TANGLED ROOTS by Maria Turtschaninoff nominated for the Magnesia Litera Award in Czechia!

We are excited to let you know that Maria Turtschaninoff has been nominated for this year’s Magnesia Litera Award, the most important prize in the Czech literary scene, in the Best Translation category with her novel Tangled Roots (aka Inherited Land), translated by Marie Voslářová and published by Argo via Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

Warm congratulations to the author, translator, and publisher – and fingers crossed!

Turtschaninoff is known for crafting lyrical, historically inspired fantasy stories that feature strong female protagonists. In addition to other awards and prizes, she has won the Svenska Yle Literary Prize 2023 and the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize 2024 for her literary masterpiece Tangled Roots.

Marie Voslářová has a long line of translations under her belt. Her translations have won both the Muriel Award and the Tomáš Hrách Prize.

Tangled Roots has been sold to 23 territories!
Rights are available in, e.g., Spain, Greece, Japan, Lithuania, Slovakia…

Download materials for TANGLED ROOTS here!

Tangled Roots (aka Inherited Land)

Maria Turtschaninoff

The roots of people and forest are intertwined in the depths of the earth.

An old soldier carves a croft out of the Finnish forest and calls it home, but try as he might to tame the land, its wild magic endures. For centuries his descendants will work the farm, through days of plenty and famine, love and war, their fates entangled with the rhythms of the ancient wilderness, where mysterious shapes flit between the trees and danger lurks in the treacherous fen…

Like dragonflies darting over the marsh, their lives glimmer briefly and then are gone: a young girl entranced by the forest folk, a faithless fiancé who meets his match beneath the age-old branches, a farmhand with a strange obsession…

What endures is the wild, and the certainty that wherever we put down roots, the land will grow roots in us too.

TANGLED ROOTS
Arvejord
Förlaget, 2022, 371 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition
Swedish manuscript
Finnish translation

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Förlaget (orig. Finland-Swedish), Tammi (Finnish)
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: Izida
CHINA: Rentian Ulus
CROATIA: Hena Com
CZECHIA: ARGO
DENMARK: Alpha Forlag
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat
FRANCE: Éditions Paulsen
GERMANY: Rowohlt
HUNGARY: L’Harmattan
ISRAEL: Hakibbutz Hameuchad – Sifriat Poalim Publishing House
ITALY: Bompiani
NETHERLANDS: Uitgeverij Atlas Contact
NORWAY: Bonnier Norsk Forlag
POLAND: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie
ROMANIA: Editura Univers
TURKEY: Timas
UKRAINE: Old Lion Publishing House
WORLD ENGLISH: Pushkin Press

About author


Maria Turtschaninoff

Maria Turtschaninoff is known for crafting lyrical, historically inspired fantasy stories starring strong female protagonists. In addition to J.R.R. Tolkien, she counts Philip Pullman, Ursula K. Le Guin and C.S. Lewis among her favorite authors. She is a two-time winner of the Society of Swedish Literature Prize, winner of the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, winner of the Thank You for the Book Award, a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2020-2024), and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. In 2024, Maria Turtschaninoff won the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize (10,000 euro award) for her literary masterpiece Tangled Roots.

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Tangled Roots has been sold to 23 territories. Maria has a Master of Arts in human ecology and works full-time as a writer.

Bibliography


2024, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

The Manticore

Maria Turtschaninoff


2022, Literary Fiction

Tangled Roots

Maria Turtschaninoff


2018, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Maresi: Red Mantle

Maria Turtschaninoff


2016, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Naondel

Maria Turtschaninoff


2014, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Maresi

Maria Turtschaninoff

The Investigations of a Certain Cat by Katja Kettu wins the Lapland Literature Award

We are delighted to announce that Katja Kettu’s novel, The Investigations of a Certain Cat has been awarded the Lapland Literature Award, granted by Lapland’s libraries. The prize is worth 3,000 euros and it is awarded every two years to high-quality literature from the region. The nominated books were published in 2023-2024, with over 150 entries in total.

Katja Kettu expressed her gratitude for the honor:

This novel is deeply personal to me, and I am especially thrilled that it has been recognized in Lapland—a place so close to my heart. I have been spending extended periods there with my family while working on my next novel, and this award reaffirms my feeling that I am exactly where I am meant to be. It is also a great privilege to contribute to Lapland’s rich cultural heritage.

Sculptor Kirsi Kaulanen, who selected the winning book, explained her choice:

I chose a book that moved me. One that I truly enjoyed reading. It guided me deep, opened something within me. It led me through time and even into eternity. There was pain, but also lightness. Perhaps that was due to the furry witness. A spirit guide of sorts. The novel weaves together the stories of a great-great-grandmother who lived through the Finnish Civil War and a successful writer struggling with infertility, all carried by rich language and the resonant tones of the northern dialect.”

Katja has previously won awards such as the Tiiliskivi Prize, the Runeberg Prize, the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, and Thank You for the Book Medal. She has also received several international recognitions. Her previous novel, Rose on poissa (Rose is Gone), was shortlisted for the Finlandia Prize and became a favorite among readers.

The Investigations of a Certain Cat has been sold to 11 territories! Rights are still available for France, Netherlands, Japan, Greece, Spain, US, UK, etc!

Most recently, the book was published in Denmark and Germany, with upcoming releases in Czechia and Estonia next month.

Download materials for The Investigations of a Certain Cat here!

