THE HORNED GOD by Magdalena Hai is nominated for the Topelius Award!

We are beyond excited to share that THE HORNED GOD by Magdalena Hai has been nominated for the Topelius Award, an annual prize celebrating outstanding YA books!

Motivation of the Topelius jury:

17-year-old Lauri wakes up in hospital after a car accident. His mother has passed away and his father is in a coma in hospital. The horror story beautifully links the descriptions of recovering from a big loss, the grueling presence of awful things, the guilt caused by mistakes and the act of letting go. The novel which influences the reader on many levels also describes in a lively matter the everyday life of teenagers, experiences of mental health struggles, and racism. Below the horror elements there is an undercurrent that ties people together. At times in a painful way.”

– The Topelius Award Jury

THE HORNED GOD is a YA horror novel and also nominated for the FINLANDIA PRIZE (winners to be announced this Wednesday!). Magdalena Hai is the winner of the Finnish Literary Export Prize (2017), Kaarina Helakisa Prize (2020), and Kuvastaja Award (2022), and her books have been sold into 30 languages.

Huge congratulations, Magdalena Hai!

The rights are still available for most territories – now is the time to snap them up!

Download the materials for THE HORNED GOD here!

Sarvijumala
Otava, March 2023, 162 pp.
Age group: 13+

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

Reading materials:
English sample & synopsis

About author


Magdalena Hai

Magdalena Hai is an award-winning author, lover of cross-genre fiction and all things strange. Her fiction often combines elements of sci-fi, fantasy and horror.

Her Little Shop of Nightmares series has been sold to 30 territories around the World. Among Hai's many accolades are winning the Finnish Literary Export Prize, and being nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Children's and Youth Litetature and the Nordic Council Children & Young People's Literature Prize.

Besides being an author, Hai teaches writing and is an active member and editor in the publishing co-operative Osuuskumma.

Bibliography


2023, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 4: The Crystal Skull

Magdalena Hai


2023, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

The Horned God

Magdalena Hai


2021, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

The Spell of Iset

Magdalena Hai


2021, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 3: Sticky the Horrible Snowman

Magdalena Hai


2020, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

Miss Swift’s Weird and Wonderful House

Magdalena Hai


2019, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 2: The Mystery of the Missing Teeth

Magdalena Hai


2018, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

The Third Sister

Magdalena Hai


2018, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 1: The Terrible Tickling Powder

Magdalena Hai


2017, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

Grumblebelly Cat

Magdalena Hai


2012, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

The Beggar Princess

Magdalena Hai

36 URNS by Sirpa Kähkönen now nominated for both the Savonia Literature Prize and Finlandia Prize!

We are very happy to announce that 36 URNS: A History of Being Wrong, the latest title by award-winning author Sirpa Kähkönen, has been nominated for the Savonia Prize 2023!

The prize, worth 12 000 euros, is awarded yearly to an author from the Savonia province for a significant fiction title. The award is funded by the city of Kuopio, and the winner is announced on 12th December.

The jury praised the book saying:

“36 Urns is an autobiographical account of a life lived, of love and being left without it, and of humanity and the lack of it. Kähkönen examines the difficult relationship with her mother with the help of both the history of her family and objects and memories left by her mother. The understanding gathered this way grows to be much larger than the experience of a single person. It talks to whole generations who carry the memories of war, loss, and silence within themselves. Kähkönen’s novel rolls onwards with a breath-taking intensity and the reader can’t help but accept it, thankful for the honesty and wisdom.”

36 URNS is also nominated for the Finlandia Literature Prize, and it has sold close to 10 000 copies in Finland since its publication in August!

Massive congrats, Sirpa!

Download the materials for 36 URNS here!

36 uurnaa – Väärässä olemisen historia
Siltala, August 2023, 267 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Siltala (orig.)
ESTONIA: Koolibri
HUNGARY: Polar
Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

About author


Sirpa Kähkönen

Sirpa Kähkönen was born to a family that had been harshly treated by the history of the 1900s. World War II and the Civil War preceding it, had wounded her family members and marked them with heavy silence and unspoken words.

Mapping out that silence became Sirpa’s work. The first questions that arose were related to her closest circle: what had happened to her beloved grandparents? From her personal sphere the intellectual curiosity widened to touch upon the history of Finland and then the history of Europe, and finally, researching the fate of an individual during times of crisis.

Sirpa Kähkönen lives and works in Helsinki. She constructs her works upon research, using a wide array of archives, newspaper clippings, research material, and contemporary literature. Inspired by microhistorical research tradition, Sirpa writes about how mentalities are formed, and how the immaterial inheritance runs in family lines and in societies.

Sirpa Kähkönen’s historical novel begins where source information ends. It opens the gates to experiencing the past in a sensory way; the characters live out the story as physical, sensual beings.

Sirpa Kähkönen has published thirteen novels of which four have been nominated for the prestigious Finlandia prize and one for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She has also published three non-fiction titles, one of which was nominated for the Tieto-Finlandia prize for non-fiction literature. In 2022, Kähkönen received the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize for significant achievements in culture.

Awards and nominations:

Kirjallisuuden valtionpalkinto 1992 - The State Literary Prize 1992

Savonia-palkinto 1999 - Savonia Prize 1999

Kuopion taiteilijaseuran kirjallisuuden tunnustuspalkinto 2003 - The Kuopio Artist Society's Literary Award 2003

Kiitos kirjasta -mitali 2008 - Thank You for the book medallion 2008

Savon Sanomien Savonmuan Hilima -titteli 2010

Otavan kirjasäätiön Veijo Meri -palkinto 2012 - Otava Literary Fund Veijo Meri Prize 2012

Pro-Finlandia -mitali 2015 - Pro Finlandia Medallion 2015

Suomi-palkinto 2016 - Suomi-Finland Prize 2016 from the Ministry of Education and Culture

Savonia-palkinto 2021 - Savonia Prize 2021

Suomen Kulttuurirahaston suurpalkinto - The Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize 2021

Nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2023

Bibliography


2023, Literary Fiction

36 Urns: A History of Being Wrong

Sirpa Kähkönen


2021, Literary Fiction

The Green Chamber

Sirpa Kähkönen

STOP SECRET MYSTERIES by Ilona Ahti and Miila Westin nominated for the Runeberg Junior Prize!

We are thrilled to announce that STOP SECRET MYSTERIES: Stinker the Horrific Sock Monster written by Ilona Ahti and illustrated by Miila Westin has been nominated for the Runeberg Junior Prize 2024!

The prize, which is awarded to a middle-grade book published in Finland, is worth 10 000 EUR. The winner will be announced February 5th, 2024.

The Runeberg Prize jury said of the book:

“The humour is enchanting, but above all Stop Secret succeeds in capturing something essential about the everyday life of children. This is what makes it such a fascinating book: simply incomprehensible things are mixed in with the ordinary and everyday. And when everything is tied together by the mystery in the story, that’s when you have all the ingredients for a gripping title.”

Congratulations, Ilona Ahti and Miila Westin!

Would this hilarious and exciting middle-grade adventure be somethign for you? Download the materials from the link below!

Download the English materials for STOP SECRET here!

 

Stop Secret: Stinker the Horrific Sock Monster

Ilona Ahti, illustrated by Miila Westin

A funny middle-grade mystery series for fans of Roald Dahl!

In the opening of this charmingly funny middle-grade series, top-secret cases are being solved. Why are there only odd socks in the cabinet, and where have the hairclips and remote controls vanished?

The peculiar events begin when a strange creature snatches the last pair of socks from ten-year-old Hilla. She catches a glimpse of a fluffy, golden tail and finds a color-changing hair as evidence. A top-secret mystery must be solved, in which Hilla is helped by her neighbors Maisa and Roni-Toni. Hilla’s grandmother Mitsi clearly knows more than she’s telling, and in the end there’s an explanation for everything that no one would have expected…

Stop Secret: Hikisukka Hirmunen
Tammi, September 2023, 144 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig).

Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

About author


Ilona Ahti

Ilona Ahti is an award-winning tv- and film scriptwriter, who has lived on nearly all continents and currently adventures Tansania together with her family. She’s known especially for being the other writer for the film Girl Picture, which was successful at the Sundance festival and was the Finnish submission for the 95th Academy Awards.

About author


Miila Westin

Miila Westin is a Helsinki based illustrator and comic artist. She loves to draw colorful imaginary creatures and characters for books, patterns and wall murals.

Radio Popov, a children's book by Anja Portin she illustrated, won the Finlandia Junior Prize in 2020. She has also written and illustrated a visual narrative about Finnish myths titled Myyttiset, Loputon Talvi.

NOTHING REALLY DISAPPEARS by Laura Gustafsson nominated for the Finlandia Prize!

We are very happy to announce that NOTHING REALLY DISAPPEARS, the newest title by Laura Gustafsson – a novel about activism, hopelessness, and bravery – is also nominated for the FINLANDIA PRIZE! 

The jury said of the title:

“Nothing Really Disappears is a compelling, at times even a hilarious story from the edge of a world gone wrong. The work woven of cold, terrifying facts and skillful narration ponders on how to act, when nothing seems to change for the better, at least not in the field of cruel factory farming and animal rights. The work manages to shock and influence in many ways thanks to its narrative strength.”

NOTHING REALLY DISAPPEARS is Gustafsson’s sixth novel, gaining wide praise in Finland. Her novels have been previously translated to German and French.

Download the materials for NOTHING REALLY DISAPPEARS here!

The moving and poetic requiem to Kähkönen’s mother was published in Finland by Siltala in August 2023, and has sold  8000 copies in Finland!

Nothing Really Disappears

Laura Gustafsson

A turbulent story about animal-industrial complex, idealism, and companionship that transcends the boundaries between species.

A professional activist approaching middle age realizes that she has lost her faith in life. For years she has been sneaking around in cowsheds, stared at horrible video materials and been patiently enlightening people. Still, even now someone asks whether she has thought about what the carrots feel. The animal-industrial complex continues to increase its output and it doesn’t matter that fashion houses are refusing fur clothing and people are pouring oat milk into their coffee. Faced with an overwhelming opponent, she must choose whether to continue fighting or whether it’s best to run away.

Mikään ei todella katoa
Like/Otava, March 2023, 263 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Like (orig.)
Reading materials:
English sample & synopsis coming soon
Finnish edition

About author


Laura Gustafsson

Laura Gustafsson is a novelist and playwright. Recurring themes in her work include oppression, violence, animal rights and the environment, which she approaches with precision, passion, irony and humor.

Gustafsson’s accolades include nominations for the Finlandia Prize and Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and her works have been translated into French and German.

Bibliography


2023, Literary Fiction

Nothing Really Disappears

Laura Gustafsson


2016, Literary Fiction

Wilderness Warrior

Laura Gustafsson

36 URNS by Sirpa Kähkönen nominated for the Finlandia Prize!

We are very happy to announce that 36 URNS: A History of Being Wrong, the latest title by award-winning author Sirpa Kähkönen, has been nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2023!

The jury said of the novel:

“Sirpa Kähkönen’s strong, open minded narrative voice builds a bridge over the gap that separates generations. The burdens and wounds of the past are linked to the turning points of history in the intense novel. 36 Urns is a novel of one night, or alternatively of a whole century, skillfully kept together by the framework of objects. Even in a harsh world one finds beauty and tenderness when looking through the compassionate lens of the title.”

Download the materials for 36 URNS here!

Finlandia is the most prestigious literary award in Finland, worth 30 000 euros. The winner will be announced on November 29th.

 

36 Urns: A History of Being Wrong

Sirpa Kähkönen

A celebrated author’s masterful and poetic confession of love to her mother

Author Sirpa Kähkönen’s mother Riitta (b. 1941) died in March 2022 after a long illness. In life, she struggled to accept love. “I do not grieve your death, I grieve your life,” Sirpa Kähkönen writes, knowing fully well that her mother wouldn’t like the phrase. Her mother rejected love, despite longing for it the most. Riitta was athletic, beautiful, and gifted. A traffic accident at the age of 16 changed the course of her life for ever.

Drawing on her mother’s diaries, Kähkönen depicts the life of a 1950s girl and the dramatic change that followed the accident. The novel talks about community dance halls, a broken mind, flowing hems, a 1960s mother, anxiety, anger and hate, addiction, and moments of psychosis. It talks about how wars and other crises become corporeal, how violence is inherited, and how the culture of discouragement and submission is passed down through the generations in sayings and attitudes, with the author clearly seeing herself as part of the tradition of anger and violence.

The novel is permeated by a fiery love, as if an ancient Finnish spell that, with the power of words, is capable of bringing loved ones back from the dead.

36 uurnaa – Väärässä olemisen historia
Siltala, August 2023, 267 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Siltala (orig.)
ESTONIA: Koolibri
Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

About author


Sirpa Kähkönen

Sirpa Kähkönen was born to a family that had been harshly treated by the history of the 1900s. World War II and the Civil War preceding it, had wounded her family members and marked them with heavy silence and unspoken words.

Mapping out that silence became Sirpa’s work. The first questions that arose were related to her closest circle: what had happened to her beloved grandparents? From her personal sphere the intellectual curiosity widened to touch upon the history of Finland and then the history of Europe, and finally, researching the fate of an individual during times of crisis.

Sirpa Kähkönen lives and works in Helsinki. She constructs her works upon research, using a wide array of archives, newspaper clippings, research material, and contemporary literature. Inspired by microhistorical research tradition, Sirpa writes about how mentalities are formed, and how the immaterial inheritance runs in family lines and in societies.

Sirpa Kähkönen’s historical novel begins where source information ends. It opens the gates to experiencing the past in a sensory way; the characters live out the story as physical, sensual beings.

Sirpa Kähkönen has published thirteen novels of which four have been nominated for the prestigious Finlandia prize and one for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She has also published three non-fiction titles, one of which was nominated for the Tieto-Finlandia prize for non-fiction literature. In 2022, Kähkönen received the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize for significant achievements in culture.

