kaaja has become a favourite among avid readers, bookstagrammers and the Finnish literary scholars. Her work has already been a subject of study for several researchers and a part of a doctoral thesis.

Kaaja makes illustrations for her books and dedicates her spare time practicing different dance styles from classical ballet to contemporary Japanese butoh dance. She loves board games, jigsaw puzzles and cats.

Photo credit: Saara Salmi

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