The Investigations of a Certain Cat

Katja Kettu

Katja Kettu’s stunning novel spins through ages whilst surrendering to the wilderness of nature and the deep yearning for offspring. 

Can one find solace and meaning in life from the past once the future no longer exists?

An Author has a miscarriage and loses their ability to speak and write. From the Investigative Bureau of Heavens, a Detective is sent to the scene, but something goes awry. Soon, in the corner of the room, there appears Cat who starts examining a mysterious diary that once belonged to the Author’s Great Grandmother.

When a new life has been lost, the Author turns their gaze to the past and to the age-old words of creation in the old Finnish outskirts. The one who knows them, Great Grandmother, has the power of healers. The Great Grandmother’s diary sheds light on birth and death, love towards children, and the strength of heritage in one’s blood.

Combining autofiction and elements of magical realism, Katja Kettu’s latest novel also sheds light on the history of the Finnish frontiers.

THE INVESTIGATIONS OF A CERTAIN CAT
ERÄÄN KISSAN TUTKIMUKSIA
Otava, 2023, 380 pp.

READING MATERIALS
Finnish manuscript
German edition
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
CZECHIA: ARGO
DENMARK: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ESTONIA: Koolibri
GERMANY: Weissbooks
HUNGARY: Gondolat
ITALY: Mondadori
NORWAY: Pax Forlag
POLAND: Swit Ksiazki
ROMANIA: Humanitas Fiction
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag

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

Bibliography


2023, Literary Fiction

The Investigations of a Certain Cat

Katja Kettu

Arttu Tuominen nominated for two awards in France!

Arttu Tuominen’s success in France continues as two of his books receive prestigious award nominations!

Silenced (Tous les silences) has been shortlisted as one of the eight novels for the Prix Le Point du Polar Européen, an annual award recognizing the best crime or thriller novel by a European author.

Jeopardy (La Revanche) has been listed as one of the ten finalists for the Prix du Meilleur Polar Points, further solidifying Tuominen’s reputation as a force in Nordic crime fiction.

Huge congratulations to Arttu! Winners will be announced early April at the Quais Polar festival!

“Arttu Tuominen, one of the rising stars of Nordic crime fiction. […] A captivating noir novel.”
– Le Figaro

The RIVER DELTA series by Arttu Tuominen has seen commercial success and garnered praise from readers and critics alike, both at home and abroad. In Finland alone, the series has sold over 230,000 copies. And to cement his status, Arttu Tuominen was voted top crime author by The Finnish Whodunnit Society in 2024.

Arttu Tuominen’s work has been compared to Henning Mankell, Jø. Nesbo and Stephen King. The series has risen to Spiegel Bestselling list in Germany and he was the first Finnish writer to be awarded with the Danish Palle Rosenkrantz Award, for book #2, JEOPARDY. He was also shortlisted for the Glass Key Award in 2021.

Set in the city of Pori by the Gulf of Bothnia, a Finnish police unit has to solve crimes that force them to consider their own acts and values. The series has sold to 6 territories, and each book can be read as a standalone.

Click here to request all materials for the RIVER DELTA series.

Arttu Tuominen’s thrillers are characterized by their solid style and skillful twists. Add to that the fact that Tuominen chooses current, socially engaged themes in his books. His work is among the best from Scandinavia.’
– Claudia van der Werf, Editor, De Fontein

River Delta #1: The Oath (2019): A Touching crime novel about secrets and guilt. Commissioner Jari Paloviita works on a murder case where the prime suspect is on old friend he feels indebted to.

River Delta #2: Jeopardy (2020): The grenade attack on the restaurant claims casualties – and at the same time threatens to expose Chief Commissioner Herik Oksman’s life-long secret.

River Delta #3: Silenced (2021): Pori police detectives Jari Paloviita, Linda Toivonen and Henrik Oksman are faced with an exceptionally cruel series of international crimes against elderly citizens.

River Delta #4: Shamed (2022): An investigation into a girl’s murder takes the police into the world of predators on the Internet and becomes personal for Linda Toivonen, whose daughter knew the victim.

River Delta #5: The Liberator (2023): The charred body of a man is discovered on a sports field in Pori. The victim had been doused with petrol and set on fire. Suspicions are directed at a group of young adults known to have harassed rough sleepers in the past.

River Delta #6: The Stager (2024):  On a remote forest farm a cruel killing is revealed. A family – mother, father, and their daughter – have all been murdered and embalmed, staged to watch television with their dog dead quiet by their feet. The killer is nicknamed Stager.

Publication Info:
WSOY
#1: The Oath (Verivelka, 2019)
#2: Jeopardy (Hyvitys, 2020)
#3: Silenced (Vaiettu, 2021)
#4: Shamed (Häväistyt, 2022)
#5: The Liberator (Vapahtaja, 2023)
#6: The Stager (Lavastaja, 2024)

Reading Material:
English samples and synopses
Series presentation
Finnish editions (6 books)
French editions books 1-2
Dutch edition books 1-3
German editions books 1-4
Danish editions books 1-3

Rights sold:
FINLAND:
 WSOY (orig.)
DENMARK: Modtryk (6 books)
FRANCE: La Martinière (4 books)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe (6 books)
NETHERLANDS: De Fontein (6 books)
SLOVENIA: Litera (3 books)
SWEDEN: Lind & Co (3 books)
FILM & TV: Lucy Loves Drama