Awards and nominations:

Kirjallisuuden valtionpalkinto 1992 - The State Literary Prize 1992

Savonia-palkinto 1999 - Savonia Prize 1999

Kuopion taiteilijaseuran kirjallisuuden tunnustuspalkinto 2003 - The Kuopio Artist Society's Literary Award 2003

Kiitos kirjasta -mitali 2008 - Thank You for the book medallion 2008

Savon Sanomien Savonmuan Hilima -titteli 2010

Otavan kirjasäätiön Veijo Meri -palkinto 2012 - Otava Literary Fund Veijo Meri Prize 2012

Pro-Finlandia -mitali 2015 - Pro Finlandia Medallion 2015

Suomi-palkinto 2016 - Suomi-Finland Prize 2016 from the Ministry of Education and Culture

Savonia-palkinto 2021 - Savonia Prize 2021

Suomen Kulttuurirahaston suurpalkinto - The Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize 2021

Nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2023

Bibliography


2023, Literary Fiction

36 Urns: A History of Being Wrong

Sirpa Kähkönen


2021, Literary Fiction

The Green Chamber

Sirpa Kähkönen

STELLA by Ted Forsström and Åsa Lucander nominated for the Finlandia Prize!

We are thrilled to announce that STELLA is nominated for this year’s FINLANDIA PRIZE in the category BEST CHILDREN’S & YA TITLE 2023!

STELLA is an interactive and humorous bedtime picturebook by Ted Forsström and illustrated by Åsa Lucander. Originally written in Finland-Swedish, the rights have already been sold into 7 languages.

Motivation of the Finlandia jury:
In the book, a storytime during a weekday evening derails when the family’s dog starts barking. The expressive illustrations and colour palette contribute nicely to the atmosphere of the story and the language is packed with inventive rhymes and details where imagination wins over everyday life. In the work, the cozy weekday evening is interrupted by chaos in a way that gives your laughing muscles a good workout. A guaranteed fun reading time in both Swedish and Finnish.”

Finlandia is the most prestigious literary award in Finland, worth 30 000 euros. The winner will be announced on November 29th.

Warmest congratulations to Ted Forsström and Åsa Lucander!

Curious to find about more about the nominee? We have a full English translation for you to read!

Download the materials for STELLA here!

 

Snälla Stella, sluta skälla!
Förlaget, March 2023, 44 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Förlaget (orig. Finland-Swedish), Etana Editions (Finnish)
SWEDEN: Förlaget
DENMARK: Gads Förlag
ESTONIA: Tammerraamat
GERMANY: Mixtvision
HUNGARY: Cerkabella
NORTH MACEDONIA: Ars Lamina

Reading materials:
English PDF
Finland-Swedish PDF

About author


Åsa Lucander

Åsa Lucander is a director and designer, working in illustration and animation both in the UK as well as Scandinavia.

Originally from Finland, she moved to London in 2001 where she was introduced to animation while studying illustration. After graduating she joined the animation studio 12foot6 where she stayed until 2014.

In 2015 she joined Aardman Animations in Bristol, where she is now based.

With multi-faceted strengths in storytelling, design and animation she loves exploring various creative styles, be it in 2d, stop motion or CGI. Åsa has a passion for hand rendered drawings and explores many different textures and mediums in all areas of her work. She loves mixing humour with melancholy and thrills in bringing characters of every shape and form to life with compelling scripts and inventive visions. She nimbly blends music, authentic dialogue, film segments, hand drawn characters and dolls in innovative ways.

Åsa has directed multiple shorts, including her award-winning film Lost Property, as well as many heart-warming commercial films for clients including Blue Peter, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Project Every- one and Childline, and a VR documentary film for BBC. Most recently she directed the music video for Coldplay’s track Daddy that has won numerous awards.

About author


Ted Forsström

Ted Forsström is a Finnish-Swedish media personality living in Ostrobothnia. He has worked as a comedian, actor, radio host and author, often as part of the duo Ted & Kaj. Today he works with children's programs on Svenska Yle and talks once a week in Finland’s biggest Swedish podcast, Ted & Kaj, together with Kaj Korkea-aho.

THE HORNED GOD by Magdalena Hai nominated for the Finlandia Prize!

We are thrilled to announce that THE HORNED GOD  is nominated for this year’s FINLANDIA PRIZE in the category BEST CHILDREN’S & YA TITLE 2023!

THE HORNED GOD is a YA horror novel by Magdalena Hai, winner of the Finnish Literary Export Prize (2017) and Kaarina Helakisa Prize (2020). Her books have been sold into close to 30 languages. The Finnish cover design is by Karin Niemi.

Motivation of the Finlandia jury:
The novel describes a time in life where one life ends and another should begin, but nothing is as it was. The book creates the world of youth with skill and the dynamic structure and surprisingness are kept till the end. The short novel captures many twists, levels, and emotions with a gripping style. The title has horror, guilt, and appealing symbolism, starting with the dramatic cover. It is a true YA novel.

Finlandia is the most prestigious literary award in Finland, worth 30 000 euros. The winner will be announced on November 29th.

Warmest congratulations to Magdalena Hai!

Curious to find about more about the nominee? We have an English sample and synopsis for you to read!

Download the materials for THE HORNED GOD here!

Sarvijumala
Otava, March 2023, 150 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

Reading materials:
English sample & synopsis

About author


Magdalena Hai

Magdalena Hai is an award-winning author, lover of cross-genre fiction and all things strange. Her fiction often combines elements of sci-fi, fantasy and horror.

Her Little Shop of Nightmares series has been sold to 30 territories around the World. Among Hai's many accolades are winning the Finnish Literary Export Prize, and being nominated for the Finlandia Prize for Children's and Youth Litetature and the Nordic Council Children & Young People's Literature Prize.

Besides being an author, Hai teaches writing and is an active member and editor in the publishing co-operative Osuuskumma.

Bibliography


2023, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 4: The Crystal Skull

Magdalena Hai


2023, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

The Horned God

Magdalena Hai


2021, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

The Spell of Iset

Magdalena Hai


2021, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 3: Sticky the Horrible Snowman

Magdalena Hai


2020, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

Miss Swift’s Weird and Wonderful House

Magdalena Hai


2019, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 2: The Mystery of the Missing Teeth

Magdalena Hai


2018, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

The Third Sister

Magdalena Hai


2018, Chapter Books (6-9 Years)

Little Shop of Nightmares 1: The Terrible Tickling Powder

Magdalena Hai


2017, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

Grumblebelly Cat

Magdalena Hai


2012, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

The Beggar Princess

Magdalena Hai

Reetta Niemelä and Katri Kirkkopelto nominated for the Export Prize!

We are thrilled to share that BLACK MOON LIGHTHOUSE by Reetta Niemelä and Katri Kirkkopelto is nominated for the Torch-Bearer Prize – a prize established to promote Finnish book exports. The winner will be announced on 2nd December. Congrats Reetta and Katri!

Second in the BLACK MOON series and a prequel to the Finlandia-nominated and audience favourite 2022 BLACK MOON INN, which won the Arvid Lydecken 2022 award, the jury said of BLACK MOON LIGHTHOUSE:

“Black Moon Lighthouse is a beautifully composed, rich work which plays with language and image and has a timely message. Children’s literature at its best. The illustrations have a fresh take, and they live wonderfully with Saimi following the secret folk and the lively, enchanting, and thought-provoking story.”

BLACK MOON INN has sold to Estonia – rights are free everywhere else!

Download the materials for THE BLACK MOON series here!

Black Moon Inn

Reetta Niemelä, illustrated by Katri Kirkkopelto

Black Moon Inn starts a new magical middle-grade series irresistibly blending mythology and environmental protection!

  • Winner of the Arvid Lydecken Prize 2022!
  • Nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2022 – Audience favourite!

The animal-loving Saimi Salaper and her veterinarian father move to the city of Bluehill in order to set up a hospital for wild animals there. By coincidence, they buy an old inn, where one can hear weird noises behind closed doors, see rare butterflies fly past on the yard, and, at the rooftop, there seems to be… a perch for dragons.

Little by little, the house reveals its secrets to Saimi, and soon the Black Moon Inn is open for creatures of the secret folk who seek refuge there: the trolls, the fairies, and many more. But there’s a threat lurking just behind a corner, and the Inn takes both Saimi and the reader on an exciting adventure into the world of the secret folk.

Black Moon Lighthouse

Reetta Niemelä, illustrated by Katri Kirkkopelto

Black Moon Lighthouse continues the charming magical adventure of Saimi and her friends of the secret folk!

Something truly mysterious is happening in Bluehill! A group called “Bedtime’s Ugliest Fears Forgotten: Orcs Out at Night” aka B.U.F.F.O.O.N, which persecutes the secret folk, is circling the streets. Indeed, it seems that some folk have gone missing already! Saimi and her friends try to find out what it’s all about, but that is hard to do when adults are disturbing them. And if that wasn’t enough, a bunch of ghosts decide to celebrate the Kekri festival. Eventually the worst fears of Saimi and her friends come true: one of them disappears!

A dangerous operation begins, illuminated by the silver-coloured heartfires of dragons shining deep from within the ground. Is it possible that the ancient lighthouse would once more shine the beacons of the secret folk?

BLACK MOON INN
MUSTAN KUUN MAJATALO
Lasten Keskus, 2021, 310 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Lasten Keskus (orig.)
ESTONIA: Varrak

 

BLACK MOON LIGHTHOUSE
MUSTAN KUUN MAJAKKA
Lasten Keskus, 2023

READING MATERIALS
English synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Lasten Keskus (orig.)

About author


Katri Kirkkopelto

Katri Kirkkopelto is an award-winning artist, illustrator, and writer. She has illustrated and written multiple popular picture books and schoolbooks, and her children’s books have also been seen on the theatre stage and publihsed in other languages.

In 2009 Kirkkopelto received the Kylli Koski award, and her works have been nominated for Finlandia Junior in 2016, 2020, and 2022 (Black Moon Inn, with Reetta Niemelä). In 2021 she won the Arvid Lydecken Award together with the writer Reetta Niemelä for Black Moon Inn. Kirkkopelto’s illustrations have been exhibited in Finland and also abroad, e.g. in the biennale in Bratislava.

About author


Reetta Niemelä

Reetta Niemelä is an award-winning children’s author. She has written poetry collections, picture books, nonfiction, study material and many beloved book series for children. For her work, she’s been awarded e.g. Kaarina Helakisa Award and for her nonfiction the Tietopöllö award.  Niemelä’s fantasy novel Black Moon Inn, illustrated by Katri Kirkkopelto, won the Arvid Lydecken Award, was nominated for Finlandia Junior and was selected as the audience favourite.

Topics related to nature and especially animals are recurring themes in Niemelä’s work. She wants to focus on how literature and language can give a voice to the silent ones.

New accolades for Elina Pitkäkangas, Maria Turtschaninoff, and Max Seeck!

We have many happy news from last week’s Helsinki Book Fair to share with you!

First up, Elina Pitkäkangas won the Kuvastaja award for best Finnish fantasy title published in 2022 with her genre-breaking novel SANG! The jury said:

“The author challenges our perception of what is a fantasy world in different ways, especially by including elements that remind us of modern technology, such as geren and HeavenNet. Why should fantasy worlds be only pre-industrial societies? [–] There are also other interesting elements in the book, such as the use of sign language and the matriarchal succession.” 

Massive congrats, Elina!
SANG has sold to Germany, Denmark, and Turkey – rights in other territories are still available!

Download the materials for SANG here!

 

Secondly, Maria Turtschaninoff received flowers and the Young Aleksis award for her novel INHERITED LAND! The award is given by the high schoolers in Finland, and the jury said:

“Inherited Land is a beautiful recounting of Finnishness, nature, and folk traditions. The winning work is an easily approachable nature description. [–] The title fits for many different readers and is interesting in its narration and style.”

Huge congrats, Maria!
INHERITED LAND has sold to 23 territories – rights are still free in Spain, Portugal, Japan, Lithuania…

Download the materials for INHERITED LAND here!

 

Last but not least, Max Seeck finally received the physical award for the Glass Key win! THE LAST GRUDGE was chosen as the best Nordic crime title in August, and this was celebrated at the Helsinki Book Fair. The Glass Key jury said:

The Last Grudge combines a classic locked room mystery and an action plot with murders and all, thus reminding one of both the world of Peter Wimsey, by Dorothy L. Sayers, and of the media-sexy descriptions of a battle of power within a powerful family, as evidenced by HBO’s Succession-series. The title is written in a gripping and exciting way, merging homeliness and horror in a way that’s very popular in crime literature at the moment.

The Jessica Niemi series has so far sold to over 40 territories, but the rights are still available in e.g. Japan, China, Brazil, Georgia…

Download the materials for JESSICA NIEMI series here!

About author


Elina Pitkäkangas

Elina Pitkäkangas is an author from Nokia, Finland, and an active advocate of YA literature. She has studied creative writing and did her master's degree in the University of Helsinki majoring in literature. Her works seamlessly combine elements of fantasy, social criticism and moral questions. Pitkäkangas has written five novels and produces book-related videos to TikTok and Instagram on her channel @elinapitkakangas.

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, and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. 

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Inherited Land has been sold to 21 territories. Maria has a Master of Arts in human ecology and works full-time as a writer.

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. 

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four years and 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 debut trilogy following protagonist Daniel Kuisma sold over 40,000 copies in Finland. His new Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! In Faithful Reader, AKA The Witch Hunter (US title), book 1 of the Jessica Niemi series, Helsinki Police Detective Jessica Niemi hunts an occultist serial killer. In Evil’s Net, AKA Ice Coven, Jessica and her team follow clues hidden on Instagram to solve the disappearance of a young influencer and a manga artist.

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.

