Film Rights to Katja Kettu’s BRITA-KAJSA optioned by Viisi Film Company

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We’re thrilled to announce that Viisi Film Company has optioned the film rights to BRITA-KAJSA, the acclaimed new novel by Katja Kettu. The deal was closed by Martti Berner at Ahlbäck Agency.

BRITA-KAJSA is a powerful novel from a master storyteller brings to light the untold story of Brita-Kajsa Laestadius, blending lyrical, emotionally charged prose with the immersive sweep of historical fiction. As one of Finland’s most internationally acclaimed authors, Kettu continues the exploration of forgotten women’s histories and the landscapes that shaped them.

Published by Otava in Finland in May, the novel received outstanding reviews and has sold nearly 20,000 copies. German rights were acquired by Weissbooks Verlag in a pre-publication deal with publication coming up in Spring 2027.

Viisi is an independent Finnish production company owned by five distinctive figures in Finnish cinema: Anna Antsalo, Anna-Karin Grönroos, Venla Hellstedt, Emilia Hernesniemi and Selma Vilhunen. Viisi champions cinematic craftsmanship and the art of film, and strives for collaboration both domestically and internationally.

Book rights are still available in the UK, the US, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Czechia, Japan…

REQUEST MATERIALS HERE FOR BRITA-KAJSA.

Brita-Kajsa

Katja Kettu

“The northern lights greet me and the polar night crackles in the corners. I test your lips—are you still breathing? Go away, die already, and for a moment I think you’ve stepped through heaven’s gates. I’m relieved. Then I throw myself beside you and pray. Forgive me. Don’t go. Let’s stay a little longer.”

Brita-Kajsa became Lars Levi Laestadius’s wife out of defiance—and far too young. Six months pregnant, she skied after him to Karesuando and demanded marriage. In the end, the couple was wed in secret at the Finnish Market by order of the bishop.

A strong and wise healer, Brita-Kajsa witnessed the birth of a great revival movement in the turbulent Lapland of the 19th century.

BRITA-KAJSA
Brita-Kajsa
Otava, April 2026, 360 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
GERMANY: Weissbooks Verlag
FILM&TV RIGHTS: Viisi Film Company

Reading materials:
Finnish edition
English Sample
English synopsis

 

About author


Katja Kettu

Katja Kettu is an acclaimed and award-winning writer with a strong, unique voice from Northern Finland. Originally from Rovaniemi, Lapland, she graduated from the Turku Academy of Arts in 2001 as an animation director and has also studied in the University of Tampere and in the National Film and Television School in the UK. She has worked as a columnist for numerous Finnish newspapers and magazines.

Her debut novel Surujenkerääjä (2005) was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and won the Tiiliskivi Prize, but her breakthrough came with The Midwife (orig. Kätilö, 2011), which won the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Runeberg Prize and the Thank You for the Book Medal. The rights for the novel have been sold to 19 countries, it has sold more than 160,000 copies in Finland, and in 2015 it was adapted into a film.

To date, she has published five novels, written or edited two collections of short stories, authored a graphic novel, edited a fiction/non-fiction book on women’s experiences with sexual harassment and violence, and a biography of Ismo Alanko, a Finnish musician. In addition, she has collaborated with photographer Meeri Koutaniemi and documentarist Maria Seppälä on a book and a TV series about Finnish emigrants in North America and their relationships with the Ojibwe people. Outside of literature, Kettu has directed, written or helped produce 10 animations and been a singer in the punk band Confusa.

Kettu’s works have been characterized as “Laplandic magical realism”. Kettu is meticulous in the research for her works and she is interested in microhistory, especially the fates of women caught up in conflicts where individuals have a limited influence on their lives.

Her novel Rose on poissa was a Finlandia Prize 2018 nominee. Kettu's works have been translated into 23 languages.

Katja Kettu's literary works:

Surujenkerääjä, 2005 WSOY

Hitsaaja, 2008 WSOY

Kätilö, 2011 WSOY

Piippuhylly, novelleja, 2013 WSOY

Novelli palaa! Matkanovelleja, co-edited with Aki Salmela, 2013 WSOY

Yöperhonen, 2015 WSOY

Peräkammarin poika, illustrated by Jan Andersson, 2015 Otava

Rose on poissa, 2018 WSOY

Erään kissan tutkimuksia, 2023 Otava

Photo credit: Niclas Mäkelä / Otava

Read more

Bibliography


2026, Literary Fiction

Brita-Kajsa

Katja Kettu


2023, Literary Fiction

The Investigations of a Certain Cat

Katja Kettu

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