Rights still available in the US, the UK, Poland, Norway, Estonia, Turkey…

About author


Arttu Tuominen

ARTTU TUOMINEN (b. 1981) is a Spiegel bestselling author and environmental inspector based in Pori, Finland. During the evenings, he writes dark and tough crime novels. He is best known for his psychologically nuanced and gripping crime novels. Tuominen masterfully combines suspense, strong character development, and socially relevant themes in his work. His River Delta series has sold over 230,000 copies in Finland alone and has been published in six different languages. Tuominen has received numerous accolades, including the Vuoden Johtolanka (Clue of the Year) award for The Oath and the Palle Rosenkrantz Prize from the Danish Crime Academy for Jeopardy. In addition he has been nominated for the prestigious Glass Key Award. His novels have earned widespread praise from both critics and readers, firmly establishing him as a leading voice in Finnish crime fiction.

Bibliography


2025, Crime & Suspense

Alec

Arttu Tuominen


2024, Crime & Suspense

The Stager

Arttu Tuominen


2023, Crime & Suspense

The Liberator

Arttu Tuominen


2022, Crime & Suspense

Shamed

Arttu Tuominen


2021, Crime & Suspense

Silenced

Arttu Tuominen


2020, Crime & Suspense

Jeopardy

Arttu Tuominen


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Oath

Arttu Tuominen

THE SECRET STAIRCASE won the Blogistania Kuopus award

We are happy to announce that THE SECRET STAIRCASE by Salla Simukka and illustrated by JP Ahonen has won the Blogistania Kuopus prize for best children’s book of 2024! The Blogistania awards are prizes given by Finnish book influencers on social media for the best books of the year since 2012. 59 book influencers from book blogs, TikTok, Instagram and Youtube took part in the voting. The winners were announced in five different categories and the winners were awarded last Friday, 28th of February 2025.

ABOUT THE SECRET STAIRCASE

An exciting and touching novel about two boys, who live in the same house but in different realities. Can their friendship cross the border separating two worlds?

10-year-old Alexis’ family moves to a house where he gets the attic room. Another 10-year-old-boy, Max, moves to a house, where a great basement room is waiting for him. Soon the boys notice something weird in their houses: Alexis hears voices under the floor, even though they don’t have a basement. Max’s ears pick up someone playing an instrument from the attic, even though no one is there.

When the two boys finally meet, they realize that they can visit each other’s worlds at night time. But will their friendship endanger everything when the worlds start to blur into each other?

DOWNLOAD READING MATERIALS FOR THE SECRET STAIRCASE HERE

THE SECRET STAIRCASE
POIKA ULLAKOLLA, POIKA KELLARISSA, Tammi, 2024, 200 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
CZECHIA: Portál
ESTONIA: Ühinenud Ajakirjad

Reading materials:
English sample & synopsis, Finnish edition

About author


JP Ahonen

JP Ahonen (1981) is a comic book artist, illustrator, and the author of several newspaper strips in his native Finland. He is best known for his graphic novel SING NO EVIL and the critically acclaimed strip series BELZEBUBS, which has evolved from a humble webcomic into a unique cross-media project, interweaving comics, music and animation.

About author


Salla Simukka

Salla Simukka is the author of the international success story The Snow White Trilogy: rights are sold in 53 territories and in Hollywood. She has written several novels for young readers and her accolades include the Topelius Prize 2013 and the Finland Prize 2013. Simukka has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award  every year 2021–2024. Where It All Begins, published in 2022, is her first novel for adults and in 2024 she started a collaboration with JP Ahonen on a middle grade novel.

Previously Simukka has written book reviews for the newspapers, translated all kinds of texts into Finnish, worked as an editor at a literary magazine and as a screenwriter for a popular TV show for young audiences.  She has also been working on the programme of Turku Book Fair in 2017–2020.

Award news for Tommi Kinnunen’s award-winning and bestselling Pine Bark!

We are thrilled to let you know that Tommi Kinnunen’s latest novel Pine Bark, which has sold more than 60,000 copies in Finland in just eight months and won the Readers’ Favorite of the Finlandia Prize of 2024, has just received the Adlibris Prize of 2024!

The Adlibris Prize is awarded by Adlibris, the biggest online bookstore in the Nordic Countries. The nominees for the prize are selected by a jury and the winner is selected based on the readers’ votes.

Tommi Kinnunen’s Pine Bark is a densely atmospheric story about women’s war, about the difiiculty of letting go, and about how the closeness of death changes a person. It dives deep into complex interpersonal relationships, into big emotions, and is utterly convincing with its arresting storytelling.
– Adlibris Prize jury motivation

Pine Bark is also one of the nominees for the Lapland Literature Prize! The Lapland Literature Prize, established in 2017, is awarded by the public libraries of Lapland either to an outstanding novel depicting Lapland or a Finnish novel written by an author hailing from Lapland. The award sum is 3,000 € and the Lapland Literature Prize of 2025 will be announced on March 19th, the national library day.

Download materials for PINE BARK here!

Pine Bark

Tommi Kinnunen

A densely atmospheric and arrestingly written novel about women’s fates in times of war, the difficulty of giving up, and how the proximity of death can change a person 

A person cannot return to being who they once were without knowing who they have been.

In 2001, three siblings – Martti and twin sisters Eeva and Marja – meet in a small village in Northern Finland. Their mother Laina, an old woman who has been through the Second World War, is dying and the children have gathered to arrange the funeral. Even though the siblings have always been on good terms, Martti has always felt aloof, the odd man out. All of them reminisce about their childhood, but Martti remembers things slightly differently than the sisters.