REVENGE (THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #1) by Kaisu Tuokko nominated for the BookBeat Newcomer of the Year Award!

We are thrilled to let you know that Kaisu Tuokko’s bestselling debut thriller REVENGE (THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #1) has been nominated for the BookBeat Newcomer of the Year Award! 

Since 2020, the audio- and e-book streaming platform BookBeat has given out awards for the Finnish newcomer of the year and the Finnish crime author of the year. The winner of the Finnish Newcomer of the Year Award will be decided based on audiobook streaming/download data and reviews, and the winner will be announced during the Helsinki Book Fair in late October.

THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #1: REVENGE has become a bestseller in Finland: it has sold close to 10,000 copies in just four months, it continues on the Finnish bestseller charts, and it has received excellent reviews!

THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS will eventually comprise six titles and the series is perfect for fans of Viveca Sten, Camilla Läckberg, Mari Jungstedt, and Åsa Larsson!

Download the materials for THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #1: REVENGE here!

The Kristinestad Murders #1: Revenge

Kaisu Tuokko

The peace of the idyllic seaside town Kristinestad is broken in the first installment of an addictive new crime series.

The body of a young man is discovered in the sea, and the criminal investigator Mats Bergholm is responsible for the case. At the same time, journalist Eevi Manner is sent to dig out a scoop of the event for the local newspaper. Both are surprised to find each other on the grim beach: the two have a past together – a past which they now need to set aside to solve the case.

Eevi is contacted by a young woman, and it becomes clear that the death is just one link in a chain of events unfitting the picturesque town. The full picture becomes clearer and clearer, although the secrets of the locals are buried deep. Social media and recordings can offer help in solving the case, but the lies and muddy memories of the people involved cast doubts in every direction.

Perfect for fans of Viveca Sten and Camilla Läckberg, this opening of the new KRISTINESTAD MURDERS crime series follows in the footsteps of strong female crime authors, offering gripping crime plots and interpersonal drama.

THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #1: REVENGE
KOSTO
Otava, 2023, 298 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

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.

Bibliography


2023, Crime & Suspense

THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS #1: Revenge

Kaisu Tuokko

THE ENCHANTMENT by Riikka Pulkkinen has been nominated for the Botnia Literature Prize!

We are very happy to announce that THE ENCHANTMENT (orig. Lumo, Otava, August 2022) by Riikka Pulkkinen has been nominated for the Botnia Literature Prize! 
The prize, worth 15 000 euros, is awarded for the seventh time in 2023,  to a title with an author originating from Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, or currently living there. The winner will be announced in October. We are also very excited that THE ENCHANTMENT will be published in English by Scribe UK.

The Botnia Literature Prize jury praised Pulkkinen’s novel saying:  

“Riikka Pulkkinen’s The Enchantment introduces one to a traditional scene where a young girl is found dead, but the story is not traditionally straightforward. Its power is in the meanings one gives to girlhood and in how those meanings are suppressed under complex structures of power.

The story of the main character, told by multiple narrators, blurs into a text which is not meant to be completely clear. The identities are shifting, and they are illustrated by Pulkkinen with a playful searching, described naturally and beautifully. Even if the acts of both squeezing oneself into a role and tearing oneself apart from them are described at times even violently, the story is underlined with a deep understanding and warmth for the subject.

Pulkkinen’s novel is an autopsy of stories in a time in which the power to create your own story is ever-present, but at the same time the authority to interpret stories has scattered far and wide. The enchantment of those stories we make up is reflected in Pulkkinen’s sharp prose. The tension between the beauty and the ugliness of the book makes one shiver.

The rights for THE ENCHANTMENT are free e.g. in Italy, France, Estonia, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Nordic countries, Asian territories…

Download materials for THE ENCHANTMENT here

Earlier this summer the English language rights were sold to SCRIBE:
“Enchantment is a deeply thought-out, psychological novel about the ways that we present ourselves, what we let others see and what we hide away. What seems at first like it could be a simple mystery about the unexpected death of a teenage girl becomes a fascinating dismantling of a well-worn trope, in which the ensemble cast reveal their own deepest fears and failings through their projections onto the central character of Philippa, who we never quite come to know in her own right.”
– The Publisher Molly Slight at Scribe UK 

Finnish praise:  “One can read Riikka Pulkkinen’s novel The Enchantment as a report of why Philippa died. The book naturally tells of her as a character who existed. But she can be read also as a description of girlhood and femininity. [–] Riikka Pulkkinen is skilled at writing about friendship, love, the caring of others, and of yearning. She manages again to charm the reader, to make them think of their own youth and how events in childhood have influenced adulthood.”   
–Kirjallisuustoimittaja book blog, Seppo Puttonen, former literary editor at YLE

“Riikka Pulkkinen triumphs with a metafictional novel.  A novel dealing with girlhood prompts readers to ponder the power of narrative.
– Helsingin Sanomat, Starred review

 

THE ENCHANTMENT

By Riikka Pulkkinen

This shiningly beautiful novel is an autopsy of girlhood and power

✓  Riikka Pulkkinen is a shining star in Finnish literature, an award-winning and bestselling author!

Philippa Laakso, aged seventeen, is found dead in her yard at home. Nothing suggests a crime, and everyone who knew her is certain she wasn’t suicidal. On the other hand, all who knew her seem to hold a differing view of her. The investigation sees them being interviewed, but behind every view and story is Philippa’s influence. She still has the people around her in a sharp grip: her friend, ex-boyfriend, teacher, neighbors.

Riikka Pulkkinen’s anticipated novel examines the power and comfort of make-believe and the thin line between love and play. Every character in the novel sees Philippa in his or her own way, as a mirror for fantasizing, anger, aspirations, comfort, and freedom, and uses their perceived image of Philippa to their own ends.

Lumo
Otava, August 2022, 383 pp

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

UNITED KINGDOM: Scribe
WORLD ENGLISH: Scribe

Reading materials:

English sample & synopsis
German sample
Media coverage
Finnish edition

About author


Riikka Pulkkinen

Riikka Pulkkinen (b. 1980) is one of the top names in Finnish literature. Her debut novel The Limit (2006) gained wide attention, was a bestseller, and was adapted into a play and a TV series in Finland. Her international breakthrough came with her second novel, True (2010), which was the one novel everyone was talking about that year at the Frankfurt book fair. The novel has been published in 17 countries to date.

Pulkkinen’s novels are characterized by the precision with which she describes the psychology of the characters, and the philosophical themes that reflect from the characters into the refined structure of the novels and culminate on the level of the plot. The main questions she explores in her novels concern power, responsibility, and justice.

Pulkkinen has an M.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Helsinki, and she lives in Helsinki with her husband and her two children. She enjoys dancing and running in the forest or by the seaside. If she weren’t a writer, she would be a psychologist or a baker.

For her works, Riikka Pulkkinen has received the Kaarle award in 2007, the Laila Hirvisaari Fund stipend in 2007, the Veijo Meri Award in 2019, and her novel True was nominated for the Finlandia Prize in 2010.

Bibliography


2022, Literary Fiction

The Enchantment

Riikka Pulkkinen


2010, Literary Fiction

True

Riikka Pulkkinen


2006, Literary Fiction

The Limit

Riikka Pulkkinen

SANG nominated for the Young Aleksis Award!

We are thrilled to announce that SANG by Elina Pitkäkangas has been nominated for the Young Aleksis Award! The award is given yearly to a Finnish YA title, chosen by a jury of junior high school students. The prize will be awarded at Turku Book Fair on 29th September.

SANG, the first part in a LGBTQIA+ YA fantasy / romantasy duology with cross-over potential, has previously won the Topelius award and City of Tampere Literature Prize, and the rights have been sold to Turkey, Germany, and Denmark. The sequel, NARAKA, will be published in Finland April 2024.

Rights are still available for France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, UK, etc – now is the time to secure this fantasy highlight for your list!

Download the materials for SANG here!

 

SANG
Elina Pitkäkangas

When a person’s value is determined by money and one’s happiness by family, what will be left when both are ripped away?

The state of Fusang is recovering from a war that ravaged the world. 16-year-old Kong Dawei, an earnest young man, is living in a poor mountain village and tries to pay his adopted siblings’ citizen dues by transporting contraband goods at night.

After a series of unfortunate events, Dawei ends up in the southern capital which is ruled by the cruel matriarch of the White Tiger Clan. When there is nothing else to lose, Dawei has only one goal: to get back to his loved ones – whatever it takes.

Sang is an addictive fantasy novel that travels through cold mountains and humid cities, noisy bazaars and opulent halls, and the world after the Black Rain, in which one’s value is measured in money.

 

NARAKA
Elina Pitkäkangas

The sequel to SANG takes the reader back to Fusang and the world where Kong Dawei is faced with impossible choices.

The new novel about war and human relations by the winner of the Topelius Prize.

Kong Dawei has returned to his home region, but nothing is the same. The second book of the duology, loved by readers and praised by experts, is a vivid and an intensive novel about war, morals, and ever holding love.

The sequel of the top-rated book SANG presents Fusang’s region Naraka, a workcamp where the unfortunate citizens are sent. The resistance is growing there. When Kong Dawei finds himself in the middle of The Iron Revolution, he must face the boundaries of his loyalty. Whose side does he want to be on? Can there be winners in the war?

Sang
WSOY, September 2022, 496pp
Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig. 2-book deal)
DENMARK: Straarup (2-book-deal)
TURKEY: Indigo Kitap
GERMANY: cbj

 

Naraka
WSOY, April 2024
Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig. 2-book deal)
DENMARK: Straarup (2-book-deal)

About author


Elina Pitkäkangas

Elina Pitkäkangas is an author from Nokia, Finland, and an active advocate of YA literature. She has studied creative writing and did her master's degree in the University of Helsinki majoring in literature. Her works seamlessly combine elements of fantasy, social criticism and moral questions. Pitkäkangas has written five novels and produces book-related videos to TikTok and Instagram on her channel @elinapitkakangas.

Bibliography


2023, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Naraka

Elina Pitkäkangas


2022, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Sang

Elina Pitkäkangas

THE LAST GRUDGE by Max Seeck has won the prestigious Glass Key Award! 

We are beyond thrilled to announce that THE LAST GRUDGE (orig. Kauna, Tammi 2021)  by New York Times Bestselling Author Max Seeck won the Glass Key Award 2023! The Glass Key Award (Glasnyckeln/Glasnøglen) is an award by the Scandinavian Crime Novel Society and is given out to a book written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish author each year. Previous winners include Henning Mankell, Peter Høeg, Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson, Karin Fossum, and many more. The members of the jury read the Danish edition of the book, Zetterborg-sagen (Gutkind, 2022), translated by Siri Nordborg Møller.

Please join us in congratulating Max Seeck and his 40+ publishers to this amazing —  and well deserved — achievement! 

The jury’s motivations were as follows:

The Last Grudge combines a classic locked room mystery and an action plot with murders and all, thus reminding one of both the world of Peter Wimsey, by Dorothy L. Sayers, and of the media-sexy descriptions of a battle of power within a powerful family, as evidenced by HBO’s Succession-series. The title is written in a gripping and exciting way, merging homeliness and horror in a way that’s very popular in crime literature at the moment.

I’m very honored by the win, for I know all the titles nominated are deserving of the win. I want to thank my family, my Finnish publisher Tammi, my Danish publisher Gutkind, my agency the Ahlback Agency, and the board of the Whodunnit society who chose The Last Grudge as the Finnish nominee for the Glass Key Award! I rate this award at the very top and it’ll have an honorary spot on my bookshelf in my office”, said Max Seeck right as he heard of the win.

Our CEO Elina Ahlbäck commented:
We are overjoyed for Max Seeck’s world-class win of the Glass Key Award. Finnish crime literature is now permanently on the world map.The Last Grudge (orig. Kauna) is a gem of world-class crime literature and Max Seeck the brightest-shining star in crime literature.

This is only the second time a Finnish crime or thriller novel has been awarded the Glass Key Award. The previous Finnish winner was Ystävät kaukana (“Friends far away”) by Matti Rönkä in 2007.

The Last Grudge is the third novel in the Jessica Niemi series. Rights sold in 40 territories and Hollywood: an international TV-show is in development. Over 400,000 copies of his books have been sold in Finland alone. Max Seeck is currently writing a new, independent crime novel, MILO, which has already been sold to Germany and will be published in Finland in September 2024.

Download the materials for THE LAST GRUDGE here!

Get in touch with us for first materials of MILO here!

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. 

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four years and 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 debut trilogy following protagonist Daniel Kuisma sold over 40,000 copies in Finland. His new Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! In Faithful Reader, AKA The Witch Hunter (US title), book 1 of the Jessica Niemi series, Helsinki Police Detective Jessica Niemi hunts an occultist serial killer. In Evil’s Net, AKA Ice Coven, Jessica and her team follow clues hidden on Instagram to solve the disappearance of a young influencer and a manga artist.

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.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS picked as book prize for German reading competition

We are happy to announce that AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS by Tuutikki Tolonen and Kati Vuorento has been picked as the book prize for a prestigious German reading competition organised by the German bookseller association and under the patronage of the German Federal President.  As part of this national reading competition, children from schools all over Germany will compete against each and the finale will even be on TV! Each of the participants in the regional round will be given a copy of a special edition with new cover of AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS.

 

Huge congratulations to Tuutikki, Kati, and their German publisher Carlsen!

Download the materials for AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS here!

AGNES JA UNIEN AVAIN / AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
WSOY, March 2020, 200 pp

Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Portál, s. r. o.
DENMARK: ABC Forlag
ESTONIA: Eesti Raamat
GERMANY: Carlsen Verlag
HUNGARY: Cerkabella
ROMANIA: Editura Paralela 45
RUSSIA: Rosman

About author


Kati Vuorento

Kati Vuorento is an illustrator living and working in Espoo, Finland: ”In small details there is an infinite magic. I want my illustrations to stir emotion in the audience. Empathizing is important to me. In my illustrations, I always include approachable characteristics to even the most hardened anti-hero. This is how I mold the characters into personalities with depth and dimension.”

