Introducing Ahlbäck Agency’s new authors Spring 2026!

Amani Al-mehsen

Amani Al-mehsen (born 1995) is an acclaimed columnist, journalist, and human rights expert. She was born into a refugee family in Kuopio and now lives in Helsinki.  Al-mehsen has built an impressive career advocating and specialising in fighting for the rights of those who are marginalised and often silenced. She travels around Finland and the world, speaking, consulting and educating on equity, equality and human rights. As a fearless spokesperson for women's rights and equality, she was elected the first ever Iraqi Finn president of the historical Women's rights association in Finland, Naisasialiitto unioni. Her columns in the National Broadcasting Media Yle and the largest Finnish women's media Me Naiset, have stirred societal conversation, empathy and unique insight into the lives, challenges and dreams of many diverse Finns. Al-Mehsen's writings deal with humanity in its most beautiful and most terrible forms. Hayati, My Love (2025) is her debut novel.

Annabella Daily

Annabella Daily is a Finnish journalist, writer, speaker, and the founder of Scandi Class, a Nordic-inspired parenting and wellbeing platform followed by mothers around the world.

After building a successful career in print and broadcast journalism in New York—and later as a digital media executive at Hearst and Condé Nast—Annabella did what many modern mothers do: she tried to “do it all.” And burned out completely.

Exhausted, overwhelmed, and unable to find real solutions in the U.S., Annabella made a radical decision: she moved her family back to Finland—ranked consistently as the happiest country in the world—to relearn motherhood from the inside out. What she discovered there fundamentally challenged everything she’d learnt about parenting, productivity, and maternal sacrifice in the US.

Finnish mothers weren’t doing more. They were doing less—more deliberately. With boundaries. With trust. With space to breathe.

Annabella brought those insights back to her adopted home in the United States and began sharing them through essays, social media, and her Substack. The response was immediate. Mothers living under the weight of high-pressure parenting didn’t just feel seen—they saw an opening: proof that it’s possible to raise great kids while choosing a calmer, more sustainable way of being a mother.

Today, Annabella lives in Westport, Connecticut, with her American husband and three sons, helping mothers unlearn burnout and reclaim balance, bandwidth, and ease—without guilt, perfection, or hustle.

Anneballa Daily has a popular parenting Instagram platform (close to 65k followers; 96% women; top markets: US/Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, Ireland, France, Netherlands; strong engagement) and she builds on her Substack, Scandi Class (2.7k+ subscribers; #8 Rising in Parenting as of Jan 2026)

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

Cara Knuutinen

Cara Knuutinen (b. 1965) is a Helsinki-based children’s book illustrator and Master of Arts (University of Art and Design Helsinki) who has worked as an illustrator for over 30 years. She has illustrated more than 20 children’s books, as well as numerous children’s nature books and textbooks, and has worked as an illustrator on two animated television series for children.

Knuutinen is also an author-illustrator and has created two of her own children’s books, Molly och Kelenken and Saparo Kärsämö. She has a long-standing collaboration with author Sanna Sofia Vuori.

Her work has been exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions. The illustrations in Piilolaakson talvi (2008) were nominated for the Rudolf Koivu illustration Prize. The picture book Leijona tulee (2022) was nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize. Knuutinen’s warm, expressive, and narrative illustration style is rooted in strong visual storytelling.

Elina Warsta

Elina Warsta is an illustrator and graphic designer focused on book design and illustration. Warsta received the Finnish State Award for Children’s Culture in 2016 and has been awarded multiple times in the ‘Most Beautiful Book of the Year’ competition. She has also been nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature in 2013, 2019 and twice in 2025, as well as for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize in 2016. Books she has illustrated have been translated and published in over ten languages.

Photo credit: Ilkka Vuorinen

Enni Amanda

Enni Amanda is a Finnish–New Zealand romantic comedy author and illustrator who writes warm, witty love stories with real-life bite. Born in Finland, she moved to New Zealand in 2006 and now lives in the Waikato with her husband and two sons.

Trained as a graphic designer, Enni designs and illustrates character-forward covers for romantic comedy and romance, and her visual background carries through into her fiction. She later studied filmmaking and spent years writing screenplays. She brings that cinematic sensibility to her novels through vivid locations, wanderlust-inducing storylines, and clever banter. Together with her husband, she also co-founded Uneton48, the 48-hour filmmaking competition in Finland.

A lifelong storyteller, Enni wrote her first “book” at age eleven on her dad’s Amstrad computer. It was seventy pages in Finnish and starred her dolls in an imaginary coastal town in Norway. Years later, she returned to fiction, writing in English, and built a growing body of romantic comedies that blend humor, big feelings, and swoony chemistry, often set in small towns that become characters in their own right.

Enni’s work has been featured on the TODAY Show. When she’s not writing, she’s usually drawing, spending time with her boys, or trying to learn something insanely hard, like pole fitness.

Johanna Forss

Johanna Forss is a Finnish publishing professional and author of the novel The Feast (2026). She grew up in central Finland, in a landscape shaped by long, cold winters and intensely luminous summers — an environment that continues to inform her writing.

Forss studied comparative literature at the University of Helsinki, where she earned a Master’s degree in Arts and Humanities. Before beginning her academic studies, she spent a year abroad working various jobs, primarily in London, an experience that broadened her cultural outlook and professional ambitions.

After graduating, Forss began working in publishing as an editor and has since worked across a wide range of roles, including marketing, public relations, editorial development, and acquisitions. This extensive professional background has given her a deep, structural understanding of contemporary literature and the publishing process.