As the novel progresses, the readers are transported through the decades and through Laina’s story, culminating in the Soviet partisan attack during the summer of 1944 that irrevocably changed Laina’s life. She has refused to recall the events and, at the same time, has denied her children the opportunity of remembering and recovering. “One can only talk about men’s war, as the women’s war is soundless and forbidden.”

As his mother’s death grows nearer, Martti reaches out to connect with his siblings and attempts to fill in the gaps in the story, but is it already too late?

PINE BARK
KAARNA
WSOY, 2024, 205 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis
German sample

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)
ESTONIA: Varrak
JAPAN: Shinchosha

About author


Tommi Kinnunen

Tommi Kinnunen (1973) was born in Kuusamo in northeastern Finland and currently lives in Turku, where he works as a teacher of Finnish language and literature. His works include novels, opera librettos, short stories, and a non-fiction title on the changes taking place in the Finnish school system.

Kinnunen’s novels give a voice to those whose stories have been kept untold. He made a stellar debut with Where Four Roads Meet (orig. Neljäntienristeys) which was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and won the Young Aleksis Prize in 2015. The following novels The Light Behind the Eyes (orig. Lopotti), The Glass River (orig. Pintti), and Defiance (orig. Ei kertonut katuvansa) have been both critical and commercial successes. His books have been translated into 20 languages.

During his spare time, Kinnunen likes to refurbish old buildings.

Bibliography


2024, Literary Fiction

Pine Bark

Tommi Kinnunen


2022, Literary Fiction

Dark Moons

Tommi Kinnunen


2020, Literary Fiction

Defiance

Tommi Kinnunen


2018, Literary Fiction

The Glass River

Tommi Kinnunen


2016, Literary Fiction

The Light Behind the Eyes

Tommi Kinnunen


2014, Literary Fiction

Where Four Roads Meet

Tommi Kinnunen

THE SECRET STAIRCASE sold to Czechia

We are happy to report that Czech rights to for THE SECRET STAIRCASE by Salla Simukka and illustrator JP Ahonen have been acquired by Portál! This deal was closed by Martti Berner.

Portál was founded in 1990 and belongs among the 20 largest publishing houses in the Czech Republic. Portál publish books by Anja Portin, Suzanne Lang, Hervé Tullet and many more and they are the Czech publisher of Tuutikki Tolonen’s Monster Nanny and Agnes series.

Salla Simukka is the multiple award-winning, internationally bestselling author of the Snow White trilogy, sold in 53 countries and Hollywood. JP Ahonen is a comic book artist and the illustrator of the cult classic Belzebubs project. THE SECRET STAIRCASE was nominated for 2024 Finlandia Award in Children’s & Youth literature.

The jury praised the title:

In this tantalisingly evocative fantasy, the text and vivid illustrations merge into a fine, polished whole. The story is about solving mysteries, making great friends and adapting to huge changes, whether it’s family or the vastness of dimensional boundaries. The narrative is engaging and the illustrations add delicious detail with a lightness of touch that encourages the novice reader to move forward.

And just recently the book won 2024 Kuopus Award by Blogistanian as the best Children’s book.  The Blogistanian Literary Awards are prizes given by Finnish book influencers on social media for the best books of the year.

You can watch the book trailer below:

For fans of Michael Ende and Maria Gripe, THE SECRET STAIRCASE is an exciting and touching novel about two boys, who live in the same house but in different realities. Can their friendship cross the border separating two worlds?

10-year-old Alexis’ family moves to a house where he gets the attic room. Another 10-year-old-boy, Max, moves to a house, where a great basement room is waiting for him. Soon the boys notice something weird in their houses: Alexis hears voices under the floor, even though they don’t have a basement. Max’s ears pick up someone playing an instrument from the attic, even though no one is there.

When the two boys finally meet, they realize that they can visit each other’s worlds at night time. But will their friendship endanger everything when the worlds start to blur into each other?

Rights still available in the US/UK, France, Germany, Holland…

Click here to download all reading materials for THE SECRET STAIRCASE!

Publication Info:
Poika ullakolla, poika kellarissa, Tammi 2024, 200 pp, b&w illustrations

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
CZECHIA: Portál
ESTONIA: Ühinenud Ajakirjad

Reading Material:
English sample & synopsis, Finnish edition

About author


JP Ahonen

JP Ahonen (1981) is a comic book artist, illustrator, and the author of several newspaper strips in his native Finland. He is best known for his graphic novel SING NO EVIL and the critically acclaimed strip series BELZEBUBS, which has evolved from a humble webcomic into a unique cross-media project, interweaving comics, music and animation.

About author


Salla Simukka

Salla Simukka is the author of the international success story The Snow White Trilogy: rights are sold in 53 territories and in Hollywood. She has written several novels for young readers and her accolades include the Topelius Prize 2013 and the Finland Prize 2013. Simukka has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award  every year 2021–2024. Where It All Begins, published in 2022, is her first novel for adults and in 2024 she started a collaboration with JP Ahonen on a middle grade novel.

Previously Simukka has written book reviews for the newspapers, translated all kinds of texts into Finnish, worked as an editor at a literary magazine and as a screenwriter for a popular TV show for young audiences.  She has also been working on the programme of Turku Book Fair in 2017–2020.