She is the illustrator of middle-grade Agnes Series by Tuutikki Tolonen that in 2021 was nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award!


About author


Tuutikki Tolonen

Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, a Finnish literary magazine for children. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award.  Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny trilogy sparked during a family breakfast. “My son Leo, then six, said: ‘I heard on the radio yesterday that all moms have to go on vacation and monsters will take their places,” she says.

Her other bestselling series is the Agnes-series, of which the first book "Agnes and the Garden of Dreams" was in 2021 nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award. Tolonen tells that the inspiration for Agnes comes for her interest for weird and inexpicable tales, ghost stories and mysteries: "I wanted to write  book my daughter Aili, then nine, would like to read - not too long, not too scary, but very curious."

SANG wins the City of Tampere Literature Prize!

We are excited to share the news that SANG by Elina Pitkäkangas won the City of Tampere Literature Prize!

The jury had great things to say about this outstanding YA fantasy novel

Sang, Elina Pitkäkangas’ fantasy novel, is an incredibly beautifully built title, rich in its language, intensive, and truly exciting, luring the reader into the story right from the start and keeping its grip till the end – and in a way that the reader waits for the sequel. Sang is a story about poverty and wealth, about power and oppression, about the relationship between nature and humans, about love and brotherhood. Its timeless, enchanting, multilayered story utilizes the cultures from China and East Asia skillfully, respecting them. A fantastical work, also for those who are not traditional friends of fantasy literature.” – the City of Tampere Literature Prize jury

SANG is the first part in a LGBTQIA+ friendly YA fantasy / romantasy duology with cross-over potential that has been praised for its inclusivity and world-building. It won the prestigious Topelius Award early this year and rights have been sold to Denmark and Turkey, with an offer for another language on the table. The eagerly-awaited sequel, NARAKA, will publish in Finland this fall.

Rights are still available for France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, UK, etc – make sure not to miss this powerful novel!

Download the materials for SANG here! 

Sang
WSOY, September 2022, 496pp
Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig. 2-book deal)
DENMARK: Straarup (2-book-deal)
TURKEY: Indigo Kitap

About author


Elina Pitkäkangas

Elina Pitkäkangas is an author from Nokia, Finland, and an active advocate of YA literature. She has studied creative writing and did her master's degree in the University of Helsinki majoring in literature. Her works seamlessly combine elements of fantasy, social criticism and moral questions. Pitkäkangas has written five novels and produces book-related videos to TikTok and Instagram on her channel @elinapitkakangas.

Bibliography


2023, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Naraka

Elina Pitkäkangas


2022, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Sang

Elina Pitkäkangas

INHERITED LAND by Maria Turtschaninoff honoured with the “Thank You for the Book” Award!

We are happy to announce that Maria Turtschaninoff was given the “Thank You for the Book” Award for her internationally best-selling book INHERITED LAND (Finnish title: Suomaa, orig. Arvejord) on 23st April 2023 at the Helsinki Central Library Oodi celebrating the World Book Day!

The award, which is handed out yearly by booksellers and librarians in Finland, is a recognition given to an especially stimulating book. The jury said:

“Turtschaninoff has a wonderful skill of building unique characters, even if they appear for only one chapter in the book. The ancient but already crumbling forest relationship of Finns is a timely and rousing theme. Inherited Land is a beautiful and thought-provoking title, which is especially impressive as Turtschaninoff’s first adult novel.”

Previously, INHERITED LAND has been awarded the Swedish Yle Literature Prize! The international success story of INHERITED LAND continues, as the rights for the title have now been sold to 20 territories! 

Rights are still available in Greece, Spain, Japan, China, Portugal, Latvia, Iceland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Turkey…

Download the materials for INHERITED LAND here!

 

Inherited Land

Maria Turtschaninoff

Inherited Land is an episodic work of literary fiction depicting human relationships with nature across generations, following in the tradition of family sagas like One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

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

  • Winner of the Svenska YLE Literature Prize!

Inherited Land tells multiple enchanting stories about short human lives on a small farmstead in the north of Finland with its golden cloudberries and the mythical woodland animals. The hub of the narrative is a marsh close to the farmstead, and nature is the constant while humans are like dragonflies: here one day, gone the next. Across four centuries, the people face wars, epidemics, and heartbreaks, but from the woods they find shelter and a place to be themselves

Inherited Land is a novel about the climate crisis without ever mentioning it by name. Instead, the novel explores what people have thought about their environment, how they have used it and why. The novel is a reminder of where we have come from, and what a relationship between humans and nature could look like in the future.

The book is beautiful like a piece of jewelry and rich like a forest.
– Freja Rudels, Åbo Underrättelser newspaper

Arvejord
Förlaget, August 2022, 371 pp.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Förlaget (orig. Finland-Swedish)
FINLAND: Tammi (Finnish)
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BULGARIA: Izida
CROATIA: HENA COM
CZECH REPUBLIC: ARGO
DENMARK: Alpha Forlag
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat
FRANCE: Éditions Paulsen
GERMANY: Rowohlt
HUNGARY: L’Harmattan
ISRAEL: Hakibbutz Hameuchad – Sifriat Poalim
ITALY: Bompiani
NETHERLANDS: Atlas Contact
NORWAY: Bonnier Norsk Forlag
POLAND: Poznańskie
ROMANIA: Editura Univers
SWEDEN: Förlaget
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Pushkin Press
UNITED STATES & CANADA: Pushkin Press
WORLD ALBANIAN: Shkupi Publishing House
Reading materials:
Swedish edition
English sample and synopsis

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, and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. 

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Inherited Land has been sold to 21 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

Inherited Land

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

MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE MINIATURE PIRATES by Noora Kunnas and Teemu Juhani has won the Swiss PRIX CHRONOS Award 2023!

We are excited to share the news that MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE MINIATURE PIRATES by Noora Kunnas and Teemu Juhani has won the Prix Chronos 2023!

The Prix Chronos is a Swiss Literature Prize that is honouring books for children that depict conviviality and exchange between different generations.
Two children, two elderly people, a rooster and a horde of mini pirates: A colorful bouquet of different people and animals plays into this story and makes the book a unique and humorous reading pleasure.”
– Prix Chronos 2023 jury

Noora Kunnas was overjoyed by the news:
It feels unbelievably great to win this prize. It’s amazing when your book is recognized internationally.

You can read more about the prize and the ceremony here: Preisverleihung 2023 (prosenectute.ch)

Congratulations to Noora and Teemu!

Written by award-nominated author Noora Kunnas and illustrated by Teemu Juhani, the wonderful MABEL MERRYWEATHER series has been sold to 8 territories!
Rights are available in US, UK, France, Spain, Korea, Portugal, Turkey…

Reminder: The FILI translation grant application round is ongoing! FILI provides grants that can cover up to 70% of the costs of translating Finnish and Finland-Swedish titles to other languages. The deadline for the current application round is May 1st. You can find more information here: Translation and printing grants for publishers outside Finland – FILI

Download materials for MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE MINIATURE PIRATES here!

MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE MINIATURE PIRATES
SALMANTERIN TERTTU JA MINIMERIROSVOT
Otava, 2019, 140 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
DENMARK: ABC Forlag
GERMANY: Mixtvision
HUNGARY: Pagony
ITALY: Terre di Mezzo
NETHERLANDS: Veltman Uitgevers
POLAND: Znak
RUSSIA: Eksmo

 

MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE KING OF THIEVES
SALMANTERIN TERTTU JA HUIJAREIDEN KUNINGAS
Otava, 2020, 140 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
DENMARK: ABC Forlag
GERMANY: Mixtvision
POLAND: Znak
RUSSIA: Eksmo

 

MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE CHEESY MYSTERY
SALMANTERIN TERTTU JA JUUSTOINEN MYSTEERI
Otava, 2021, 144 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
POLAND: Znak
RUSSIA: Eksmo

 

MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE CROWBAR GALA
SALMANTERIN TERTTU JA SORKKARAUTAGAALA
Otava, 2022, 144 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

About author


Noora Kunnas

Noora Kunnas is a children’s author from Helsinki, Finland. She has the knack for making both children and grownups laugh while they’re immersed in her zany books. She loves animals and British humor – she grew up watching Jeeves and Wooster and eating ice cream straight from the container. Kunnas draws her inspiration from the world of Roald Dahl. The trademark of her books is a nutty humor, spiced with quirky characters, as well as the titillating mood of various settings, where anything – and we mean anything – is possible.

Noora Kunnas has published eight children’s books at Otava (2015 – 2022),  and her works have been nominated for the prestigious Tiiliskivi and Lukuvarkaus literary prizes in Finland. She graduated from the Turku Academy of Arts with a degree in film, and she worked in television since.

About author


Teemu Juhani

Teemu Juhani is a Finnish illustrator, comic artist and picture book author whose illustrations have been published in picture books and children's fiction in over 20 countries. In addition to children's books Teemu has illustrated magazines and educational material. Originally from the fields and woods of North Karelia, Teemu now lives, works and eats way too many cakes in Helsinki.

THE LAST GRUDGE by Max Seeck is nominated for the prestigious Glass Key Award!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that THE LAST GRUDGE (orig. Kauna, Tammi 2021)  by New York Times Bestselling Author Max Seeck is nominated for the Glass Key Award 2023! The Glass Key Award (Glasnyckeln/Glasnøglen) is an award by the Scandinavian Crime Novel Society and is given out to a book written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish author each year. Previous winners include Henning Mankell, Peter Høeg, Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson, Karin Fossum, and many more.

The 2023 nominees are:

Finland: Max SeeckKauna
Iceland: Ragnheidur GestsdóttirFarangur (engl. Baggage)
Norway: Torkil DamhaugHund uten grav
Sweden: Sara StrömbergSkred
Denmark: Torben MunksgaardDamevennens død

The winner will be announced in mid-June 2023. The Last Grudge, the third novel in the Jessica Niemi series,  has been published in Danish (Gutkind) as Zetterborg-sagen and in Swedish (Albert Bonniers) as Djävulspakten. Rights sold in 40 territories and Hollywood (TV-show). Max Seeck continues to be one of the top bestselling authors in Finland with over 300,000 copies of his books sold!

Praise for THE LAST GRUDGE:

An intricate, beautifully written, character-driven page-turner with some shocking twists.
—  Kirkus Reviews, USA

“Max Seeck has done it again. — The Last Grudge is an example of both his knowledge of the suspense thriller tradition and his meticulous way of building a story. — Seeck offers the readers incorrect clues and bluffs that are part of the suspense genre tradition, along with various references from film and literary works throughout the plot line – which is meandering and surprising in an exemplary way.” 
— Pertti Avola,Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Finland

Download the full Englishtext for THE LAST GRUDGE here!

Kauna
Tammi, September 2021, 390 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: EMAS
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY: Animus Kiadó Kft.
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
UK: Welbeck
USA & CANADA: Berkley / Penguin Random House
WORLD ARABIC: Arab Scientific
TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Reading materials: English edition

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. 

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four years and 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 debut trilogy following protagonist Daniel Kuisma sold over 40,000 copies in Finland. His new Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! In Faithful Reader, AKA The Witch Hunter (US title), book 1 of the Jessica Niemi series, Helsinki Police Detective Jessica Niemi hunts an occultist serial killer. In Evil’s Net, AKA Ice Coven, Jessica and her team follow clues hidden on Instagram to solve the disappearance of a young influencer and a manga artist.

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.

Bibliography


2024, Crime & Suspense

Milo

Max Seeck


2022, Crime & Suspense

Ghost Island

Max Seeck


2021, Crime & Suspense

The Last Grudge

Max Seeck


2020, Crime & Suspense

The Ice Coven

Max Seeck


2019, Crime & Suspense

The Witch Hunter

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Mephisto Touch

Max Seeck


2018, Crime & Suspense

The Call of Hades

Max Seeck


2016, Crime & Suspense

Angels of Hammurabi

Max Seeck

Illustrator Mari Ahokoivu wins the Puupäähattu Award! 

We are excited to share the news that our illustrator Mari Ahokoivu has won the Puupäähattu Award, given yearly to an established comic artist by the Finnish Comics Society!
The award has been given out since 1972, and past winners include e.g. Mauri Kunnas, Tom of Finland, and Tove and Lars Jansson! The name of the prize refers to the hat of Ola Fogelberg’s classic character Pekka Puupää.

Mari has illustrated e.g. multiple children’s nonfiction titles – the newest one is the lovely I’LL BECOME A RESEARCHER, written by Tero Mielonen, and together with Laura Ertimo she’s worked on the WEIRD WEATHER series, sold to 17 territories! 
She has also illustrated the charming ANNI THE FRIEND TAMER series, written by Kaisa Paasto!

Congrats on the award Mari!

Reminder: The FILI translation grant application round is ongoing! FILI provides grants that can cover up to 70% of the costs of translating Finnish and Finland-Swedish titles to other languages. The deadline for the current application round is February 1st. You can find more information here: Translation and printing grants for publishers outside Finland – FILI

 

I’ll Become a Researcher

Tero Mielonen, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu

Anyone can become a researcher!

South American Kat used to examine the starry skies with her father and now her job is to search for new planets. Marjane loved hunting for treasures, and she became an archeologist who solves the mysteries of ancient cultures. Eduardo loved playing video games. He did not become a professional gamer, but now he creates climate models and ponders what our world will be like in a hundred years. All kinds of people do science, and anyone can become a scientist!

Download the materials for I’LL BECOME A RESEARCHER here!

 

Weird Weather

Laura Ertimo, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu

Answering children’s tough questions about climate change and explaining how we can all fight against it!