Forss lives in Helsinki. Although writing has been a constant throughout her life, it was long balanced alongside a demanding career and family life. Several years ago, she made a deliberate decision to prioritize her own creative work, which led to the completion of her debut novel. She is currently working on her second novel.

In her spare time, Forss enjoys characteristically Finnish pursuits. She is an avid winter swimmer, practices off-track skiing in northern forests and wetlands, and forages for mushrooms and berries in the forests surrounding Helsinki.

Photo credit: Aapo Huhta/Tammi

Jukka Laajarinne

Jukka Laajarinne (b. 1970) is an author who has published books for both children and adults, including fiction and nonfiction. He has received several awards, among them the Tietopöllö Prize. His picture book Adrift, created together with Elina Warsta, was published in 2025.

Kimmo Aroluoma

Kimmo Aroluoma is an author, guitar technician, and music industry professional. He has previously published three books. His latest book, HIM: The Last Tour, offers a behind-the-scenes look on one of the most successful rock bands in Finland.  Aroluoma began his music career as a classical guitarist and has since played in several bands. He has toured internationally as a guitar technician for bands including HIM, The Rasmus, Amorphis, and Hanoi Rocks, and has designed touring setups for hundreds of musicians.

Photo credit: Iiris Sjöblad

Laura Lennes

Laura Lennes (born 1983) is a journalist from Helsinki with a passion for exploring the unique challenges and expectations faced by women today. With a focus on modern femininity, she addresses the issues encountered by middle-aged women (35+) in both love and work. Her insightful writings aim to create socially critical entertainment, shedding light on women's experiences and dispelling shame. Lennes has contributed to renowned publications, including Helsingin Sanomat. Through her work, she aspires to provide readers with laughter and comfort during life's challenges. She loves jokes that are questionable in the right way, as well as cheese snacks, beautiful things, and the smell of her dog’s breath in the morning.

Photo credit Jonne Räsänen

Markus Wartiovaara

Dr. Markus Wartiovaara is a Professor of Practice at Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland, where he has been teaching for over 15 years. He is the founder of Hanken Business Lab, an innovative university incubator. He is the founder of the Nordic Happiness Summit (www.nordichappinesssummit.com), a leading event gathering experts on happiness from across the Nordics and beyond. In addition, he serves as chairman of the board, board professional and advisor for various family, growth, start-up businesses and foundations. He uniquely combines high quality research with in-depth practical experience. Dr. Markus is a sought-after speaker in the topics of entrepreneurship, happiness and well-being.

Netta Lehtola

Netta Lehtola is an illustrator and graphic designer originally from Turku, now based in Helsinki, Finland. She works on projects ranging from books to games. Lehtola’s first illustrated children’s book, Kettujuttuja – Kolme hännäkästä tarinaa (WSOY), was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature in 2019. Since then, she has illustrated more than ten children’s books, many of which have been translated into different languages. The book Mölymyrsky (WSOY), illustrated by Lehtola, was shortlisted for the Rudolf Koivu Illustration Prize in 2025. In her illustrations, Lehtola loves to create strong atmospheres, relatable characters and dynamic compositions.

Photo credit: Veikko Somerpuro

Sohvi Kangasluoma

Sohvi Kangasluoma works as a postdoctoral researcher in international politics, focusing on environmental issues in the Arctic region. She has published academic articles and book chapters on the agency of ice along northern sea routes, ocean governance, and the Arctic fossil economy.

Then We Sailed North: Notes from the Arctic Seas is Kangasluoma’s first nonfiction book. The years spent on northern seas have taught her to listen to and read the sea and the ice in a particular way. Encounters with both the inhabitants of the sea and the land have profoundly shaped Kangasluoma’s way of seeing the world.

Sohvi Kangasluoma lives on her sailboat with her partner, Juho—usually in northern waters—or at a cabin in Northern Finland, enjoying snow and cold.

Photo credit: Mikko-Pekka Karlin

Stefan Lindström

Stefan Lindström is a Finnish Ambassador with more than thirty years of experience at the intersection of global politics, technology, and power. He has served in seven diplomatic postings and as Finland’s Ambassador for Technology  advising governments and leaders on how technological change reshapes diplomacy, democracy, and international competition.

Alongside his diplomatic career, Lindström has spent over two decades working closely with business leaders, investors, and innovators, helping build partnerships across borders and sectors bringing a rare blend of geopolitical insight and practical business experience.

Known for his ability to identify paradigm shifts before they become obvious, Lindström focuses on how language, trust, and communication shape influence in a world defined by uncertainty and rapid change. An engaging public speaker on the global arena, he is valued for translating complex ideas into clear, actionable insight.

Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen

Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen is an author who has published both poetry and prose. She has received several awards, including the Anni Swan Medal, the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, and the Finlandia Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. The main themes of her books are universal: friendships, time, body, love, and death. Her unique style embraces action but the approach is lyrical and mesmerising. Her main characters are often strong but puzzled girls on the edge of the changes during their rebel teenager years. Her novel Light, Light, Light was selected for the international IBBY Honour List, and a film adaptation written by Juuli Niemi was released in 2023. The film became widely popular and it got several prizes in the film festivals in Europe. In addition to writing books Huotarinen translates literature from Icelandic and teaches creative writing. During last four years she has been also working as a program director of Turku Book Fair, the oldest book fair in Finland.

Photo credit: Mikko Palonkorpi