Three Ahlback Agency authors nominated for Lapland Literature award

We are happy to announce that three authors represented by the Ahlback Agency have been nominated for the Lapland Literature award! The nominees are Pine Bark by Tommi Kinnunen, The Investigations of a Certain Cat by Katja Kettu and Firstborn by Maria Peura.

The Lapland Literature Award is a prize awarded jointly by the libraries of Lapland to a Finnish-language work on a topic related to Lapland or written by an author from Lapland. With the award, libraries want to highlight high-quality literature from Lapland. The award ceremony, open to all, will take place on Libraries Day 19.3.2025 at Kolari Library.

Sculptor Kirsi Kaulanen selects the winner of the Lapland Literature Prize from six finalists.

Pine Bark by Tommi Kinnunen

2024 Finlandia Prize nominee in Fiction! Sold over 60,000 copies!

A densely atmospheric and arrestingly written novel about women’s fates in times of war, the difficulty of giving up, and how the proximity of death can change a person

A person cannot return to being who they once were without knowing who they have been.

In 2001, three siblings – Martti and twin sisters Eeva and Marja – meet in a small village in Northern Finland. Their mother Laina, an old woman who has been through the Second World War, is dying and the children have gathered to arrange the funeral. Even though the siblings have always been on good terms, Martti has always felt aloof, the odd man out. All of them reminisce about their childhood, but Martti remembers things slightly differently than the sisters.

As the novel progresses, the readers are transported through the decades and through Laina’s story, culminating in the Soviet partisan attack during the summer of 1944 that irrevocably changed Laina’s life. She has refused to recall the events and, at the same time, has denied her children the opportunity of remembering and recovering. “One can only talk about men’s war, as the women’s war is soundless and forbidden.”

As his mother’s death grows nearer, Martti reaches out to connect with his siblings and attempts to fill in the gaps in the story, but is it already too late?

The Investigations of a Certain Cat by Katja Kettu

Katja Kettu’s stunning novel spins through ages whilst surrendering to the wilderness of nature and the deep yearning for offspring.

Can one find solace and meaning in life from the past once the future no longer exists?

An Author has a miscarriage and loses their ability to speak and write. From the Investigative Bureau of Heavens, a Detective is sent to the scene, but something goes awry. Soon, in the corner of the room, there appears Cat who starts examining a mysterious diary that once belonged to the Author’s Great Grandmother.

When a new life has been lost, the Author turns their gaze to the past and to the age-old words of creation in the old Finnish outskirts. The one who knows them, Great Grandmother, has the power of healers. The Great Grandmother’s diary sheds light on birth and death, love towards children, and the strength of heritage in one’s blood.

Combining autofiction and elements of magical realism, Katja Kettu’s latest novel also sheds light on the history of the Finnish frontiers.

Firstborn by Maria Peura

A heartrending autobiographical novel about one’s own child being placed in an institution and about feeling out of place as a child

The author starts putting together the story of her firstborn child – a child whose ill-being and problematic behavior eventually led to him being placed in a child protection institution. Only now, when everything is okay, does the author dare to put her own distress and guilt into words. “What mistakes did I make? How was I trespassed against and why has my child ended up broken because of me being broken?

Maria Peura’s autobiographical novel is a relentlessly honest and lyrically beautiful depiction of the cycles of trauma, of the effects of violence, and the chance for light and survival.

Pine Bark
Kaarna, Tommi Kinnunen, 2024, 205 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)
ESTONIA: Varrak
JAPAN: Shinchosha

The Investigations of a Certain Cat
Erään kissan tutkimuksia, Katja Kettu, 2023, 380 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
CZECHIA: Argo
DENMARK: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ESTONIA: Koolibri
GERMANY: Weissbooks
HUNGARY: Gondolat
ITALY: Mondadori
NORWAY: Pax Forlag
POLAND: Swiat Ksiazki
ROMANIA: Humanitas
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers

Firstborn
Esikoinen, Maria Peura, 2023, 320 p.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

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

About author


Maria Peura

Maria Peura is a prize-winning author and dramaturge. She received the prestigious Young Aleksis Prize and was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for her debut novel Your Love Is Infinite (On rakkautes ääretön) in 2001. It also received the Olvi Foundation Award and the Good Deed for Children Award and was met with critical acclaim in Spain. At the Edge of Light (Valon reunalla) received stellar reviews in Finland, the Czech Republic, and in the UK, where it was published in 2007. Among Peura’s other works is a collection of poetry for children.

About author


Tommi Kinnunen

Tommi Kinnunen (1973) was born in Kuusamo in northeastern Finland and currently lives in Turku, where he works as a teacher of Finnish language and literature. His works include novels, opera librettos, short stories, and a non-fiction title on the changes taking place in the Finnish school system.

Kinnunen’s novels give a voice to those whose stories have been kept untold. He made a stellar debut with Where Four Roads Meet (orig. Neljäntienristeys) which was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and won the Young Aleksis Prize in 2015. The following novels The Light Behind the Eyes (orig. Lopotti), The Glass River (orig. Pintti), and Defiance (orig. Ei kertonut katuvansa) have been both critical and commercial successes. His books have been translated into 20 languages.

During his spare time, Kinnunen likes to refurbish old buildings.

Introducing BY THE SEASHORE: How Writers Discovered the Sea – first sale to Germany and awarded with Lauri Jäntti Prize Honorary Award!