Two clever buddies, Lotta and Kasper, get tired of their parents’ evasive answers about weird weather. They decide to research what climate change is really about. Weird Weather! is an accurate but hopeful children’s nonfiction title that explains how humans are responsible for climate change and what we can do to ensure a brighter future. It also gives tips on how everyone can make better choices and practice climate-positive skills every day.

The independent sequel, Where Did the Animals Go which helps to understand the biodiversity crisis, was awarded the Tietopöllö Award for best children’s nonfiction in 2022!

Download the materials for WEIRD WEATHER here!

 

Anni the Friend Tamer series

Kaisa Paasto, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu

Shy people of the world, unite!

Anni is a 10-year-old girl. When her friend Miisa moves abroad, Anni has a chilling realization: she has never had to find a new friend. Is it too late to learn how to make friends? Obviously, no one can learn a skill this big when they’re 10, can they? Anni also has another problem. Her new pet pig only wants to stay in his safe place, under the table. Good thing Anni’s brother has just had a back operation, as this means he has lots of time to lie in bed and dole out advice. Anni’s parents are alright as far as parents go, even if they laugh a bit too much at their own jokes.

So it’s not all bad – Anni just needs to become a ‘friend tamer’!

Download the materials for the ANNI THE FRIEND TAMER series here!

I’ll Become a researcher
Maailman Tutkijat
URSA, 2021, 53 pp.
Rights sold: FINLAND: Ursa (orig.), BULGARIA: Enthusiast, LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
Reading materials: Full English sample

 

Weird Weather! 
Ihme Ilmat – miksi ilmasto muuttuu
Into Kustannus, 2019, 48pp
Rights sold: FINLAND: Into Kustannus (orig.), DENMARK: Staarup & Co., ESTONIA: Avita, GERMANY: Cross Cult, HUNGARY: Ciceró Könyvstúdió, ITALY: Mondadori/Edizioni Piemme, LATVIA: Jumava, LITHUANIA: Obuolys, MEXICO: (Latin American Spanish rights): Ordinal Books, NORTH MACEDONIA: Feniks, NORWAY: Aschehoug, POLAND: Amber, SERBIA: Odiseja, SLOVAKIA: Ikar, SPAIN: Astronave, SWEDEN: Rabén & Sjögren, TURKEY: Kolektif, UNITED STATES (North America): Skyhorse Publishing/Sky Pony Press
Reading materials: Full English PDF

 

Anni the Friend Tamer
Anni Kaverinkesyttäjä
Tammi, March 2020, 128 pp.
Rights sold: FINLAND: Tammi (orig.), ALBANIA: Muza (books 1-2), GERMANY: Loewe Verlag (books 1-3)
Reading materials: Finnish edition, English sample and synopsis

About author


Mari Ahokoivu

Mari Ahokoivu is a Finnish illustrator and a comics artist. She’s been drawing professionally for over 10 years, mainly drawing graphic novels and comics for children, including Sanni & Joonas and Lola Olifante. Ahokoivu loves everything cute and scary. She lives and works in Copenhagen. 

Mari Ahokoivu won the Puupäähattu Comic Book Award 2023, and together with Laura Ertimo, they won the Tieto-Lauri Award 2022 and were nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2021 for WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO?!


MOONDAY LETTERS by Emmi Itäranta nominated for the BSFA Awards!

We are thrilled to share the news that THE MOONDAY LETTERS by Emmi Itäranta has been nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Awards!

The BSFA awards have been presented yearly since 1970, and the winner will be presented in April 2023.

THE MOONDAY LETTERS is the newest novel by Emmi Itäranta, a love story with elements of clifi and suspense woven into the sotry. The English edition was published by Titan in summer 2022, and has been widely praised:

“Itäranta accomplishes an impressive amount of worldbuilding in Lumi’s letters and makes her longing for her soulmate palpable. The result is a quietly powerful meditation on the human need to share life and love with others.”
– Publisher’s Weekly
“[A] melancholy, lovely, and alarming tale about humanity in crisis”
-Foreword reviews

Rights to the title have been sold in Czechia, Hungary, and World English – all other rights are still available!

Download the materials for THE MOONDAY LETTERS here!
Reminder: The FILI translation grant application round is ongoing! FILI provides grants that can cover up to 70% of the costs of translating Finnish and Finland-Swedish titles to other languages. The deadline for the current application round is February 1st. You can find more information here: Translation and printing grants for publishers outside Finland – FILI

THE MOONDAY LETTERS
Emmi Itäranta
A  love story that bends space, time, myth and science

Lumi is an Earth-born healer whose Mars-born spouse Sol disappears unexpectedly on a work trip. As Lumi begins her quest to find Sol, she delves gradually deeper into Sol’s secrets – and her own.

While recalling her own path to becoming a healer, Lumi discovers an underground environmental group called Stoneturners, which may have something to do with Sol’s disappearance. Lumi’s search takes her from the wealthy colonies of Mars to Earth that has been left a shadow of its former self due to vast environmental destruction. Gradually, she begins to understand that Sol’s fate may have been connected to her own for much longer than she thought.

THE MOONDAY LETTERS
Teos, 2020, 300pp

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
CZECHIA: Albatros Media
HUNGARY: Metropolis Media Group
WORLD ENGLISH (print, e-book): Titan Books
WORLD ENGLISH (audio): Recorded Books

Reading material: English edition

About author


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. Her latest novel The Moonday Letters was published in September 2020.

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.

Bibliography


2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Moonday Letters

Emmi Itäranta


2015, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Weaver

Emmi Itäranta


2012, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Memory of Water

Emmi Itäranta

SANG wins the Topelius Award!

We are thrilled to share the news that SANG by Elina Pitkäkangas won the Topelius Award!

The Topelius Award is an annual award that celebrates outstanding YA books. The jury was very impressed by SANG:

The dystopian novel upholds a beautiful and dark atmosphere in the state of Fusang. Sang is an epic story about a youngster trying to fight against the impossible circumstances of a totalitarian state. Kong Dawei joins the rebels, and breathtaking events follow one another. Pitkäkangas’ skill to conjure with believable details a whole world is enchanting. Our choices create a chain which not only joins us together, but also in the end defines who and what we are. Sang is a story about love, but above all it is a story about morale: all the things we are ready to do for one another.”   – the Topelius Award jury

SANG, part one in a YA fantasy duology, has already been sold to Denmark and Turkey. Rights for all other languages are still available – be quick to read this captivating title!

Since its publication in Finland last September, SANG has been an instant hit with young readers in Finland, who gave it glowing reviews and made Elina Pitkäkangas the most popular author for book signing at Helsinki bookfair!

Here is some of the praise SANG received:

“In the dystopian world recovering from a brutal war the different societal classes are miles apart, and the distance grows with a citizenship debt to be paid yearly. [–] Pitkäkangas describes the inequality and abuse of power skillfully. Warmth and balance is brought by the love between the brothers, but also romantic love and sexual desire. The object of the feelings is a friend, another boy, and the queer theme fits Sang without a fault.”
– Arla Kanerva in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

“Elina Pitkäkangas is an incredibly skilled storyteller. The story of Sang sucks me in before I can blink. With all my senses, I’m deep in the story, thanks to the detailed descriptions. I love it when I can feel so many emotions when reading a book – sadness, joy, anger, relief, happiness… [–] I also want to applaud the representation and using sensitivity readers. This is how a good book is made!”
– Paperimato bookstagram

“An indescribably magnificent and tear-inducing work that deals with really tough topics in such a deep and realistic way. Great reading trip with Dawei, and doesn’t leave a moment for breaks. Such wonderful work from Elina”
– Ella on goodreads

The sequel Naraka is coming out in Finland autumn 2023, continuing Dawei’s story!

Download the materials for SANG here!

Sang
WSOY, September 2022, 496pp

Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig. 2-book deal)
DENMARK: Straarup (2-book-deal)
TURKEY: Indigo Kitap

About author


Elina Pitkäkangas

Elina Pitkäkangas is an author from Nokia, Finland, and an active advocate of YA literature. She has studied creative writing and did her master's degree in the University of Helsinki majoring in literature. Her works seamlessly combine elements of fantasy, social criticism and moral questions. Pitkäkangas has written five novels and produces book-related videos to TikTok and Instagram on her channel @elinapitkakangas.

Bibliography


2023, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Naraka

Elina Pitkäkangas


2022, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Sang

Elina Pitkäkangas

Topelius Award nomination for SANG and Arvid Lydecken Award nomination for BENJAMIN BATEMAN!

We are so happy to announce that two of our Children’s & YA titles have been nominated for prestigious prizes in Finland!

SANG, the epic YA story by Elina Pitkäkangas, has been nominated for the Topelius Award 2023! The award is given yearly to a YA title of high quality, and the jury praised the book as follows:

“The dystopian novel upholds a beautiful and dark atmosphere in the state of Fusang. Sang is an epic story about a youngster trying to fight against the impossible circumstances of a totalitarian state. Kong Dawei joins the rebels, and breathtaking events follow one another. Pitkäkangas’ skill to conjure with believable details a whole world is enchanting. Our choices create a chain which not only joins us together, but also in the end defines who and what we are. Sang is a story about love, but above all it is a story about morale: all the things we are ready to do for one another.”
Download the materials for SANG here!

 

And BENJAMIN BATEMAN – SUPER EMBARRASSED SUPERHERO, the middle-grade title written by Hannele Lampela and illustrated by Pasi Pitkänen, has been nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award 2023! Given yearly to an meritorious children’s book, the jury said:

“Every kid wants to be a superhero. Benjamin Bateman finds out that he is a superhero from Martinlaakso, but the superpowers are missing every now and then. Is it possible there’s been a mistake after all? A very everyday story gets wings when Benjamin understands that he truly is of a superhero family. The narration is breathtaking, but not tiring. The plot really hooks one in, and it is hard to set the book down. The different time periods create ellipsis in the story, and the vivacity of it is awe-inspiring. As a superhero, Benjamin is humane and human-sized, which makes the story very relatable.”

Download the materials for BENJAMIN BATEMAN here!

Massive congrats to Elina, Hannele, and Pasi! The winners will be announced in January.

SANG

Elina Pitkäkangas

When a person’s value is determined by money and one’s happiness by family, what will be left when both are ripped away?

The state of Fusang is recovering from a war that ravaged the world. 16-year-old Kong Dawei, an earnest young man, is living in a poor mountain village and tries to pay his adopted siblings’ citizen dues by transporting contraband goods at night.

After a series of unfortunate events, Dawei ends up in the southern capital which is ruled by the cruel matriarch of the White Tiger Clan. When there is nothing else to lose, Dawei has only one goal: to get back to his loved ones – whatever it takes.

Sang is an addictive fantasy novel that travels through cold mountains and humid cities, noisy bazaars and opulent halls, and the world after the Black Rain, in which one’s value is measured in money.

 

BENJAMIN BATEMAN – SUPER EMBARRASSED SUPERHERO

Hannele Lampela, ill. Pasi Pasi Pitkänen

What if your superhero costume looked like a butterfly? And your only superpowers would be having a good heart and an imagination? Welcome to the embarrassing life of Benjamin Bateman!

The wholly hilarious and thrilling adventures of a super embarrassing superhero for middle-graders!

Benjamin Bateman is stunned when he finds out that he is part of a family of superheroes. Who would’ve believed that about poor Benjamin?

Benjamin’s superhero costume is quite embarrassing though – a butterfly. And his superpower is even more mortifying – a good heart and imagination! But when Benjamin must battle the terrifying Mortem, a deep imagination will come in handy.

The story is enriched by the colorful illustrations of Pasi Pitkänen. A movie is being planned based on the title.

 

Sang
WSOY 2022, 496pp.
Rights sold: FINLAND: WSOY

 

Paavali Pattinen: Supernolo supersankari
Otava 2022, 120 pp.
Rights sold: FINLAND: Otava, DENMARK: Bogoo

About author


Elina Pitkäkangas

Elina Pitkäkangas is an author from Nokia, Finland, and an active advocate of YA literature. She has studied creative writing and did her master's degree in the University of Helsinki majoring in literature. Her works seamlessly combine elements of fantasy, social criticism and moral questions. Pitkäkangas has written five novels and produces book-related videos to TikTok and Instagram on her channel @elinapitkakangas.

About author


Hannele Lampela

Hannele Lampela's lovable works have been praised above all for their rich humor and ability to truly show the world from a child's perspective. She has the ability to enchant her readers, and that is why both children and adults love her stories. Lampela's works have been dramatized for example by the Finnish National Theater, Kuopio City Theater and YLE's radio plays. She has been awarded the prestigious Kaarina Helakisa Prize for her work and she has been nominated for Runeberg Junior award in 2019 and for Storytel Award, and Arvid Lydecken Award in 2020.

In addition to her fictional works, Lampela has written and created  a world of stories for the next national ABC book of Finnish schools. First graders across the country will learn to read through Hannele’s texts. Lampela lives in a small wooden house in the middle of apple trees with her family, and spends her days not only writing, but also pampering herself and others on a regular basis.

About author


Pasi Pitkänen

Pasi Pitkänen has become known for his richly detailed illustrative work on several children’s books such as the extremely popular Monster Nanny trilogy by Tuutikki Tolonen. He has also worked at Rovio Entertainment as an illustrator, character designer, and graphic designer. Pitkänen is the illustrator of the popular Kepler62 series and the author of two Children's titles Monster Tournament and The Island of Lost Animals.

Among Pitkänen’s hobbies are quantum physics, people-watching, B-movies, insects and baking.

Johanna Sinisalo awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal!

As Finland prepares to celebrate its Independence Day tomorrow, we are thrilled to announce that the award-winning and internationally bestselling author Johanna Sinisalo has been awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal for services to Finnish literature!

Founded in 1943, the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland is a distinction awarded by the President of Finland to artists and writers in recognition of their long meritorious work and exceptional services to Finnish art, drama, literature and music. Awarded just before Independence Day (December 6th) to 10-15 people across all fields of culture, the Pro Finlandia Medal is widely considered the highest national accolade for Finnish artists and writers.

One of the leading Finnish science fiction and fantasy authors, Johanna Sinisalo’s literary career spans five decades and her works include novels, short stories, radio, TV and comic book scripts. Her first novel, Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi (TROLL), was published in 2000 and received the coveted Finlandia Prize. Her works have since been translated into twenty languages.

In addition to the Finlandia Prize, Sinisalo has also won several literary prizes abroad, such as the 2004 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2017 Prometheus Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2008, the Prix Escapades in 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017.

Huge congratulations to Johanna!

Below you can find some of Johanna’s amazing titles!

Troll

Johanna Sinisalo

Mikael, a young gay photographer, finds a small, man-like creature in the courtyard of his apartment block. It is a young troll, familiar from Scandinavian mythology: a demonic, wild beast. And it is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Supposedly extinct, today it is regarded as a hairy, cuddly toy by Nordic children. Mikael gives the troll a name, Pessi, and takes him home and hides him.

The first thing Mikael does is research everything he can about trolls on the internet, from folklore, nature journals, and newspaper clippings. Despite his studies, Mikael does not learn that trolls exude pheromones that smell like a Calvin Klein aftershave and that this has a profound aphrodisiac effect on all those around him. Shooting an assignment for an ultra-hip brand of jeans, Mikael finds himself fast-tracked into a dangerous liaison with Martes, the sexually ambivalent art director of the advertising agency concerned, while a couple of his friends in turn fall in love with him because he carries the troll’s scent.

What Mikael fails above all to learn, with tragic consequences, is that Pessi the troll is the interpreter of man’s darkest, most forbidden impulses.

Download the full English PDF here!

Blood of Angels

Johanna Sinisalo

“The queen is dead. The bees are gone. Thus, the world is about to end. But if you follow the bees, there are doors in the air. And a desperate man is ready to go through one.”

Albert Einstein is claimed to have said that if bees disappear from the earth, mankind has four years left to live. When mass bee-vanishings of unprecedented scope and devastation hit the United States, Orvo, a beekeeper, knows all too well where it will lead. And one day, when Orvo goes to check on his hives, he is forced to witness something he wishes he had never lived to see. The queen is dead. The epidemic has spread to Europe. The world is coming to an end.

The light of Orvo’s life is his son, Eero, whose secret animal activist existence Orvo discovers far too late. Eero’s activities as a defender of animal rights and an ardent opponent of Orvo’s inherited way of life propel the family into irreversible, gutwrenching conflict. Orvo takes a desperate step onto a path where only he and the bees know the way… This novel is a magical plunge into the myth of death and immortality, a tale of human blindness in the face of overwhelming choices and inevitabilities.

Download the full English PDF here!

The Core of the Sun

Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo tells the story of The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland in 2013. Her thriller-like story of flight and fight is also between the lines a feisty social polemic. How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe?

The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has prioritized social stability and national health, and outlawed practically everything that might give one pleasure or cause addiction. Well, almost everything: the distribution of sex, an essential commodity of pleasure, is made as efficient as possible. In order to achieve this, the state has bred a new human subspecies: one that is receptive, submissive and always willing. They used to be called women.

Vanna and Jare become involved in buying and selling a stimulant known to be extremely dangerous: chili. Then Jare comes across a strange religious cult in possession of the Core of the Sun, a pungent chili that is too hot to handle.

Download the full English PDF here!

The Storm Flute

Johanna Sinisalo

Beauty comes in many forms—stunning, exciting, thrilling, perilous. Weather has all of them.

Predicting or altering the weather is the eternal dream of humanity. A merchant named Jonah, living in Assyria 600 years before the common era, gets caught in a storm. Is the storm a curse from God, or is it his own doing? In Finland in the 2010’s, Leena Lind loves her job as a meteorologist, but the activities of an aggressive finance company have her wasting her expertise at menial tasks. When her daughter Leia plays a game that involves making a video of a thunderstorm, Leena’s life is blown irretrievably off track and soon no one is safe anymore.

Download the materials for the title here!

TROLL
ENNEN PÄIVÄNLASKUA EI VOI
Tammi, 2000, 268 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dituria
BRAZIL: Devir
BULGARIA: Perseus
CZECH REPUBLIC: One Woman Press
DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard
FRANCE: Actes Sud
GERMANY: Tropen Verlag
ITALY: Guanda Editore
JAPAN: Sunmark Publishing Inc
LATVIA: SIA Apgads Atena
LITHUANIA: VAGA Publishers
POLAND: Terytoria
RUSSIA: Amphora
SLOVENIA: Modrijan Zalozba
SPAIN: Ediciones Poliedro
SWEDEN: Wahlström & Widstrand
UK: Grove Atlantic
US: Grove Atlantic
FILM & TV RIGHTS: Marlind International AB

 

BLOOD OF ANGELS
ENKELTEN VERTA
Teos, 2011, 275 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
BULGARIA: Perseus
CROATIA: Naklada Ljevak
DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard
FRANCE: Actes Sud
HUNGARY: Metropolis
POLAND: Foksal
UK: Peter Owen Limited

 

THE CORE OF THE SUN
AURINGON YDIN
Tammi, 2013, 340 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Euromedia
DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard
FRANCE: Actes Sud
GERMANY: Klett-Cotta
HUNGARY: Metropolis
LATVIA: Petergailis
SPAIN: Roca Juvenil
TURKEY: Ithaki Yayinlari
US: Grove Atlantic

 

THE STORM FLUTE
UKKOSHUILU
Otava, 2021, 400 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard
HUNGARY: Metropolis

About author


Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is a Finlandia-Prize winning superstar of Finnish speculative fiction. In addition to her nine novels, she has also written short fiction and film and television screenplays. Her works have been translated into twenty languages.

Sinisalo has won several literary prizes also abroad, such as the 2004 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2017 Prometheus Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2008, the Prix Escapades in 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017.

In 2022, Johanna Sinisalo was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal for services to Finnish literature! Founded in 1943, the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland is a distinction awarded by the President of Finland to artists and writers in recognition of their long meritorious work and exceptional services to Finnish art, drama, literature and music.

Bibliography


2021, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Storm Flute

Johanna Sinisalo


2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Strangers Inside

Johanna Sinisalo


2018, Fantasy & Science Fiction

IRON SKY: RENATE'S STORY

Johanna Sinisalo


2013, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Core of The Sun

Johanna Sinisalo


2011, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Blood of Angels

Johanna Sinisalo


2010, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

The Möbius Twist

Johanna Sinisalo


2008, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Birdbrain

Johanna Sinisalo


2000, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Troll

Johanna Sinisalo

Award Nomination News: Backman and Seeck both nominated for the Finnish Crime Writers’ Society’s Clue of the Year Award

Award nomination news!

We are thrilled to announce that two of our agency’s authors have been nominated for the Finnish Crime Writers’ Society’s Clue of the Year Award for best crime novel published in 2022!

Elina Backman is nominated for BEFORE THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS, the third instalment in the Saana Havas crime series which is currently no. 3 in Audio Books. Elina Backman is now Finland’s no. 4 bestselling fiction author (all formats). Over 60 000 copies of Elina’s books have been sold in Finland, rights have been sold for 16 territories, and an international TV-series based on Elina Backman’s books is in development by Aurora Studios

New York Times bestselling author Max Seeck is nominated for ARCHIPELAGO, the 4th book in the Jessica Niemi series. Max Seeck is Finland’s no.1 bestselling fiction author in e-books and no. 2 bestselling author in all formats. Over 20,000 copies of ARCHIPELAGO and over 300,000 copies of all his books have been sold in Finland. Max’s books have been sold to 40 countries and Hollywood.

Here is the jury’s motivation for the nominations:

About BEFORE THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS by Elina Backman:

Saana Havas, who has gained a reputation with her podcast, travels to northern Lapland to seek new content and to investigate the case of a girl who disappeared and was then found murdered years ago. The book deserves special recognition for its descriptions of the milieu and the people living north of the Arctic Circle. Elina Backman succeeds in portraying Havas’ role in the strange environment which the “amateur detective” observes with sympathy.

About ARCHIPELAGO by Max Seeck: 

In ARCHIPELAGO, Max Seeck offers the reader an original and very appealing plot. Seeck’s detective, police officer Jessica Niemi, hopes to find a peaceful recovery on Åland’s most remote island due to her work setbacks. In the idyllic boarding house, which follows the tradition of a good detective story, Jessica meets people who share a painful past from decades ago. Soon a body is found on the beach, and Jessica can’t settle for the observer’s part. The story is strongly edged by the big turning point in Jessica’s own life.

The winner will be announced in January 2023.

Congratulations to our Authors!

Download the materials for WHEN THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS here!

Download the materials for THE ARCHIPELAGO here!

Elina Backman Saana Havas Series

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gyldendal
ESTONIA: Varrak
GERMANY: Piper Verlag
HUNGARY: Maxim
ITALY: Newton Compton
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: De Bezige Bij/Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm
POLAND: Czarna Owca
ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov, Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken
FILM & TV RIGHTS: Aurora Studios

Max Seeck Jessica Niemi Series

Rights sold
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna
BULGARIA: EMAS
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gutkind
ESTONIA: Pegasus
FRANCE: Michel Lafon
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
GREECE: Livani
HUNGARY: Animus
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books
ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori
KOREA: Cheongmirae
LATIN AMERICA: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
MACEDONIA: Matica
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna
NORWAY: Aschehoug
POLAND: Sonia Draga
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora
ROMANIA: Litera
RUSSIA: AST
SERBIA: Vulkan
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SPAIN: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UKRAINE: Family Leisure Club
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Welbeck Publishing UK
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House
FILM & TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures (Greg Silverman)

 

 

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 Havas series is now a best-selling series in Finland and an international TV series is in development. Elina's books have sold over 70 000 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 1967. 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


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. 

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” announced Iltalehti newspaper, when Max’s debut novel was published in 2016. Four years and 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 debut trilogy following protagonist Daniel Kuisma sold over 40,000 copies in Finland. His new Jessica Niemi series landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list! In Faithful Reader, AKA The Witch Hunter (US title), book 1 of the Jessica Niemi series, Helsinki Police Detective Jessica Niemi hunts an occultist serial killer. In Evil’s Net, AKA Ice Coven, Jessica and her team follow clues hidden on Instagram to solve the disappearance of a young influencer and a manga artist.

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.

INHERITED LAND by Maria Turtschaninoff won the Swedish YLE Literature Prize 2022!

We couldn’t be more thrilled to share with you that INHERITED LAND by Maria Turtschaninoff has been awarded the prestigious Swedish YLE Literature Prize 2022! Huge congratulations, Maria!

This award is annually given to the best Finland-Swedish book of the year during Helsinki Bookfair and is regarded as one of the most important award for Finland-Swedish authors.

From the press release about the award:

“INHERITED LAND speaks to the part of the reader that is Finnish-Swedish, to the part that is nostalgic but still lives in the modern world, where the only alternative is to let go off what has already happened, because one doesn’t have the strength to hold on as the evolution advances with such tremendous speed. Turtschaninoff managed to create an amazing spread of humanity’s different, raw, but so recognisable parts – and still, all dishes fit into the whole and are beautifully served. INHERITED LAND is above all a book that comes so incredibly close to humans.  

These are parts of the award motivation for the prize that Turtschaninoff receives. As a Finland-Swedish fantasy author, she has so far mainly written for a younger target audience. INHERITED LAND is her first adult novel and the book was published in the beginning of this year.

The Swedish Yle Literature Prize wants to highlight Finland-Swedish authors and Finland-Swedish literature. It is a way of paying homage to the writers close to us, who are expanding our world and allowing us to look beyond our own lives through their works. INHERITED LAND takes us to a village in Ostrobothnia and life there for four centuries. It is strongly rooted in time and place, but with an intensity and sensuality in the description of human destinies that carry it into the present. A magical and incredibly touching reading experience, and I am happy that this particular book receives the prize this year!”, says Johanna Törn-Mangs, Director of Svenska Yle.

This year, the jury consisted of human rights activist Panda Eriksson.

“I read Turtschaninoff’s INHERITED LAND in one day, more or less without stopping. It hurt me when I put the book down: There is something in it that talks to the part of me that is Finnish-Swedish, to the part of me that is nostalgic but still lives in the modern world, where the only alternative is to let go of what has already happened”, summarizes Eriksson their reading experience.”

Maria Turtschaninoff already won the Swedish YLE Literature Prize in 2014 for her YA novel Maresi.

INHERITED LAND has been our agency’s fastest ever moving fiction book and is now already sold to 11 territories.

Do get in touch with us if you want to pick up with now award-winning literary gem of a novel for your list!

Download the reading materials for INHERITED LAND here

Arvejord
Förlaget, August 2022, 371 pp.

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Förlaget (orig. Finland-Swedish),
FINLAND: Tammi (Finnish)
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
DENMARK: Alpha Forlag
FRANCE: Editions Paulsen
GERMANY: Rowohlt
ITALY: Bompiani
NETHERLANDS: Atlas Contact
NORWAY: Bonnier Norsk Forlag
ROMANIA: Editura Univers
SWEDEN: Förlaget

Reading materials: Swedish edition, English sample and synopsis

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, and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. 

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Inherited Land has been sold to 21 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

Inherited Land

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

PRINCESS RASCAL AND THE POTTY WORDS wins Nextory E-Book Award!

We are thrilled to congratulate Elina Hirvonen and Mervi Lindman for having won the Children’s category of the Nextory E-book Award for PRINCESS RASCAL AND THE POTTY WORDS!

Nextory E-book Awards have been awarded in Finland since 2020, and their aim is to praise and draw attention to the most read e-books of the preceding year and to celebrate e-books and digital reading experience in general. The hilarious and relatable PRINCESS RASCAL AND THE POTTY WORDS was one of the most read children’s e-books in Nextory streaming service in Finland!