Follow Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Tove Jansson and other classic writers to the beach and experience the landscape through the eyes of a writer.

We are thrilled to introduce our new, award-winning non-fiction title, BY THE SEASHORE: How Writers Discovered the Sea, by Sanna Nyqvist. Today, we’re also  excited to share the news of its first foreign sale to Germany!

The German rights to this 2024 Finlandia Award nominee in Non-Fiction have been pre-empted by mareverlag. Here’s what they had to say about this remarkable non-fiction title:

“A wonderful and exciting narrative about the relationship between great writers and the sea. We are absolutely delighted with this book and really looking forward to accompanying its launch on the German market!”

Adding to its acclaim, the book has just received the 2024 Lauri Jäntti Prize Honorary Award. Lauri Jäntti’s foundation was founded in 1983, in order to promote and support nonfiction works from Finland. The yearly prize of 20,000 euros is given to the best Finnish or Finnish-Swedish nonfiction book published during the previous year, and one or several nonfictions receive the recognition award of 8000 euros.

By the Seashore blends place and culture, drawing comparisons to the celebrated works of Mia Kankimäki, Dorthe Nors, and Nina Burton. This inspiring and rare gem takes readers on a literary journey to the shorelines, exploring how the sea has shaped the works of iconic authors. We couldn’t be happier to see it reaching new shores!

We will have an English sample later on, closer to the publication of our Spring list.

“Written in beautiful, polished language, this work explores what a landscape does to a person – and vice versa. Its surprising, original perspective broadens the topic from literature to the environment that people have shaped to their liking over centuries. A small, great book.”

2024 Finlandia Prize Jury

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea
Sanna Nyqvist

By the Seashore is a fascinating journey through salt-scented cultural history and to the authors’ favourite beaches. Jane Austen adventured along the south coast of England, Marcel Proust returned year after year to the shimmering light of Normandy, and Tove Jansson created her own paradise on an island in the Gulf of Finland. The magic of the beaches is part of our shared experience and our relationship with nature. But how long will we be able to experience our beloved beaches as they are now? This was already being pondered by August Strindberg in the late 19th century, when industry and tourism were shaping the Stockholm archipelago.

By the Seashore is a gripping and surprising account of why beaches have become landscapes of emotion, safe havens as well as  islands of adventure.

 

“In this captivatingly paced nonfiction book, the seashore appears both as an emotional image and a picturesque landscape.”

– Turun Sanomat newspaper, Kaisa Kurikka, Finland

BY THE SEASHORE: HOW WRITERS DISCOVERED THE SEA
Rannalla: Miten kirjailijat löysivät meren
Tammi 2024, 283 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English synopsis
English sample (February 2025)

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
GERMANY: mareverlag

About author


Sanna Nyqvist

Sanna Nyqvist is a literary scholar, author and columnist. She holds a Ph.D in Comparative Literature from the University of Helsinki and has published academic articles and books on imitation and authorship as well as on the lure of the sea. Passionate about the power of literature to transform our lives, she teaches literary analysis to engineering students at the Aalto University and writes columns in the literary magazine Parnasso that open new, often surprising perspectives to classical and contemporary literature.

She has written three nonfiction books on literature for a wider audience, all of which have elicited praise from reviewers and readers. Her latest book, By the Seashore, was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in the nonfiction category and received 2024 Lauri Jäntti Prize Honorary Award.

Sanna Nyqvist lives in Helsinki and, as soon as the sea ice releases its hold in the spring, heads for her beloved island in the archipelago of the Gulf of Finland.

Bibliography


2024, Narrative Nonfiction, Memories & Biographies

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea

Sanna Nyqvist

10 titles represented by Ahlback Agency nominated for Storytel Awards

We are thrilled to let you know that ten different titles represented by the Ahlback Agency have been nominated for the Storytel Awards 2025 in three different categories!

Storytel will honour the best audiobooks of the year and their readers in Finland at the Storytel Awards Gala in March 2025, now for the sixth time. The Storytel Awards and the Great Audiobook Prize aim to promote the development of the audiobook market, share the joy of listening and raise awareness of the importance of professional authors in creating listening experiences. The awards will be presented and the winners announced at the Storytel Awards on March 13th, 2025.

Storytel picks the most listened to and best reviewed audiobooks from January to December 2024. Only books published during 2024 are included. The five most voted books in each category will go through to the final and a jury selects the winners. You can vote for the nominees on Storytel’s website from January 20th to February 3rd.

On the fiction category our nominees are:

Pine Bark by Tommi Kinnunen

How We Met Your Mother by Kaj Korkea-aho

Treatment by Hanna-Riikka Kuisma

Push, Pace, Position, Pray by Miika Nousiainen

On Children’s Fiction and Young Adult category our nominee is:

Dad Man and the Doppelgänger Disaster by Arttu Unkari and Kai Vaalio

On Crime and Thrillers category our nominees are:

How to Face Death by Elina Backman

The Eagle by Tuomas Oskari

Milo by Max Seeck

THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #2: Alone by Kaisu Tuokko

The Stager by Arttu Tuominen

About author


Arttu Tuominen

ARTTU TUOMINEN (b. 1981) is a Spiegel bestselling author and environmental inspector based in Pori, Finland. During the evenings, he writes dark and tough crime novels. He is best known for his psychologically nuanced and gripping crime novels. Tuominen masterfully combines suspense, strong character development, and socially relevant themes in his work. His River Delta series has sold over 230,000 copies in Finland alone and has been published in six different languages. Tuominen has received numerous accolades, including the Vuoden Johtolanka (Clue of the Year) award for The Oath and the Palle Rosenkrantz Prize from the Danish Crime Academy for Jeopardy. In addition he has been nominated for the prestigious Glass Key Award. His novels have earned widespread praise from both critics and readers, firmly establishing him as a leading voice in Finnish crime fiction.

About author


Arttu Unkari

Arttu Unkari is a teacher from Helsinki and a Master of Education (University of Helsinki, 2015) who majored in ethics and philosophy.  He combines his educational background and experience as a teacher in his books – his stories are anarchist and zany, but at the same time the humour often revolves around profound and intriguing concepts such as honesty, obedience, and morality in ways that speak to children in their own language. His books are enjoyed by adults as well because they contain layers that open up differently to readers of all ages. This is one of the reasons Dad Man is such a great series for the whole family.

As an author Unkari is a Runeberg prize nominee 2023 for the third instalment of the Dadman series: Dad Man and the Horrible Hypnosis (Isämies ja hyytävä hypnoosi, Otava 2022). The Runeberg Prize is a literary prize awarded by the newspaper Uusimaa, the City of Porvoo, the Finnish Writers' Union, the Finnish Critics' Association and the Finland’s-Swedish Writer’s Association. The prize was established in 1986 and it is awarded annually in Porvoo on 5th February, the day when Finland celebrates their national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg.  All of his previous books (Dad Man and the Exploding poop, Dad Man and the Evil Little Brother,  Dad Man and the Horrible Hypnosis and Dad Man and the Impossible Time Warp) have been nominated for best children’s audiobook in the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Finnish Storytel awards. He’s also participated in making a Finnish language schoolbook (Loikka 3, Otava 2022).

Unkari is a sought after inspirational speaker in his home country. He’s visited schools all over Finland advocating for the importance of reading.

About author


Elina Backman

Elina Backman is an author and a media & marketing professional living in Helsinki. Elina loves books (all sorts), traveling, cycling and is a host of a Book & Wine Club. She is a creative soul with a commercial mind, and her goal is to find readers globally.

Her debut novel All the King's Men was published in 2020 and immediately gained an enormous amount of attention from the Finnish media, including a praising review by the biggest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The Saana Havas series is now a best-selling series in Finland and an international TV series is in development. Elina's books have sold over 100 000 copies in Finland.

Together with Heidi Holmavuo, Elina has also narrated the true crime podcast Ratkaisematon (Unsolved), which turned into a full-length audio book as the two crime writers started investigating the murder of a young girl in 1955. They were able to uncover new evidence and their research led the police to reopen the investigation. This story is narrated in the book Unsolved - The Case of Elli Immo.

About author


Hanna-Riikka Kuisma

Hanna-Riikka Kuisma (b. 1978) is a Pori-based writer, art critic and columnist. Kuisma is known for exploring the darkness of the human mind and our contemporary society. She has published seven novels and a collection of short stories. Her latest novel Treatment was nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize in Fiction.

Kuisma's fifth novel, High-Rise, was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Fiction in 2019, and in the same year she was awarded the Satakunta Arts Council's Art Prize. In 2021, she was awarded the Nortamo Prize for Literature.

Kuisma's debut collection of short stories, Elinkautinen, was published in 2005. Since then, she has published the novels Snake's Nest, Heart Shadow, White Light, Fifth Season, High-Rise, Guilty and Treatment. The Fifth Season was nominated for the Tiiliskivi Literary Prize.

The blackly intense atmosphere and surgical precision of Kuisma's works are counterbalanced by colourful visuals and poetic language. Her literary contemporaries include Juha Seppälä, Asko Sahlberg and Hanna Marjut Marttila.

About author


Kai Vaalio

Kai Vaalio (b. 1986) is an illustrator, comic artist, and a bit of a cosmopolitan as well. He’s written and illustrated underground comic books for adults about his travels in South-East Asia and Latin America — the latter won Mondo magazine’s Travel book of the year award back in 2014. Recently he’s ventured into the world of illustrating children’s books mainly with Arttu Unkari’s Dad Man Series. Together they’ve made several books about this goofy detective and his clever little posse. The Dad Man Series has received Storytel Awards and Runeberg Junior 2023 award nominations. Vaalio’s been on and off in the graphic industry since 2005 when he graduated as a graphic designer from Lahti College of Arts and Crafts. In 2018 he got his bachelor’s degree from Lahti University of Applied Science.

About author


Kaisu Tuokko

Kaisu Tuokko’s aim is to create a series where interpersonal relationships and the idyll of a small town are mixed with cruel events – using psychological tension to build stories about how badly we know the families or friends of our neighbors, of our loved ones. Everyone has secrets, but some of them are more dangerous than others.

Tuokko loves the stories of strangers, secrets of small towns, rainy autumn evenings, and the Swedish language. She lives in Helsinki, and has named her main character after her grandparents.

About author


Kaj Korkea-aho

Kaj Korkea-aho (b. 1983) is a writer, columnist and a comedian. Moreover, he has a career as an actor and a host in TV and radio. In his varied acting roles, he has often taken a stand for the rights of queer people, and his texts often discuss themes such as growing up, sexual minorities, religious revival communities and literature.

Korkea-aho has published four novels: Se till mig som liten är (God Who Holds The Little Dear) (2009), Gräset är mörkare på andra sidan (The Grass Is Darker on the Other Side) (2012), Onda boken (The Evil Book) (2015) which has been already translated into six languages and sold to Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and Röda rummet (The Red Room) (2021). His books have attained wide readership in Finland and have scored several prizes, such as the The Swedish Literary Society’s prize in 2010 and 2013, the Thanks for the Book Award in 2016 and the Längmans Cultural Foundation’s prize in 2018. In 2017, Korkea-aho’s YA book Virala genier (Viral Geniuses) was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize for children’s and young adult’s literature.

Since 2005, together with Ted Forsström, Korkea-aho has created comedy in Swedish for radio, TV and plays, whilst also writing the YA series Zoo! (the basis for the TV series Virala genier). Together, they also run the Ted & Kaj podcast, one of the biggest podcasts in Finland.

Kaj Korkea-aho was born and raised in the small town of Esse in Ostrobothnia, but now lives in Helsinki.

About author


Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author

Max Seeck - New York Times Bestselling Author of THE WITCH HUNTER.

Winner of the prestigious Glass Key Award 2023 for his novel THE LAST GRUDGE.

Big Hollywood film & TV news coming soon!

“An exceptional combination of hardboiled Scandi-noir and eerie ghost story. [--] Seeck marries breathtaking suspense with an expertly drawn heroine. This is guaranteed to send shivers up even the most unshakable readers’ spines." – Publisher's Weekly, starred review (Ghost island)

"Each new step has been an artistic success. Max Seeck, last year's winner of the Glass Key Award for best Nordic detective story, has a golden touch for Finnish suspense fiction." - Kai Hirvasnoro, Kansan Uutiset newspaper

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four books later, Max Seeck’s novels have been sold to more than 40 countries, including US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries and as far as Korea!

His Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! 2024 will see the release of his independent novel MILO, which is already creating buzz internationally with several rights pre-empts ahead of the Finnish publication!

Max Seeck has a background in sales and marketing, and has lately been able to dedicate his time to his lifelong love of writing. His interests include well-conducted research, reading Nordic Noir and listening to movie soundtracks as he writes.

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

About author


Tommi Kinnunen

Tommi Kinnunen (1973) was born in Kuusamo in northeastern Finland and currently lives in Turku, where he works as a teacher of Finnish language and literature. His works include novels, opera librettos, short stories, and a non-fiction title on the changes taking place in the Finnish school system.

Kinnunen’s novels give a voice to those whose stories have been kept untold. He made a stellar debut with Where Four Roads Meet (orig. Neljäntienristeys) which was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and won the Young Aleksis Prize in 2015. The following novels The Light Behind the Eyes (orig. Lopotti), The Glass River (orig. Pintti), and Defiance (orig. Ei kertonut katuvansa) have been both critical and commercial successes. His books have been translated into 20 languages.

During his spare time, Kinnunen likes to refurbish old buildings.

About author


Tuomas Oskari

Tuomas Oskari is the international pen name of Tuomas Niskakangas, a crime author and a politics and economics journalist for Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest newspaper in Finland. He has a Master in Economics. Formerly Niskakangas has worked in Washington, D.C. as the USA correspondent for Helsingin Sanomat.

Ahlback Agency Year of Books & Happy Holidays!

We would like to take a moment to look back at another wonderful year of books and celebrate our authors and their many successes in 2024!

We have welcomed new authors and screenwriters, and new colleagues alike (Julia, Martti & Satu), and cheered on our authors as they won awards and hit the bestsellers list. We are thankful to all our publishing friends who have acquired rights and helped to spread Finnish literature far and wide.

We wish you all happy holidays and a good start into the new year – we are excited to talk more about books with you in 2025 and can’t wait to share our spring list with you soon! Enjoy your well deserved break and time with friends and loved ones!

All the best from us at Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency,

Elina, Julia, Martti & Satu

2024 Sales highlights

We were thrilled to see that our authors had a successful year in sales both at home and internationally! Here is a selection of sales that we would like to highlight:

  • FOLLOW THE BUTTERFLY by Martta Kaukonen has now sold to 17 territories, and got her first three-book-deal from Iceland and the prestigious UK literary magazine Literary Review selected the book as one of the top crime novels of the year
  • MILO by Max Seeck, was a domestic bestseller with over 40,000 copies sold and for the first time Max’s book was acquired by a Japanese publisher, Kodensha.
  • The four books in Elina Backman’s SAANA HAVAS crime series sold over 140,000 copies in Finland
  • The three books in Eeva Loukko’s RONJA VAARA crime series sold 50,000 copies in Finland, while the fourth is being published in January 2025

   

   

  • First Finnish romantasy novel, THE DAUGHTER OF TWO BLOODS, was a domestic bestseller with 6,000 copies sold
  • Arttu Tuominen’s RIVER DELTA series came to an end, with a bang. The final book sold over 20,000 copies, bringing the series’ total sales to an impressive 200,000 copies
  • Arttu Unkari and Kai Vaalio’s DAD MAN middle grade series sold over 140,000 copies in Finland

  

2024 Award highlights

There have been many reason to celebrate our authors this year! A big round of congratulations to all award winners and nominees!

FINLANDIA PRIZE NOMINEES:

This year we had a record breaking amount of our talented authors nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize in all categories:

   

   

Our Award Winners:

 

Mia Kankamaki The Women I think About At Night US 

Our Award Nominees:

   

                                   

Other highlights