PRINCESS RASCAL AND THE POTTY WORDS is the second title in the excellent Princess Rascal series that has been sold to 5 countries, but is still available in France, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, Norway, Germany, United States, UK, Japan, China, Taiwan etc.

Download the full English PDFs for all 3 titles in the series here!

 #1  PRINCESS RASCAL
You would think that Rascal is just a little girl, but she’s also a princess with many crowns for different purposes: one for Important Thoughts, one for Great Adventures and one for Peaceful Dreams. When Mom gets mad at her, she must find the right crown to calm Mom down.

Princess Rascal is a picture book about a little girl who knows her mind and has a heart of gold, though sometimes it’s difficult to know the right thing to do. The book has been praised for its accurate and hilarious depictions of everyday life in a toddler family – sometimes parents get tired too.

#2  PRINCESS RASCAL AND THE POTTY WORDS
Princess Rascal starts pre-school. She’s nervous about her new mates and the new teacher. She is especially nervous about going to the toilet. When she uses potty words in a completely wrong situation, she’s sure that she is the most embarrassed girl in the world. But a solution for the problem can be found in her secret treasure chest.

#3  PRINCESS RASCAL AND THE QUARREL SPELL
Which spell is the best when it seems that the parents do not have enough time for themselves? Resourceful Princess Rascal has a solution to every problem!

When Mom looks like a red-eyed panda and Dad like an angry troll, and they snap at each other without any reason, it’s time for some Rascal spells and Onni’s insights. The solution is the world’s finest KISSING BOOTH.
“You have to go in there to kiss. Then you will love again. And never quarrel again. And we don’t have to move to Flower’s.”

PRINSESSA RÄMÄPÄÄ SERIES:

#1 PRINSESSA RÄMÄPÄÄN TALVITAIKA
Tammi 2017, 42 pp.

#2 PRINSESSA RÄMÄPÄÄ JA VESSASANAT
Tammi 2019, 42 pp.

#3 PRINSESSA RÄMÄPÄÄ JA RIITATAIKA
Tammi, 2021, 42 pp.

Reading materials:
English PDFs

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Albatros Media
DENMARK: Gads Forlag
ESTONIA: Elust Enesest
LITHUANIA: Nieko Rimto/ Publishing House Nothing Serious

About author


Elina Hirvonen

Elina Hirvonen is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker whose novels have been translated into many languages. Liesl Schillinger praised Hirvonen´s debut novel, When I Forgot, on the front page of The New York Times Book Review, and the novel also received positive reviews from The Independent, The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Globe and Mail.

Hirvonen has received the Kalevi Jäntti Prize and the Nuori Aleksis Prize, and has been nominated for Finlandia Prize and Debut Prize.

Her new novel, The Logbook of Love, is published in Finland in August 2023. The Logbook of Love is the first part of a trilogy of novels that create their world through conversations.


About author


Mervi Lindman

Mervi Lindman is a much-loved illustrator whose cheerful artworks have been published in 19 different countries to date. Lindman’s illustrations have been regularly appraised by critics and public alike.

Finnish Cultural Foundation’s grand prize for Sirpa Kähkönen!

We are incredibly thrilled to share the news that our author Sirpa Kähkönen has been awarded the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s grand prize! The 35 000 € prize is awarded for significant cultural contributions, on the eve of the Kalevala Day and the Day of Finnish Culture.

Kähkönen is a talented writer whose works have been nominated for the Finlandia Prize and for the Nordic Council Literary Prize, and her newest novel, THE GREEN CHAMBER, won the prestigious Savonia prize! 

Download the materials for the Green Chamber here! 

The Finnish Cultural Foundation Jury said: 

Sirpa Kähkönen writes about society by writing about people. She describes contemporary questions through historical narrations.

Born in Kuopio in 1964, Sirpa Kähkönen studied literature and history, and worked as an editor prior to setting out as a full-time writer. Her studies provided her with a clear direction: Kähkönen is particularly known as a master of historical novels.

As someone who enjoys digging through newspaper archives, Kähkönen is accomplished at providing the details that make the past come alive. While describing the private sphere and bringing historical events up close, she is able to make her work universal. Through her characters, Kähkönen asks life’s big questions, demanding answers from the reader.

The author has created a world of her own – a Kuopio of times past, which is fictional but true. — Sirpa Kähkönen is characterised by humaneness, being always on the side of the individual.”

 

Congratulations, Sirpa!

THE GREEN CHAMBER

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ESTONIA: Koolibri

Reading material:
English synopsis and sample

About author


Sirpa Kähkönen

Sirpa Kähkönen was born to a family that had been harshly treated by the history of the 1900s. World War II and the Civil War preceding it, had wounded her family members and marked them with heavy silence and unspoken words.

Mapping out that silence became Sirpa’s work. The first questions that arose were related to her closest circle: what had happened to her beloved grandparents? From her personal sphere the intellectual curiosity widened to touch upon the history of Finland and then the history of Europe, and finally, researching the fate of an individual during times of crisis.

Sirpa Kähkönen lives and works in Helsinki. She constructs her works upon research, using a wide array of archives, newspaper clippings, research material, and contemporary literature. Inspired by microhistorical research tradition, Sirpa writes about how mentalities are formed, and how the immaterial inheritance runs in family lines and in societies.

Sirpa Kähkönen’s historical novel begins where source information ends. It opens the gates to experiencing the past in a sensory way; the characters live out the story as physical, sensual beings.

Sirpa Kähkönen has published thirteen novels of which four have been nominated for the prestigious Finlandia prize and one for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She has also published three non-fiction titles, one of which was nominated for the Tieto-Finlandia prize for non-fiction literature. In 2022, Kähkönen received the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize for significant achievements in culture.

Awards and nominations:

Kirjallisuuden valtionpalkinto 1992 - The State Literary Prize 1992

Savonia-palkinto 1999 - Savonia Prize 1999

Kuopion taiteilijaseuran kirjallisuuden tunnustuspalkinto 2003 - The Kuopio Artist Society's Literary Award 2003

Kiitos kirjasta -mitali 2008 - Thank You for the book medallion 2008

Savon Sanomien Savonmuan Hilima -titteli 2010

Otavan kirjasäätiön Veijo Meri -palkinto 2012 - Otava Literary Fund Veijo Meri Prize 2012

Pro-Finlandia -mitali 2015 - Pro Finlandia Medallion 2015

Suomi-palkinto 2016 - Suomi-Finland Prize 2016 from the Ministry of Education and Culture

Savonia-palkinto 2021 - Savonia Prize 2021

Suomen Kulttuurirahaston suurpalkinto - The Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize 2021

Nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2023

Bibliography


2023, Literary Fiction

36 Urns: A History of Being Wrong

Sirpa Kähkönen


2021, Literary Fiction

The Green Chamber

Sirpa Kähkönen

THE RED ROOM by Kaj Korkea-aho nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2022!

We are thrilled to share the news that Kaj Korkea-aho’s THE RED ROOM has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2022!

The prestigious prize is given annually to a work of literature that meets high literary and artistic standards, written in a Nordic language. The Nordic Council Literature Prize is worth DKK 300,000 (approx. €40 300). The winner of the prize will be announced and the prize awarded on November 1st 2022 in Helsinki. Among the previous winners of the prize are for example the Nobel Laureates Tomas Tranströmer and Eyvind Johnson.

Nordic Council Literary Prize 2022 Motivation:
Korkea-aho’s text unerringly challenges many of our contemporary age’s notions of power and dominance, resoluteness and desire, without imposing pointers or ready-made answers. The novel openly and emphatetically approaches the yearning of its characters and sensitively orbits the enigmatic and contradictory expressions of desire

Request the materials for THE RED ROOM here!

“A young and slightly depressed author and musician grows tired of his poor artist’s life is enticed by the thought of good bargains and shortcuts to happiness. Imagine if someone gave him a nice apartment in exchange for a novel written by him? Our protagonist places a half-serious advert in the local paper and receives a response from a person who appears to be a combination of Hercule Poirot and Mephistopheles.

“We’ll surely come to an agreement,” says Aimo Kangas and suggests that the main character buy his incredible apartment at a price far lower than what’s reasonable. The phrase continues to ring in the narrator’s ears and throughout the story takes on an ever more complicated tone. Come to an agreement?
Alongside the novel’s narrator, the reader tries to relate to the gentle and polite Aimo. It soon becomes clear that he wants our main character to write a book about him and his longing for submission. Is it wrong to wrong to profoundly want to put your life in someone else’s hands and float in a state of powerlessness, free from all responsibility? But Aimo’s soft and sophisticated essence is combined with a manipulative vein that gives the book the air of a thriller.

The red room of the title does not refer to August Strindberg’s monumental work, but a room in an apartment, a chamber for dreams, experience and eventually even abuse. The novel’s main character is drawn to and repelled by this apartment. Together, he tries to repaint the red room white at the same time he continues to meet with Aimo, all the while inconspicuously sliding deeper and deeper into the older man’s mental world.

Kaj Korkea-aho (b. 1983) is a Finland-Swedish author, columnist and a comedian. He has previously published the novels Se till mig som liten är (2009; Look After Me, Who is Little), Gräset är mörkare på andra sidan (2012; The Grass is Darker on the Other Side), and Onda boken (2015; The Evil Book), the last of which has been translated into six languages.”

The Red Room (orig. Röda rummet)
Förlaget M, August 2021

Rights sold: 
FINLAND (in Swedish, orig.): Förlaget M
FINLAND (in Finnish): Otava
SWEDEN: Förlaget M

READING MATERIALS: 
English sample and synopsis
Swedish edition

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 now - 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.

Bibliography


2021, Literary Fiction

The Red Room

Kaj Korkea-aho

‘Where Did the Animals Go – Travelling Through Time With Lotta and Kasper’ wins the Tieto-Lauri prize for Children’s and YA nonfiction!

Prestigious award for the praised children’s nonfiction about environmental and ecological crises

We are very excited to announce that just this morning it was revealed that ‘WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO – Travelling Through Time With Lotta and Kasper’ written by Laura Ertimo and illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu won the Tieto-Lauri prize for the best Children’s and YA nonfiction title 2021! The original Finnish title is ’Aika matka! Lotta, Kasper ja luontokadon arvoitus’. The prestigious award is worth 15 000 €.

The jury states that: “Children today grow up among worldwide ecological crises. It presents a great challenge for nonfiction literature: how to tell children about the complex phenomena in an easily understandable way and give factually based hope that even the hardest crises can be solved. Ertimo and Ahokoivu have successfully taken on this challenge.” 

Download the materials from here

We are incredibly happy to see this stand-alone sequel to the best-selling WEIRD WEATHER continue its success after the Finlandia nomination last year!

Congrats to Laura Ertimo and Mari Ahokoivu!

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Into (orig.)

About author


Laura Ertimo

Laura Ertimo is a geographer and author. She has previously worked in publishing of geography-related non-fiction and maps, and now she writes full time, specializing in children’s non-fiction. A recurring theme in her work is the holistic worldview, the interaction between phenomena, people and nature.

In 2020, she received the prestigious Tietopöllö Award for her work as a Non-Fiction writer. Her children's title WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu, was nominated for the 2021 Finlandia Award and has also won the Tieto-Lauri award!

About author


Mari Ahokoivu

Mari Ahokoivu is a Finnish illustrator and a comics artist. She’s been drawing professionally for over 10 years, mainly drawing graphic novels and comics for children, including Sanni & Joonas and Lola Olifante. Ahokoivu loves everything cute and scary. She lives and works in Copenhagen. 

Mari Ahokoivu won the Puupäähattu Comic Book Award 2023, and together with Laura Ertimo, they won the Tieto-Lauri Award 2022 and were nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2021 for WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO?!

The Savonia Prize goes to Sirpa Kähkönen for her novel THE GREEN CHAMBER!

We are extremely happy to announce that literary fiction author Sirpa Kähkönen has won the Savonia Prize with her new novel THE GREEN CHAMBER!

The jury concludes:

“In the center of The Green Chamber are three 17-year-old youths coming of age in a world where one must conceal their family’s shame and carry responsibility like an adult. The work flows successfully through time and place, from the 1960s Kuopio to Leningrad, to turn of the century St. Petersburg and Terijoki with an eventual return to Kuopio. The narration of time, place and ambiance are magnificent. In The Green Chamber, Kähkönen’s already gorgeous language is at its pinnacle.”

Sirpa Kähkönen is a Finnish novelist and translator. She has published ten novels of which three have been nominated for the prestigious Finlandia prize and one for the Nordic Council prize. She has authored two books for young adults and a non-fiction bestseller ‘Vihan ja rakkauden liekit (Flames of Love and Hatred) that was nominated for the Tieto Finlandia prize.

Born in Kuopio, Kähkönen studied literature and history at the University of Helsinki before working as an editor. She embarked on her literary career in 1991 with Kuu taskussa (Moon in your Pocket) for young adults, publishing her first adult novel Mustat morsiamet (Black Brides, 1998), which earned her the Savonia award in 1999. Her previous work Graniittimies (Granite Man) is a historical novel depicting the lives of young Finns in Soviet times. Initially writing for young adults, she gained popularity in Finland with her ’Kuopio series’ of historical novels.

Mapping out that silence became Sirpa’s work. The first questions that arose were related to her closest circle: what had happened to her beloved grandparents? From her personal sphere the intellectual curiosity widened to touch upon the history of Finland and onwards to the history of Europe, and finally, doing research on the fate of an individual during times of crisis.


THE GREEN CHAMBER by Sirpa Kähkönen

What follows the crushing of dreams? The powerful story takes us from Kuopio in the 1960s to St. Petersburg in the 1910s.
Irene, a florist, has disappeared before Christmas 1964 when the season is at its peak. The owner is worried by the harsh words he has told the girl. But hyacinths need to be delivered to the clients.

Irene has dropped out of school, Jaakko is a barber assistant. There is chemistry between them. Leo, who has just left the army, is thirsting for love.
Young people are looking for their own place. Why is it easier to conquer Space than to love another person?

Download the full Finnish ms and English synopsis for THE GREEN CHAMBER by clicking here.

The English sample is available in January.

THE GREEN CHAMBER
Vihreä sali, Otava, September, 2021, 315 pp.

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Otava

About author


Sirpa Kähkönen

Sirpa Kähkönen was born to a family that had been harshly treated by the history of the 1900s. World War II and the Civil War preceding it, had wounded her family members and marked them with heavy silence and unspoken words.

Mapping out that silence became Sirpa’s work. The first questions that arose were related to her closest circle: what had happened to her beloved grandparents? From her personal sphere the intellectual curiosity widened to touch upon the history of Finland and then the history of Europe, and finally, researching the fate of an individual during times of crisis.

Sirpa Kähkönen lives and works in Helsinki. She constructs her works upon research, using a wide array of archives, newspaper clippings, research material, and contemporary literature. Inspired by microhistorical research tradition, Sirpa writes about how mentalities are formed, and how the immaterial inheritance runs in family lines and in societies.

Sirpa Kähkönen’s historical novel begins where source information ends. It opens the gates to experiencing the past in a sensory way; the characters live out the story as physical, sensual beings.

Sirpa Kähkönen has published thirteen novels of which four have been nominated for the prestigious Finlandia prize and one for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She has also published three non-fiction titles, one of which was nominated for the Tieto-Finlandia prize for non-fiction literature. In 2022, Kähkönen received the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize for significant achievements in culture.

Awards and nominations:

Kirjallisuuden valtionpalkinto 1992 - The State Literary Prize 1992

Savonia-palkinto 1999 - Savonia Prize 1999

Kuopion taiteilijaseuran kirjallisuuden tunnustuspalkinto 2003 - The Kuopio Artist Society's Literary Award 2003

Kiitos kirjasta -mitali 2008 - Thank You for the book medallion 2008

Savon Sanomien Savonmuan Hilima -titteli 2010

Otavan kirjasäätiön Veijo Meri -palkinto 2012 - Otava Literary Fund Veijo Meri Prize 2012

Pro-Finlandia -mitali 2015 - Pro Finlandia Medallion 2015

Suomi-palkinto 2016 - Suomi-Finland Prize 2016 from the Ministry of Education and Culture

Savonia-palkinto 2021 - Savonia Prize 2021

Suomen Kulttuurirahaston suurpalkinto - The Finnish Cultural Foundation's Grand Prize 2021

Nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2023

Bibliography


2023, Literary Fiction

36 Urns: A History of Being Wrong

Sirpa Kähkönen


2021, Literary Fiction

The Green Chamber

Sirpa Kähkönen

New accolades for Elina Backman and her thriller series!

We are super excited to see that thrillerist Elina Backman is a Finnish Literary Export Award 2021 (Tulenkantaja Prize aka the Torch-Bearer Prize) nominee with her chilling second cosy crime novel STILL WATERS RUN DEEP! The award will be presented at the Tampere Book Fair on December 4th. The winner will receive a prize of 5000 Euros and will be part of an export program provided by the Finnish literature export centre FILI.
Elina Backman has also visited Sweden in November to celebrate her nomination for Best translated novel of the year 2021 with her first novel ALL THE KING’S MEN. The competition is a yearly feat organized by Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy (Svenska Deckarakademin).

 

 

The picture here shows the diploma from Sweden in which Svenska Deckarakademin confirms that “När kungen dör is one of the five BEST TRANSLATED CRIME NOVELS of 2021”.

 

ALL THE KING’S MEN

Saana has been fired from her job as a click-bait journalist, so she decides to spend a summer with her aunt in a small-town Hartola. It sounds like a perfect opportunity to take it easy and recover. But when Saana begins to dig into a case of a teenage girl who died 30 years earlier, the peace of the small town is shaken.

Meanwhile in Helsinki a fire-marked body is found at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, and crime investigator Jan Leino and his team have a new case in their hands. However, the investigation isn’t going anywhere, and Jan fears that the murder at King’s Gate a is just the beginning…

Saana and Jan continue working on their own cases until their paths cross – for more than one reason.

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

Is evil lurking beneath the calm waters? Still Waters Run Deep is an awaited sequel to the bestselling All The Kings Men!

Three young men are making a documentary film about a mystical hermit, living in the Isle of Sheep in Helsinki. First one of them disappears, then another one. When one of them is found dead in the nearby nature reserve, the police becmes involved.

Saana Havas, recovering from burnout, hears that her  colleague’s younger brother has gone missing and decides to set up a true crime podcast to help with the search. Meanwhile, police commissioner Jan Leino and his team are investigating the disappearance and possible murder of the documentary makers.

When young men disappear and die, it’s ofter regarded just an accident. But could it be that someone is actually hunting for them?

 

ALL THE KING’S MEN
Kun kuningas kuolee, 2020
Otava, 495 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
ESTONIA: Varrak Publishers
GERMANY: Piper
HUNGARY: Maxim
ITALY: Newton Compton
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm
POLAND: Czarna Owca
ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus Vydavatelstvo
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken
TV: Aurora Studios

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
Kun jäljet katoavat, 2021, Otava, 450 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ESTONIA: Varrak Publishers
GERMANY: Piper
HUNGARY: Maxim
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm AS
POLAND: Czarna Owca
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken

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 Havas series is now a best-selling series in Finland and an international TV series is in development. Elina's books have sold over 70 000 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 1967. 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.

Bibliography


2022, Crime & Suspense

Before the Polar Night Falls

Elina Backman


2022, Crime & Suspense

Unsolved - The Case of Elli Immo

Elina Backman


2021, Crime & Suspense

Still Waters Run Deep

Elina Backman


2020, Crime & Suspense

All the King's Men

Elina Backman

‘Where Did the Animals Go – Travelling Through Time With Lotta and Kasper’ nominated for Finlandia Prize for Children’s and Youth Literature

‘Where Did the Animals Go – Travelling Through Time With Lotta and Kasper’ nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize for Children’s and Youth Literature

We are very excited about the news from this morning! ‘Where Did the Animals Go – Travelling Through Time With Lotta and Kasper’ written by Laura Ertimo and illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu has been nominated for the Finlandia Prize in Children and Youth Literature. The original Finnish title is ’Aika matka! Lotta, Kasper ja luontokadon arvoitus’.

The jury states that: “The journey into the enigma of the loss of biodiversity flows smoothly through the playful arrangement of imagery and writing. The text meanders from the smallest small to the greatest of matters, satisfying the thirst for knowledge of all age groups. The expressive illustration walks alongside the text, at times excitedly getting carried away into an independent cartoon adventure where future, present and history unite. The entity is a vivacious cornucopia that induces the reader to do research, to come back to the book and to take effect.”

Download materials from here

WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO – TRAVELLING THROUGH TIME WITH LOTTA AND KASPER
by Laura Ertimo and illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu

Aika matka! Lotta, Kasper ja luontokadon arvoitus
Into, 2021, pp. 48

 

Rights sold
FINLAND: Into (orig.)

About author


Laura Ertimo

Laura Ertimo is a geographer and author. She has previously worked in publishing of geography-related non-fiction and maps, and now she writes full time, specializing in children’s non-fiction. A recurring theme in her work is the holistic worldview, the interaction between phenomena, people and nature.

In 2020, she received the prestigious Tietopöllö Award for her work as a Non-Fiction writer. Her children's title WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu, was nominated for the 2021 Finlandia Award and has also won the Tieto-Lauri award!

About author


Mari Ahokoivu

Mari Ahokoivu is a Finnish illustrator and a comics artist. She’s been drawing professionally for over 10 years, mainly drawing graphic novels and comics for children, including Sanni & Joonas and Lola Olifante. Ahokoivu loves everything cute and scary. She lives and works in Copenhagen. 

Mari Ahokoivu won the Puupäähattu Comic Book Award 2023, and together with Laura Ertimo, they won the Tieto-Lauri Award 2022 and were nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2021 for WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO?!

Elina Backman’s debut crime novel ALL THE KING’S MEN nominated by the Swedish Crime Writer’s Academy as the BEST TRANSLATED CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR

Together with the excellent work of Backman’s Swedish publisher we are proud to share this news that her 1st book in the Havas series ‘All the King’s Men’, that was published in August in Sweden, has been nominated by the Swedish Crime Writer’s Academy as the Best Translated Crime Novel 2021. ‘Kun kuningas kuolee’ bears the title ‘När kungen dör’ in Swedish and goes by the international name ‘All the King’s Men’.

Among the ca. 230 crime novels that were registered for the Svenska Deckarakademin – The Swedish Academy for Crime Writers – Award (also known as The Martin Beck Award) included many golden nuggets. The nominated titles are:

Elina Backman: (Bokfabriken) När kungen dör
Originaltitel: Kun kuningas kuolee. Översättning: Marjut Hökfelt.

Blunt, Giles: Arktiska nätter (Hoi förlag)
Originaltitel: Until the Night. Översättning: Sandra Gustafsson & Lars Rambe.
Hancock, Anne Mette: Äppelmannen (Louise Bäckelin förlag)
Originaltitel: Mercedes-snittet. Översättning: Helena Stedman.
Indriðason, Arnaldur: Flickan vid bron (Norstedts)
Originaltitel: Stúlkan hjá brúnni. Översättning: Ingela Jansson.
Musso, Guillaume: Återträffen (Nona)
Originaltitel: La jeune fille et la nuit. Översättning: Christina Norrman.

The authors come from five different countries. Finnish Elina Backman is nominated with her debut crime novel ‘Kun kuningas kuolee’, the international title being ALL THE KING’S MEN. The other authors have been published in Swedish previously.

All winners are announced at the Svenska Deckareakademins and Svensk Deckarbibliotekets (Swedish Crime Fiction Library) Festival during 19th to 20th of November.

Huge congratulations Elina Backman for this important nomination!
We also want to congratulate and thank translator Marjut Hökfelt for her fantastic work!

  • Rights sold to 15 countries and counting
  • Immediate bestseller in Finland! Amazing reviews! 
  • International TV series in development!
  • Winner of the Storytel Audio book Award 2020 for the Best Crime Novel
  • Winner of Elisa Kirja book Award, Best Newcomer 2020

ALL THE KING’S MEN (book 1)
by Elina Backman

Saana has been fired from her job as a click-bait journalist, so she decides to spend a summer with her aunt in a small-town Hartola. It sounds like a perfect opportunity to take it easy and recover. But when Saana begins to dig into a case of a teenage girl who died 30 years earlier, the peace of the small town is shaken.Meanwhile in Helsinki a fire-marked body is found at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, and crime investigator Jan Leino and his team have a new case in their hands. However, the investigation isn’t going anywhere, and Jan fears that the murder at King’s Gate a is just the beginning…Saana and Jan continue working on their own cases until their paths cross – for more than one reason.

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP (book 2)
by Elina Backman

Is evil lurking beneath the calm waters? The Isle of Sheep is an awaited sequel to the bestselling All the Kings Men!

Three young men are making a documentary film about a mystical hermit, living in the Isle of Sheep in Helsinki. First one of them disappears, then another one. When one of them is found dead in the nearby nature reserve, the police becmes involved.

Saana Havas, recovering from burnout, hears that her  colleague’s younger brother has gone missing and decides to set up a true crime podcast to help with the search. Meanwhile, police commissioner Jan Leino and his team are investigating the disappearance and possible murder of the documentary makers.

When young men disappear and die, it’s ofter regarded just an accident. But could it be that someone is actually hunting.

BEFORE THE POLAR NIGHT FALLS (book 3, to be published in August, 2022) by Elina Backman

In the spellbinding vistas of the Finnish Lapland, polar nights, nature, relationships, murder mystery, Saana and her past meet.
Publication date in August 2022.

Download the English synopses for both titles and the 200pp. English sample for the first book ALL THE KING’S MEN here.

PRAISE:
“Backman keeps the multiple storylines effortlessly together and builds an entertaining summery detective story. – –All The King’s Men (A.K.A ‘When the King Dies’) is the beginning of a new series, and it is a flowy, exciting and skillfully written novel that leaves you wanting for more. – Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Finland

All the King’s Men is skillfully told through many different characters, and it progresses on two time levels. Backman has created a a wonderfully atmospheric story taking place in summery Finland,  and especially the town of Hartola is depicted well. An ambitious novel for a debut author, but Backman succeeds effortlessly. Many elements of a classic mystery novel  build up to an entity that rewards its readers. The influenced of domestic and international authors is visible, but it only adds the great reading experience.” -The Jury of the Storytel Audio Book Award for the Best Crime Novel of 2020

“ALL THE KING’S MEN will capture your imagination and won’t let go until the end. The different storylines and characters are masterfully woven into one spine-chilling ending. We are very excited to introduce Elina Backman and her beautiful writing to the Hungarian audience, and believe that her popularity will equal our love of her book! “– Reka Kresak, Editor, Maxim Könyvkiado, Hungary

“A Star is Born.” – Iltalehti, Finland

ALL THE KING’S MEN
(aka When the King Dies)
Kun kuningas kuolee
by Elina Backman
Otava, 2020, 495 pp.

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
ESTONIA: Varrak
GERMANY: Piper
ITALY: Newton Compton
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm
POLAND: Czarna Owca
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus Vydavatelstvo
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken

TV: Aurora Studios

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
(aka The Isle of Sheep)
Kun jäljet katoavat
by Elina Backman
Otava, May 2021, 450 pp

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ESTONIA: Varrak Publishers
GERMANY: Piper
HUNGARY: Maxim
NETHERLANDS: Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm AS
POLAND: Czarna Owca
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken