Reviews

Spring Bestsellers & New Reviews!

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We are excited to see our new fiction titles on the official bestseller lists of April and to share new praise for them! 

Riikka-Maria Rosenberg’s beautifully vivid historical novel ANNA OF HAGA MANOR is in top 10 for both printed and e-books, and the masterfully crafted story has gained favourable praise in social media and print both!

PRAISE FOR ANNA OF HAGA  MANOR: 

“As a PhD, Rosenberg knows the events and the customs of the time period, which makes her text real and impressive. [–] the descriptions of the manor are made especially interesting knowing that the author lives there herself together with her family. The beautiful and nuanced language makes reading pleasurable.”
–Antiikki & Design magazine

“Riikka-Maria Rosenberg writes about the previous generations of the Haga Manor without added garnish and gilding, but beautifully and tastefully.”
–Riikka Happonen in Etelä-Suomen Sanomat newspaper

“I can’t resist the thought of the life in the mansions of the old age. Nor can I resist such a perfect, impressive and sensual historical novel. It’s fascinating to read a work of fiction where the min character is a real historical figure, the wife Karl Gustaf Uggla, the heir of the Haga Manor. This is a book I did not just read. This is a book I lived.”
– Omakirjamansikka on Instagram

Download the English materials for ANNA OF HAGA MANOR here! 

We’re also thrilled to see Laura Andersson’s crime novel LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES climbing to top 20 in less than a month! The book has been a hit among crime fans, as the reviews show:

PRAISE FOR LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES: MURDER AT THE MANSION:

“The narration flows swiftly and the post-war Helsinki as a location feels fresh. Lili is a heroine well suited there: a woman of the new era with her own will and a quick wit.”
–Salla Stotesbury in Kodin Kuvalehti magazine

”Murder at the Mansion is easy-flowing and gentle narration, so one doesn’t have to fear nightmares springing up from the book’s events. Despite the initial calmness the story also features serious themes. Andersson has masterfully woven in the period descriptions but without it feeling forced.”
–Aino-Maria Savolainen, ammankirjablogi blog

“The Charm of Agatha Christie”
“A well-flowing old style crime novel [–] I’ll be delighted to read Lili and Riku’s next case as well.”
–Riikka Kuuskoski in Ilta-Sanomat newspaper

“The most charming one”
– Sari Toivakka in Keski-Suomalainen newspaper

Download the English materials for LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES here! 

Eeva Louko’s MURDER ON THE ISLE OF BLISS, already sold to 5 territories, has sold over 10 000 copies and also attracted new praise!

The rights are still available in eg. Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Spain etc!

PRAISE FOR MURDER ON THE ISLE OF BLISS:

“The descriptions of the friend group – who’ve been there for each other since school – is wonderful. [–] For a debut, Murder on the Isle of Bliss is like the work of a professional author. The surprises and the excitement last till the very end.”
– Ruumiin Kulttuuri (the magazine of the Finnish Whodunnit Society)

“Oh, how good this was, I liked it a lot! Very enthralling and interesting, with a fast pace and keeping you in its grip. An incredibly good crime title, and thankfully this is the first in a series, so there’s more to come!”
– Hennankirjat on Instagram

“Louko writes at times delicately and poetically, and the nature is an important part of the narration. The running tracks near the sea house terror, so one can also read the book as a psychological thriller if one fancies. The title had all the elements needed and I fancied Louko’s style.”
– Anukatri, Anun Ihmeelliset Matkat blog

Download the English materials for MURDER ON THE ISLE OF BLISS here!

We’re thrilled to see the success of our titles!
Will they find their next homes in your list?

ANNA OF HAGA MANOR
Hakoisten Anna, Tammi, April 2022 331 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi(orig.)

Reading Material:
English sample and synopsis

 

LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES: MURDER AT THE MANSION
Kuolema Kulosaaressa, Otava, April 2022. 415pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi(orig.)

Reading Material:
English sample and synopsis

 

MURDER ON THE ISLE OF BLISS
Onnellisten Saari, Otava, January 2022 396 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

ESTONIA: Hea Lugu
GERMANY: Heyne
ITALY: Newton Compton
POLAND: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie

Reading Material:
English sample and synopsis

Eeva Louko


Eeva Louko (b. 1982) is a reporter and communications professional who loves literature, music and all things creative. Becoming an author has been Eeva’s dream since she learned how to read, and she is especially drawn to crime fiction and horror. Eeva plays the saxophone and piano and always drinks her coffee from the biggest cup possible in her garden surrounded by vines.

Murder on the Isle of Bliss (Otava, 2022) is Louko’s debut novel which was published to rave reviews. Eeva’s dream is to find readers globally and create a long-lasting crime fiction series.

Author page

Laura Andersson


Laura Andersson has been working in the publishing industry for 15 years. During her career she’s been involved in launching a YA book festival in Finland and creating an award-winning publishing program for the Finnish gaming mega-brand Angry Birds. Andersson is a long-time fan of both Agatha Christie and the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, both of which have inspired Lili Flame. She also found inspiration in the life story of Finland’s first female president, Tarja Halonen. The stylishly old-fashioned name of Ms. Halonen’s mother, Lyyli Loimola, made her first think of the character of Lili and about the possibility of creating a cool, historical crime series. Prior to writing Lili Flame, Andersson had been teaching Finnish parents and their babies good sleep habits, and her autobiographical non-fiction book The Baby Sleep Project, has become required reading among Finnish families. Andersson was born, and continues to live, in Helsinki, Finland. She loves her city deeply, and its historical layers keep feeding her imagination. She’s most curious about those aspects of the city’s past that are not part of the official historical narrative. In her free time, Andersson is passionate about books, horses, wine, and the circus.

Author page

Riikka-Maria Rosenberg


Riikka-Maria Rosenberg (b. 1977) is a historian and author who brings the intriguing women of the past back to life. Her novels transport the reader into a lost world that is still worth revisiting. Rosenberg has always been interested in the people of the past, their lives and how they have connected to society – its structures, expectations and possibilities.

During her PhD studies at the University of Helsinki, Rosenberg studied the lives of the Baroque Parisians Ninon de Lenclos and Madame de Sévigné. She specialized particularly in the lives of the upper class, the status of fashion within the nobility and their consumption habits, and perceptions on women’s dignity and sexuality.

Riikka-Maria splits her time between Helsinki and the Rosenberg Manor in Hakoinen. The estate’s long and vivid past inspired her to recount the tales of the women who had lived there in the new historical novel series The Ladies of Haga Manor.

Author page

New praise for the international bestseller PUTIN’S TROLLS by the award-winning journalist Jessikka Aro!

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We are excited to share new international praise for PUTIN’S TROLLS by the award-winning journalist Jessikka Aro! 

“A book every journalist should read [–] Even if Sweden was not forced to deal with “Putin’s trolls”, the in-depth understanding given by the Finnish expatriates as well as the introductions to how Russian influence works is enough to call this book a must-read”
–Hynek Pallas in Göteborg Posten newspaper, Sweden

“A terrifying analysis of evil “The havoc wreaked by Putin’s trolls is the leitmotif of Aro’s book—illustrated by more than a dozen chapters detailing a variety of case studies… For anyone who reads [Aro’s] lively book, her words should sound a piercing alarm.”
– Walter Clemens in New York Journal of Books, USA

“Like Browder’s Red Notice, this book opens a window into the megalomaniacal plans of Putin and convincingly shows that this danger is real, worldwide, and not being addressed by governments or the social media behemoths that allow it to spread. Very timely for anyone who uses social media or who follows American, Russian and worldwide politics.”
–Laurie Ungie Skinner in Library Journal, USA

“Many others [than just Putin] get exposed and their pants pulled down in Jessikka Aro’s sharp depiction of Russia’s ongoing hybrid war against the West. [–] Raffling and sharp”
– Erik Jersenius in Corren newspaper, Sweden

PUTIN’S TROLLS has sold to a total of 15 territories, and the Film andTV rights have also been sold!

Rights are still available in eg. Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Spain etc!

Download the full English pdf here

PUTIN’S TROLLS – On the Frontlines of Russia’s Information War Against the World
Johnny Kniga, November 2019, 453 pp.

First published in 2019 in Finland by Johnny Kniga, Aro’s book is a groundbreaking exposé of the scale and detail of Russian information warfare against the West through extraordinary true stories, including her own. These well documented and shocking cases prove that Russia does not shy away from the darkest means of eliminating its opponents through cyber-espionage, social media trolls, fake news, cyber-attacks, death threats and hate campaigns by PR professionals.

PUTININ TROLLIT
Tositarinoita Venäjän infosodan rintamilta
Johnny Kniga, November 2019, 453 pp.

Reading materials:
Full English PDF

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Johnny Kniga (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
BULGARIA: Ciela Norma
CZECH REPUBLIC: Denik N
ESTONIA: Menu Meedia/Stratkom
GERMANY: Goldmann
HUNGARY: Corvina
LATVIA: Pētergailis
LITHUANIA: Briedis
NORWAY: Mangschou Forlag
POLAND: Sine Qua Non
ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra
SWEDEN: Sensor Förlag
WORLD ENGLISH: Ig Publishing
WORLD ENGLISH (audio): Blackstone Audio

FILM & TV: Onerva Pictures Oy

Jessikka Aro


Jessikka Aro is an award-winning reporter with Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, specializing in Russia, extremism and information warfare. In 2014 and 2015, she published a series of articles on pro-Kremlin social media trolls and their influence outside of Russia’s borders. Due to her investigations, Jessikka became the target of a severe and still ongoing international propaganda and hate speech campaign, which she recounts in Putin’s Trolls.

In 2019, the US State Department awarded Jessikka the International Women of Courage Award, but the award was mysteriously rescinded by the Trump administration, allegedly due to her social media criticism of then President Trump. On December 1, 2020 Jessikka Aro received the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, presented in partnership with the Washington Post and hosted by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Jessikka was recognized for her award-winning investigative reporting of Russian information warfare. Jessikka lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Author page Author webpageAuthor Twitter

Bibliography


Jessikka Aro

Putin's Trolls

2019, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction, History & Politics

Related news

Hebrew rights for MY ONLY HOME sold + new titles climbing bestseller lists!

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We are extremely happy to share some wonderful news today: MY ONLY HOME by Hanna Brotherus has now been sold to the Israeli Hakibbutz Hameuchad – Sifriat Poalim publishing house!
They are also the publishers of eg. Elena Ferrante, Edward St Aubyn, Jon Fosse, Monika Helfer etc., and we are excited to see Hanna Brotherus in such great company!

Download the materials for MY ONLY HOME by clicking here.

The book was the #1 Finnish fiction bestseller in 2021 with more than 66.000 copies sold and with six reprints, MY ONLY HOME is also on the top lists of most listened audiobooks on both Storytel and BookBeat in 2021.

My passion is to join together different people from different backgrounds and age groups. I believe in intuition, in the power of the touch and presence.
-Hanna Brotherus.

MY ONLY HOME by Hanna Brotherus

A fearless auto-fictive novel about the frenzy for life and the acceptance of incompleteness.

When her children leave their home, the woman wants to take a deep dive into the past. She wants to understand all the lives she has lived. She wants to examine whose have been the eyes she has seen herself through, who have been the ones she has yearned to walk beside her, and to understand what she still has ahead of her. And she wants to begin anew anything that is possible.

An uncompromising journey into the truth behind the memories begins. The gates are wide open when the woman realizes that she is the most important person in her life. Her body is her only home.

We are also excited to share new praise for our new fiction titles ANNA OF HAGA MANOR and LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES, which both are climbing the bestseller lists after their publication! ANNA is in Top 4 in the biggest bookstore in Finland, while LILI is in top 20 in the biggest bookstore chain!

PRAISE FOR ANNA OF HAGA  MANOR: 

“Anna of Haga Manor is near perfection when it comes to historical fiction. It’s entertaining, features romance and feelings, and at the same time it is realistic and keeps to the historical facts. The title feeds one’s creativity and curiosity and is an impressive work.
Rosenberg’s knowledge of the French culture, typical to the period, is well-woven into the story.  [–] I’m looking forward to the next books in the Ladies of Haga Manor -series!”
– Kirsin Kirjanurkka blog

“I was thrilled to read the fabulous historical novel Anna of Haga Manor. The book is so beautiful and Riikka-Maria Rosenberg shines with her skills of a historian. [–] I bet Anna is proud of her biography.”
– Marjaana Manni on Instagram

“The one who brings history alive”
– Anna magazine of the author Riikka-Maria Rosenberg

“This is a book I couldn’t put down once I started reading. [–] An incredibly good book which sweeps the reader into the plot and makes them think about life in the old times.”
– Kirjadiggari on Instagram

Download the English materials for ANNA OF HAGA MANOR here! 

PRAISE FOR LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES: MURDER AT THE MANSION:

“The most charming one”
– Sari Toivakka in Keski-Suomalainen newspaper

“Murder at the Mansion is a true cozy crime treat, and Lili Flame, together with her sidekick Riku, refreshing and entertaining. I’d call this required reading for all the nostalgists and friends of cozy crime! I’m eagerly waiting for Lili’s next adventures.”
–Päivän kirja on Instagram

“I loved walking along Lili in the Helsinki of 1940s. Recommended for all the fans of traditional crime novel.”
–Kotipuu_lukemassa on Instagram

”I really enjoyed the post-war Helsinki as a location. The post-war years will surely give much for Lili’s upcoming adventures as well, and the details fo it had been nicely sprinkled in to animate the story [–] The story moves well, travelling around the city. Before the end, we encounter two murders and two attempts, with the luxurious Aaltokoski Mansion featuring as the scene for the dramatic finale.”
– Kirja vieköön! Blog

Download the English materials for LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES here! 

MY ONLY HOME
Ainoa kotini, WSOY, March, 2021 331 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)

ESTONIA: Varrak
GERMANY: Ullstein (2-book deal)
ISRAEL: Hakibbutz Hameuchad – Sifriat Poalim

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis

 

ANNA OF HAGA MANOR
Hakoisten Anna, Tammi, 2022 331 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi(orig.)

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis

 

LILI FLAME INVESTIGATES: MURDER AT THE MANSION
Kuolema Kulosaaressa, Otava, 2022. 415pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi(orig.)

Reading material:
English sample and synopsis

Hanna Brotherus


Dancer, director and choreographer Hanna Brotherus is constantly addressing and probing the prevalent questions of society. Brotherus is a pioneer in community stage art, with an extraordinary ability to unite different groups of people and collaborators.

In her work, Brotherus has managed to unreservedly involve both cutting-edge artistic professionals, recovering addicts, daycare children, the elderly and many more.

With her debut novel ’My Only Home’, Hanna Brotherus has also redeemed her place as writer. Her book has become a major bestseller and presently Hanna is working on a new title.
Hanna’s exceptional experience as a performing dance artist also contributes creatively to her writing by offering a corporeal perspective that touches the readers in a unique way.

”My passion is to join together different people from different backgrounds and age groups. I believe in intuition, in the power of the touch and presence”.

Author page Author webpageAuthor facebook

Laura Andersson


Laura Andersson has been working in the publishing industry for 15 years. During her career she’s been involved in launching a YA book festival in Finland and creating an award-winning publishing program for the Finnish gaming mega-brand Angry Birds. Andersson is a long-time fan of both Agatha Christie and the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, both of which have inspired Lili Flame. She also found inspiration in the life story of Finland’s first female president, Tarja Halonen. The stylishly old-fashioned name of Ms. Halonen’s mother, Lyyli Loimola, made her first think of the character of Lili and about the possibility of creating a cool, historical crime series. Prior to writing Lili Flame, Andersson had been teaching Finnish parents and their babies good sleep habits, and her autobiographical non-fiction book The Baby Sleep Project, has become required reading among Finnish families. Andersson was born, and continues to live, in Helsinki, Finland. She loves her city deeply, and its historical layers keep feeding her imagination. She’s most curious about those aspects of the city’s past that are not part of the official historical narrative. In her free time, Andersson is passionate about books, horses, wine, and the circus.

Author page

Riikka-Maria Rosenberg


Riikka-Maria Rosenberg (b. 1977) is a historian and author who brings the intriguing women of the past back to life. Her novels transport the reader into a lost world that is still worth revisiting. Rosenberg has always been interested in the people of the past, their lives and how they have connected to society – its structures, expectations and possibilities.

During her PhD studies at the University of Helsinki, Rosenberg studied the lives of the Baroque Parisians Ninon de Lenclos and Madame de Sévigné. She specialized particularly in the lives of the upper class, the status of fashion within the nobility and their consumption habits, and perceptions on women’s dignity and sexuality.

Riikka-Maria splits her time between Helsinki and the Rosenberg Manor in Hakoinen. The estate’s long and vivid past inspired her to recount the tales of the women who had lived there in the new historical novel series The Ladies of Haga Manor.

Author page

100pp English sample and new reviews for Tiina Raevaara’s ME, MY DOG AND HUMANITY

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We are extremely happy to let you know that we now have available a 100pp English sample for ME, MY DOG AND HUMANITY!

Also, take a look at the excellent reviews!

Multiple studies show clear evidence how spending time with pets lowers our stress levels and boosts our mental health.

In ME, MY DOG AND HUMANITY, Tiina Raevaara explores the topic from a personal point of view but also draws on scientific research. As a previous writer of both fiction and non-fiction, her text is easy to follow for everyone.Download the long English sample and synopsis by clicking here

FINNISH PRAISE:

Faith in humanity is being tested at the moment. It is comforting to remember that we’re not alone on Earth. During the last years, the ability of humans to communicate with other animals has been explored a lot in literature: how we talk to animals and with them, how do we confront other beings, what do they mean to us. Biologist and writer Tiina Raevaara’s ME, MY DOG AND HUMANITY starts with a personal experience, familiar from the works of Helen Macdonald. When Raevaara has a burnout, even close people feel burdensome, but a dog – never, despite how much care and attention a dog requires. From the friendship of the writer and a dog, and interesting survey of the history, causes, and consequences of the co-existence of species branches.
– Arla Kanerva, Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

*****
In her book-long essay, Tiina Raevaara ponders the connection to other animals as part of humanity. The dog holds a special place, both in the common history of humans and animals, and in Raevaara’s own life. [—] By studying research literature and relying on her knowledge of genetics, Raevaara discusses the connection to animals as a trait of the human species. She goes through the shared history of humans and dogs which is full of unanswered questions. [—] Her aim is to understand the interaction [between humans and animals] and human nature. Raevaara also seeks answers from the perspective of animals and through the world of senses. The personal vein remains throughout the book. [—] Raevaara intriguingly depicts the enigmatic nature of humanity. In addition to the connection to animals, the approving way of living and being arises as a subject of the book. [—] For Raevaara, an appreciative and gentle attitude towards animals is good humanity.
– Outi Hytönen, Suomen Kuvalehti magazine

ME, MY DOG AND HUMANITY
by Tiina RaevaaraIn the Autumn of 2018, biologist and award-winning author Tiina Raevaara found herself exhausted and anguished, with her mind dark like a Finland November. She did, however, find comfort in the company of her dog, Igor. She started pondering the reasons for her exhaustion and, simultaneously, the evolution of the human species and its relation to other animals.

The current ascendancy of mankind is, according to Raevaara, not a result of humanity’s innate superiority, but, in fact, a result of its connections and relationships to other species. Ours is not a story of a purpose-driven humankind achieving its predominance in grand solitude, but of a humanity which has striven for connections with other animals.

In her new book Me, My Dog and Humanity, Raevaara compellingly describes the coexistence between humans and animals, both personally and from the perspective of humankind, and seeks answers to a number of questions:

• Why does an exhausted person prefer to spend time with their dog than other people?

• Why do animals arouse such strong empathy in us?

• What does the human-animal connection mean from the perspective of evolution and humanity?

The domesticated dog is a much older creation of humankind than agriculture, religion or even writing. Mapping out the mutual journey between humans and dogs, Raevaara sheds light on the most fundamental essences of humanity and its relationship with nature.

 

FILI GRANTS REMINDER

We are thrilled to remind you that the latest application period for Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI) translation and printing grants has opened and will last until May 1st!

It’s a perfect time to acquire exciting Finnish titles and apply for translation grants!
Don’t have a Finnish translator yet? Find them here!

In the last application period in Winter 2022, 63 projects earned a grant with 113,000€ awarded in total. See the previously awarded projects here!

Translation grants
Up to 70% of translation costs from Finnish or Finland-Swedish can be covered by a FILI translation grant. There are 3 application periods in a year, and the Spring application period is 1.4.-1.5.2022.

ME, MY DOG AND HUMANITY
Minä, koira ja ihmiskunta
Otava, March 2022, 317pp

RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND: Otava/Like (orig.)

Bibliography


Tiina Raevaara

Me, My Dog and Humanity: A History of Coexistence Between Species

2022, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction

Related news

Great reception in Italy to Mia Kankimäki’s WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT, sold to 20 territories

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We are very happy to announce that Neri Pozza Editore in Italy has now published Kankimäki’s internationally bestselling travelogue/biography THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT to excellent reviews!

Mia Kankimäki’s second book THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT has sold over 45 000 copies in all formats in Finland and the translation rights have been sold to 20 territories, including USA and China.
Rights are still available in Poland, Romania, Repubic of Korea, Turkey etc.

Download the Full English manuscript
 
ITALIAN PRAISE FOR THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT: 
 
“The Women I Think About at Night can cure any fear”
– Riza Antiage magazine, 1st of December 2021
 
“In the sleepless nights when the life seems upside down and the fear attacks, the author of this illuminating title puts together an invisible army of bodyguards consisting of the great women of the past.”
– Mauretta Capuano, L’Unione Sarda newspaper, 4th of December 2021
 
“Kankimäki gives life to intertwining stories that continues to expand and that (…) can inspire to live one’s passion and one’s choices not caring about the expectations of one’s own time, as these women did.”
– Ansa.it portal, 25th of November 2021
 
“Kankimäki tells the story of independent, courageous women, who choose to follow their own path without fear of social conventions.”
– Bell’Europa newspaper, 1st of December 2021
 
“The Women I Think About At Night is a very original book between literary genres. The author travels in time and space, questions her own muses, asks for their advice and inspiration, talks with them, lives with their defeats, and rejoices with their success. (…)Kankimäki looks for clues to make himself strong when she feels lost, to go forward even when she is discouraged, and to convince herself that, despite everything, a woman can always make it. Just learn to live with their own fractures. Just follow your passions without being paralyzed by them obstacles. Just remember that never, in the past, those who have left a trace have had an easy life. On the contrary. The courage to these women was often the result of the difficulties encountered.”
– Michela Marzano, Robinson, La Republica 27th of November 2021

THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT
by Mia Kankimäki

Mia Kankimäki leaves her job, sells her apartment and travels to Africa to see where Karen Blixen – the Danish author, baroness and coffee farmer – lived in the 1920s. She goes to Japan in search of a cure for her depression, and to research Yayoi Kusama, the world-renowned artist, and around the world in the footsteps of 19th century women explorers. In Italy, she spends days looking for forgotten Renaissance women painters of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. If these women could make it in the world hundreds of years ago, why couldn’t she?

The Women I Think About At Night is part travelogue and part biography: in clear prose Kankimäki writes about the lost women adventurers of history – perfect reading for adult fans of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, and anyone who’s ever wanted to travel to all the places they’ve ever read about.

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Muza
CHINA: Winshare Books Co., Ltd.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Albatros Media / Motto
DENMARK: Bilgrav
ESTONIA: Varrak
FRANCE: Editions Leduc
GERMANY: btb Verlag/Random House
HUNGARY: Kossuth
ITALY: Neri Pozza Editore
JAPAN: Soshisha
LATVIA: Zvaigzne
LITHUANIA: Gelmes Publishing
NETHERLANDS: Orlando
NORWAY: Gursli Berg Forlag
RUSSIA: Eksmo
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SWEDEN: Wahlström & Widstrand
UNITED KINGDOM: Simon & Schuster
USA: Simon & Schuster (World English)

Mia Kankimäki


Mia Kankimäki is the author of two best-selling books which blend travelogue, memoir, biography and women’s history. After taking a master’s degree in comparative literature at the University of Helsinki and working diligently in Finnish publishing, in 2010 she left her job and traveled to Japan to write her first book. Her books have received several literary awards, for example the Best Travel Book of the year 2013, the HelMet Award 2015, and Otava Book Foundation’s Non Fiction Award 2020. She currently lives in Helsinki, Finland, whenever she’s not traveling for her next book project.

Mia has been enthusiastic about Japanese culture for years, and is a qualified ikebana teacher of the Sogetsu school. Her first book Things That Make One’s Hear Beat Faster took her to Kyoto where she has spent long periods of writing and making research ever since. Kankimäki’s second book The Women I Think About at Night has sold over 45,000 copies in Finland and the translation rights have been sold to 20 territories, including USA and China.

Mia's both books have been aqcuired by Japanese publisher Soshisha:

"I am delighted to share that Mia Kankimäki’s debut title, THINGS THAT MAKE ONE’S HEART BEAT FASTER, is embraced and loved by many Japanese readers. A cross between an autobiography and a travelogue, the author finds an emotional connection with a woman geographically far apart and from a different era and tries to discover who she really was. I believe this style is reflected in THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT as well. Though some of the female figures in this second book might not be well-known locally, I am looking forward to seeing how our readers will react to their lifestyles." - Daisuke Watanabe, Editor, Soshisha

Author page Author webpageAuthor InstagramAuthor Facebook

Bibliography


Mia Kankimäki

The Women I Think About At Night

2018, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction


Mia Kankimäki

Things That Make One's Heart Beat Faster

2013, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction

Related news

Miika Nousiainen’s FACELIFT has now been published in Germany to amazing reviews!

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We are delighted to announce that Kein & Aber has now published the German edition of Miika Nousiainen’s bestselling novel FACELIFT aka QUALITY TIME to very exciting reviews!

The surprising and funny rom-com with a male lead has now sold over 95 000 copies in all formats in Finland and has already 8 publishers around the World.

The rights are still available in the US, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, France, Netherlands, Latvia, etc

Download the English sample and synopsis here.

EXCELLENT GERMAN REVIEWS FOR FACELIFT:

“Bestselling Finnish author Miika Nousiainen presents average guys. The fact that they speak frankly, as if into a diary, brings them close to us – also thanks to their sarcasm.”
– Hansruedi Kugler, Aargauer Zeitung, 21 August 2021

“A master of human depths and shallows […].
Quirky books, casual and, of course, full of Finnish mockery.
With all this verve and all this wit […] it’s more than a feel-good novel for me, this is really a great reckoning with what is expected of us and he does that very fast-paced and very funny.”
– Elke Schlinsog, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 4 September 2021

“One can’t stop laughing […]!”
– Barbara Weitzel, WELT am Sonntag kompakt, 5 September 2021

“I am very happy that Miika Nousiainen has again published such a burlesque, very spirited novel.”
-Annemarie Stoltenberg, NDR Kultur, 31 August 2021

“Light as a feather and spirited.”
-Annemarie Stoltenberg, NDR Kultur Neue Bücher, 7 September 2021

“Amusing, touching without being sentimental, suspenseful and funny.”
– Sabine Gartmann, Osterholzer Kreisblatt, 20 August 2021

“Enjoyably written Finnish bestseller that provokes reflection.”
– Hörzu, August 2021

“Fun and philosophical.”
-Nina Berendonk, Donna, August 2021

“Miika Nousiainen’s book Quality Time skillfully plays with an overused term and, at the same time, offers an immensely entertaining reinterpretation.”
-General Anzeiger, August 14, 2021

“Delightfully silly and crazy!”
-Buchhandlung Eichwalde, Märkische Allgemeine, August 4, 2021

“Miika Nousiainen manages with humor and a flair for unbelievable developments that everything is nevertheless really good in the end.
A turbulent feel-good novel that has to be recommended, not only in our current, equally chaotic times.”
-Bad Aachen Magazin, August 2021

“Quality Time is a reflection of life with all its phases, everyday problems, ups, downs and imponderables – and an appeal for a conscious living together and a meaningful use of the time one has on earth. Great read, absolutely recommended!”
– Frank Rehag, Finnland-Tour.de, July 28, 2021

FACELIFT
By Miika Nousiainen

Sami has a dream: he desperately wants to be a father. His biological clock has been ticking for the past 15 years so loudly that sometimes it’s hard to hear his own thoughts. But it’s not so easy to become a father, first of all, you need to find a suitable future mother candidate.

But when Sami’s latest future-mother-candidate rides off with a biker guy, he makes a series of bad choices that cause him to anger the local motorcycle gang. How to fix a life where everything seems to go wrong? Sini, a wellbeing blogger with perfectly instagrammable life arrives to offer a solution.

FACELIFT
Pintaremontti
Otava, 2020, 365 pp.
Rights sold:

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

CROATIA: Znanje
CZECHIA: Host
ESTONIA: Eesti Raamat
GERMANY: Kein & Aber
NORWAY: Vigmostad & Bjørke
RUSSIA: Livebook Publishing
SERBIA: Odiseja

Reading material
English sample
German edition

Miika Nousiainen


Miika Nousiainen writes sharp, gentle and often tragicomical novels about surprising themes like long-distance running, the desire to be Swedish, and dentistry. He works as a journalist and writes also for television.

Author page

Bibliography


Miika Nousiainen

Facelift

2020, Commercial/Upmarket, Humor


Miika Nousiainen

Roots

2016, Humor


Miika Nousiainen

Raspberry Boat Refugee

2007, Humor

Related news

Today Elina Ahlback Literary Agency celebrates its 12th anniversary!

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The story of the Elina Ahlback Literary Agency began in Manhattan, New York, in February 2009. While Elina’s son was skating in the skate park under the Brooklyn Bridge, the courageous decision to establish the agency was made — with its mission to build bridges between authors and publishers worldwide and with its passion to internationalize Finnish literature.

Elina Ahlback Literary Agency is Finland’s leading and first independent, international literary agency representing Finnish and Nordic authors’ and illustrators’ book, film & TV rights in international markets. The Agency also represents U.S. publishers and their authors exclusively in the Nordic countries.

We are enormously proud of the authors we have the honor to represent and  are celebrating with some of the best praises for our excellent authors and titles this Spring:

A New York Times Bestseller

Translated with icy precision, by Kristian London, is written in short, sharp, present-tense chapters, a technique which adds to its relentless tension.

– The Wall Street Journal on
The Witch Hunter by Max Seeck

 

 

 

 

 

Best Book of the Month

This provocative Finnish author enters the fray of American literature (thanks to translation from David Hackston) with a racy, wonderfully weird novel about a therapist’s sessions with a sex-obsessed woman.

– Entertainment Weekly on
My Friend Natalia by Laura Lindstedt

 

 

 

Best Travel Book of Year 2021

Packed with emotions, this book is like reading a travelogue, feminist’s manifesto and a self-help guide in one.

– The Independent on
The Women I Think About at Night by Mia Kankimäki

 

 

 

 

Best Debut Novel of the Year

By pushing her character into a crisis, a writer can sometimes observe the abyss of the mind. How eloquently we are led from the drama of a crisis into facing the questions of domination and subjugation. The intense mood is amplified by the close-knit style of expression. The general impression of this dense novel follows along the same lines as the communication between the characters: it surely is cold but it does emit some heat.

– Parnasso on
Arctic Mirage by Terhi Kokkonen

 

 

Winner of a National Crime competition 2019

Finland is the new Mecca of crime fiction. You need proof? Just read the first novel by A.M. Ollikainen. I couldn’t imagine a better start for a series. CARGO is outstanding.

– Marco Schneiders, Publishing Director, Bastei Lübbe on
Cargo by A.M.Ollikainen

 

 

 

Winner of The Best Crime Fiction Novel in 2020

This art detective thriller that is constructed around the masterpiece by Michaelangelo Caravaggio moves fluidly forward like an Italian little criminal on his scooter. The twists and turns are swift and the plot as intricate as the Sicilian courtly etiquette; yet the tranquil pace of the narration allows the reader to stay on board.

– KMV Magazine on
Lead White by Jyrki Erra

 

 

 

A national bestseller

Miika Nousiainen’s FACELIFT is first and foremost a fantastic humorous novel full of wit and charming characters. Moreover the author does not shy away from more serious issues and offers a refreshing perspective on many clichés and stereotypes. Reading Facelift is an experience not to be forgotten.

– Lucie Bregantová, Host Publishing on
Facelift by Miika Nousiainen

 

 

 

Winner of the Storytel Audio book Award 2020 for the Best Crime Novel
Winner of Elisa Kirja Book Award, Best Newcomer 2020

Our first impression after reading this wonderful book is ‘It is such a fascinating and engaging read, that your biggest challenge will be putting the book down.’ Scandinavian landscapes, 30-years old mystery, investigation, all the atmosphere – ideal mix. We even felt the True Detective vibes! We liked the masterful parallel storylines, the formed author`s style, and, of course, the perfect ending!

– Sofia Shramko, Mann Ivanov Ferber on
All The King’s Men by Elina Backman

 

A national bestseller

The title of this book immediately caught my eye, but it’s rare that a book delivers beyond its clever name. This book does. It’s an entertaining, thought-provoking read about the world we live in and the companies that, when unchecked, will shape our future.

– Joost van den Ossenblok, A.W. Bruna on
The 50 Most Dangerous Companies by Juha-Pekka Raeste and Hannu Sokala

 

 

 

An immediate national bestseller

Love is not – although abstruse – irrational….These two things, the search for love at the same time as you are escaping from it and the process of observing and describing it, are at the core of Irrational Things. — Little by little, all these irrational things are presented by Turunen to the reader in her endearing way that takes notice of the smallest details. Time flies, the narrator changes and becomes more and more aware. As a cunning writer, Turunen has fooled the reader into fearing how a distant relationship can survive. And suddenly, I as a reader, realize that all the while I’ve been following an artist’s development story.

– Suvi Ahola, Helsingin Sanomat on
Irrational Things by Saara Turunen

A.M. Ollikainen


A. M. Ollikainen is a pseudonym for a husband-and-wife author duo Aki and Milla Ollikainen. Aki Ollikainen has published three novels and won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize in 2012. He has also been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Prix Femina in 2016. Milla Ollikainen has published three crime novels and won Like Publishing and the Finnish Detective Society’s Crime novel writing competition in 2012. Cargo is their first novel together and the Winner of a National Crime Novel Competition. The couple lives in Lohja with their two children.

Author page

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, with All the King's Men sold in 15 territories to-date, and an international TV series is in development.

Author page Author webpageAuthor FacebookAuthor Instagram

Juha-Pekka Raeste & Hannu Sokala


Juha-Pekka Raeste covers international and domestic business for Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest newspaper in Finland. He focuses on the biggest corporations and the IT industry.

Hannu Sokala works as an investigative reporter for YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company. His work covers e.g. international finance and macroeconomics.

Author page

Laura Lindstedt


Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territories.

Author page Author webpage

Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author


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

“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 is currently working on the fourth book of the Jessica Niemi series, which is to be published in Finland in fall 2022.

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.

Author page Author webpageAuthor FacebookAuthor Instagram

Mia Kankimäki


Mia Kankimäki is the author of two best-selling books which blend travelogue, memoir, biography and women’s history. After taking a master’s degree in comparative literature at the University of Helsinki and working diligently in Finnish publishing, in 2010 she left her job and traveled to Japan to write her first book. Her books have received several literary awards, for example the Best Travel Book of the year 2013, the HelMet Award 2015, and Otava Book Foundation’s Non Fiction Award 2020. She currently lives in Helsinki, Finland, whenever she’s not traveling for her next book project.

Mia has been enthusiastic about Japanese culture for years, and is a qualified ikebana teacher of the Sogetsu school. Her first book Things That Make One’s Hear Beat Faster took her to Kyoto where she has spent long periods of writing and making research ever since. Kankimäki’s second book The Women I Think About at Night has sold over 45,000 copies in Finland and the translation rights have been sold to 20 territories, including USA and China.

Mia's both books have been aqcuired by Japanese publisher Soshisha:

"I am delighted to share that Mia Kankimäki’s debut title, THINGS THAT MAKE ONE’S HEART BEAT FASTER, is embraced and loved by many Japanese readers. A cross between an autobiography and a travelogue, the author finds an emotional connection with a woman geographically far apart and from a different era and tries to discover who she really was. I believe this style is reflected in THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT as well. Though some of the female figures in this second book might not be well-known locally, I am looking forward to seeing how our readers will react to their lifestyles." - Daisuke Watanabe, Editor, Soshisha

Author page Author webpageAuthor InstagramAuthor Facebook

Miika Nousiainen


Miika Nousiainen writes sharp, gentle and often tragicomical novels about surprising themes like long-distance running, the desire to be Swedish, and dentistry. He works as a journalist and writes also for television.

Author page

Terhi Kokkonen


Terhi Kokkonen (1974) is a Helsinki-based musician and pop lyricist. She is known for the band Scandinavian Music Group, as well as being one of the singers of the band Ultra Bra. Kokkonen has studied dramaturgy at the Theater Academy and screenwriting and film editing at the Department of Cinematography and Stage Design at Aalto University. Arctic Mirage is her debut novel, and it was awarded as the best debut novel of 2020.

Author page

Excellent start for ONEIRON in Poland! Interview with Laura Lindstedt

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Excellent start for Oneiron in Poland!

Watch the interview with the author Laura Lindstedt and translator Sebastian Musielak!
We are extremely happy to let you know that Laura Lindstedt’s ONEIRON, which in 2015 won the most prestigious literary prize in Finland – the Finlandia prize – has now been published in Poland by Wydawnictwo Poznańskie to excellent reviews!

The novel introduces seven women in a white, undefined space seconds after their deaths.
None of the women can remember what happened to them, or how they got there.
Lindstedt plays with genres from essay to poetry, transitioning from humor to rage – while asking her reader to contemplate the question of death’s inevitability and what follows it.

The book has sold to 14 territories, but the rights are still available in Estonia, Russia, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Iceland, China, Japan, etc. 

Download the full English manuscript here.

The first Polish reviews are in and they are really positive:

The novel about small, almost transparent moments and decisions that made our lives. /../
Although Lindstedt is playing with imagination, building a new, post-death world, I get the feeling that what she wants really to write about is the way we live
– Sylwia Chutnik, writer

We can debate on whether „Oneiron” is about the collective memory of one sex, or if it is the history of memory stigmatisation by means of who we’ve been and what we’ve experienced as a certain sex. One thing is for sure: Lindstedt’s womanhood is power and mystery
– Jarek Czechowicz, independent literary blogger

The thing is, what causes the women’s death, and how they died. Here the main part plays the male power, which manifests itself in different ways (…) but Lindstedt does not give us the accusatory vision of the world as seen by the victims. Her heroines are strong, determined to fight for themselves and their goals. With no regrets.
– literary critic Maciej Kijko

The author Laura Lindstedt also just had a a very fascinating interview with her Polish translator Sebastian Musielak about Oneiron, which you can re-watch on Youtube (in English).

ONEIRON
by Laura Lindstedt
Seven women meet in a white, undefined space seconds after their deaths. Time, as we understand it, has ceased to exist, and all bodily sensations seem to have disappeared.

None of the women can remember what happened to her, or how she got there. Performance artist Shlomith from New York, chief accountant Polina from Moscow, heart transplant patient Rosa Imaculada from Brazil, upper-class Nina from Marseilles who is expecting twins, Wlbgis from the Netherlands, who suffers from throat cancer, Senegalese Maimuna, who dreams of a career as a model, and Austrian teenager, Ulrike. They don’t know each other. They don’t know why they are there – or where they are. In turn they try to remember, to piece together the fragments of their lives, their identities, their lost loves, and to pinpoint the moment they left their former lives behind.

Lindstedt plays with genres from essay to poetry, transitioning from humour to rage – while asking her reader to contemplate the question of death’s inevitability and what follows it. As also in Lindstedt’s acclaimed debut novel Scissors, Oneiron addresses the challenges of communication on several levels.

 

Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territories

RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
BULGARIA: Faber
DENMARK: Rosinante & Co
FRANCE: Gallimard
HUNGARY: Scolar Kiado
ITALY: Elliot Edizioni
LITHUANIA: Versus Aureus
NORWAY: Oktober
POLAND: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie
ROMANIA: Editura Paralela 45
SPAIN: Armaenia Editorial
SWEDEN: Norstedts
TURKEY: Everest Yayınları

WORLD ENGLISH: Oneworld Publications

Laura Lindstedt


Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territories.

Author page Author webpage

Bibliography


Laura Lindstedt

My Friend Natalia

2019, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Oneiron

2015, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Scissors

2007, Literary Fiction

Related news

Finland is the new Mecca of crime fiction – CARGO publishers predict the future bestseller!

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Join the happy family of A.M. Ollikainen’s CARGO Publishers!

The book is now printed and on its way to bookstores!
We are excited to share amazing endorsements by CARGO’s foreign publishers and passionate about growing the family of A.M. Ollikainen’s publishers around the world.

Who can resist this supercouple and their unique combination of the best Finnish crime fiction that also masters the literary style?

CARGO is the Winner of a National Crime Novel Competition with rights sold in 12 languages and the publication date in Finland is May 12th. 

The book has already left the printers and is on the way to bookstores as we speak!

Download the 100pp English sample and full Finnish manuscript for your reader here.

Find a Finnish reader here.

PRAISE FOR CARGO AND A.M. OLLIKAINEN:

Finland is the new Mecca of crime fiction. You need proof? Just read the first novel by A.M. Ollikainen. I couldn’t imagine a better start for a series.  CARGO is outstanding.  
– Marco Schneiders, Publishing Director, Bastei Lübbe, Germany

„Cargo” is a fast-paced story with suspense until the end and well-drawn main character—an intelligent, empathetic and pragmatic police commissioner, Paula Pihlaja. The other characters also have clear psychological outline and natural dialogues which fuel the reader’s curiosity. All those things make „Cargo” impossible to put down. I am glad that Polish readers will be able to take part in this criminal feast. 
– Dominika Dudarew-Osiecka, Czarna Owca, Poland

Something very exciting is for sure happening within the genre of Nordic noir – our eyes are drawn to Helsinki. A.M. Ollikainen comes in and blow our minds. What a terrific start for a new series! The writing, the atmosphere, the characters, the tension – it’s all there, and we strongly believe this author duo to be the next big thing. Cargo is a book that’s hard to put down and has excellent twists and turns that are sure to delight thriller and Nordic noir fans. In addition to the great entertaining read this novel is, we love how well it takes on political and human themes – that’s rare, and adds to our enthusiasm for this author duo and their promising series.
– Vidar Strøm Fallrø, Development Editor, Aschehoug, Norway

Cargo is like a breath of fresh air among contemporary crime fiction – it is not only a thrilling detective story but also a perfectly written novel pointing out many interesting observations about our current lives. Moreover, the investigator Paula Pihlaja is such a relatable character – a capable, intelligent woman full of wit yet also haunted by her past. But could her seeming weaknesses be a source of strength too? It is a pleasure to see a strong female lead who is not afraid of being vulnerable. 
-Lucie Bregantová, editor, HOST – vydavatelství, s. r. o., Czech Republic

We see a great readership for this thriller series starring Paula Pihlaja: she’s a great detective, but also a person people can relate to as she copes with her past and the challenging times ahead of her. Add to this the themes that every great thriller novel needs: an intriguing murder method, a perfect writing style and a suspenseful plot, and I think you’ve got a winning combination in Cargo! We see A.M. Ollikainen as a very promising crimewriting powercouple, and look forward to introduce them to our Dutch readers.
– Soraya Vink, Commissioning Editor, HarperCollins Holland

When finishing the English sample I felt that it is quite terrible that I can’t speak Finnish – you need to continue the story just from the really beginning! Big things are happening in Finland, authors like A.M. Ollikainen makes us stunned. With Cargo, you felt yourself immediately in the middle of a well-deserved Nordic thriller, and you quickly realize that this won’t be an easy one. The first fine screws, the personality of the main characters, the launch of this story guarantees that this book will have an amazing future.
– Laszlo Marosi, Publishing editor, Animus Kiado, Hungary

A rare crime novel that also masters the literary style. One of the authors – Aki Ollikainen – is an awarded and internationally acclaimed literary fiction author and it really shows. The well-crafted mystery only unfolds in the very end and leaves the reader in awe.
– Piret Saluri, Estonia

CARGO is really masterful at setting up its twists and turns, also adding some hard-hitting societal criticism into the mix. I certainly could not put it down and it kept me guessing the whole time.
– Gintė Pačėsė, Editor, Baltos lankos, Lithuania

JURY’S praise for CARGO by A.M. Ollikainen – Winner of a National Crime Novel Competition (2019)

The jury agrees that the text in Milla and Aki Ollikainen’s book runs splendidly. According to the jury, with its artfully and cleverly spun multifaceted criminal storyline CARGO springs to mind the best Nordic crime series:

The gallery of characters is exceptionally fascinating and well-controlled: they all pertain to the story and propel it again and again towards new unforeseeable twists. You simply cannot put this ace of a suspense book down. Even the first scenes of the manuscript contain an enormous charge.

The Crime 2019 Contest jury consisted of writers Leena Lehtolainen and Antti Tuomainen, producer Riina Hyytiä from Dionysos Films, Editor Aleksi Pöyry and Publisher Antti Kasper from Otava Publishing

RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)

ESTONIA: Varrak
(2-book deal)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Host
(2-book deal)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe
(2-book deal)
HUNGARY: Animus
(2-book deal)
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
(5-book deal)
LATVIA: Zvaigzne
(2-book deal)
NETHERLANDS: HarperCollins Holland
(2-book deal)
NORWAY: Aschehoug
(2-book-deal)
POLAND: Czarna Owca
(2-book deal)
SLOVENIA: Didakta
(2-book deal)
TURKEY: April
(2-book-deal)

A.M. Ollikainen


A. M. Ollikainen is a pseudonym for a husband-and-wife author duo Aki and Milla Ollikainen. Aki Ollikainen has published three novels and won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize in 2012. He has also been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Prix Femina in 2016. Milla Ollikainen has published three crime novels and won Like Publishing and the Finnish Detective Society’s Crime novel writing competition in 2012. Cargo is their first novel together and the Winner of a National Crime Novel Competition. The couple lives in Lohja with their two children.

Author page

Bibliography


A. M. Ollikainen

Swing

2022, Crime & Suspense


A. M. Ollikainen

Cargo

2021, Crime & Suspense

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Happy Publication Day, BECHI!

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A groundbreaking debut novel from one of the most interesting authors of the generation. This is the story of a simultaneously close and destructive relationship between a mother and a daughter, and of a desire to belong somewhere while also wanting to break free.

Praise:

“Beneath the beautifully rolling prose and sensual metaphors there are angry, cleansing currents.—Bechi is a work that rejects sentimentality in describing the relationship between a mother and a daughter in this world. — Despite its big themes, Bechi is very polished and dense.… As a whole, Bechi is a strong debut and Koko Hubara a welcome addition into the field of Finnish fiction.” – Helsingin Sanomat Newspaper, 18.4.2021

”The storytelling is vivid and keeps you in its grip…” – Suomen Kuvalehti Magazine, 17.4.2021

Download English sample and synopsis

Bechi is in her thirties, and lives in Helsinki, where she is trying to finish her master’s thesis. Her mother Shoshana is a writer of Yemeni Jewish heritage. Her autobiographical novel shocked readers in Finland, but she has also burned all the bridges between her family in Israel.

When Bechi tells her mother about her pregnancy, many years of tension come to a head. How can two people remember everything so differently? More importantly, what are the things that they would rather forget?

About the Author

Koko Hubara (MSSc., 1984) is the founder of Brown Girls Media (Ruskeat Tytöt Media), the first media for people of colour in Finland. She is the first editor-in-chief of colour in the history of Finland. She is also a freelance journalist, essayist, translator and creative writing teacher. Hubara is a native of Vantaa, with origins in Vyborg in Carelia, Kemijärvi in Lapland, Israel and Yemen. Her debut work, the essay collection Brown Girls (Ruskeat Tytöt – Tunne-esseitä) was released in 2017, and has been translated into Swedish. Hubara has won many awards for her antiracist work in the Finnish context. Bechi is Hubara’s first novel.

Reading materials:
English sample and synopsis

Rights sold:
FINLAND (orig. Otava, 2021)
FINLAND in Swedish
SWEDEN: Förlaget

Koko Hubara


Koko Hubara (MSSc., 1984) is the founder of Brown Girls Media (Ruskeat Tytöt Media), the first for us by us media for people of color in Finland. She is the first editor-in chief of color in the history of Finland. She is also a freelance journalist, essayist, translator and creative writing teacher. Hubara is a native of Vantaa, with origins in Vyborg, Carelia, Kemijärvi, Lapland, Israel and Yemen. Her debut work, the essay collection Brown Girls (Ruskeat Tytöt – Tunne-esseitä) was released in 2017, and has been translated into Swedish. Hubara has won many awards for her antiracist work in the Finnish context. Bechi is Hubara’s first novel.

Author page

Bibliography


Koko Hubara

Bechi

2021, Literary Fiction

Related news

New York Times recommends Laura Lindstedt’s US debut

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Laura Lindstedt Drawing Accolades with MY FRIEND NATALIA

Finland’s most dynamic novelists, Laura Lindstedt, bursts onto the American literary scene with her novel MY FRIEND NATALIA – an erotic story of an ambitious therapist’s sessions with an unforgettable patient. The novel is published by prestigious W.W. Norton / Liveright, and translated by award-winning David Hackston. MY FRIEND NATALIA is already listed as The New York Times Editor’s choice! In addition, the review of the book in New York Times is exciting:

“— This is the book’s tease, that Natalia — eccentric, unruly, compelling — will be definitively “solved.” But she’s not a dramatic principal, not a thing able to fire real bullets. This was her psychologist’s figure of speech and as such probably tells us more about the psychologist than the patient. The deeper, indeed more layered, mystery is, it emerges, the novel’s chimerical narrator. — Laura Lindstedt’s sly, intriguing novel.” –Hermione Hoby, New York Times 

You can read the NYT review here.

MY FRIEND NATALIA is already Entertainment Weekly’s ‘Best Book of The Month’ & ’20 Must-read Books of the Month’

“This provocative Finnish author enters the fray of American literature (thanks to translation from David Hackston) with a racy, wonderfully weird novel about a therapist’s sessions with a sex-obsessed woman.” – Entertainment Weekly, 1.3.2021

MY FRIEND NATALIA is praised in BuzzFeed as one of ‘Spring Books We Couldn’t Put Down’

Laura has yesterday been interviewed by Shelf-Awareness where she reveals some secrets about what’s inspired her. Check the article from here.

Scandinavia House in New York City will host AN EVENT on Saturday 10 April for a book talk with Laura Lindstedt and translator David Hackston on MY FRIEND NATALIA, the author’s U.S. debut. The event will take place as a Zoom webinar; please ask questions in the chat or send them in advance to  info@amscan.org. Registration is required; please sign up through the link here.

The exciting literary novel will be published in 13 territories, but the rights are still available in Denmark, Russia, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Latvia, China, Spain, Iceland, Japan etc.

Download the full English manuscript and praise sheet for MY FRIEND NATALIA by clicking here

MY FRIEND NATALIA
by Laura Lindstedt
Natalia cannot stop thinking about sex. A mesmerizing tale of one woman’s potent affliction by award-winning Finnish writer Laura Lindstedt. Narrated by an unnamed, ungendered therapist who leaps at the chance to employ their most experimental methods, My Friend Natalia offers a gripping examination of the power dynamics always present but rarely ever spoken about in therapy. “Something flared within me,” the therapist notes, “and it wasn’t merely sympathy, the emotion I feel for most of my clients. It was more like a sudden experience of harmony, wholly inappropriate given the circumstances.”

 

AUTHOR

Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 13 territories.

 

 

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat AS
FRANCE: Gallimard
GERMANY: DTV
HUNGARY: Scolar Kiado
ITALY: Elliot Edizioni
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: De Bezige Bij
NORWAY: Oktober
ROMANIA: HUMANITAS S.A
SWEDEN: Norstedts
USA: W.W. Norton / Liveright

Laura Lindstedt


Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territories.

Author page Author webpage

Bibliography


Laura Lindstedt

My Friend Natalia

2019, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Oneiron

2015, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Scissors

2007, Literary Fiction

Related news

Now longer sample available for THE 50 MOST DANGEROUS COMPANIES IN THE WORLD! Read the Italian praise!

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THE 50 MOST DANGEROUS COMPANIES IN THE WORLD is a new eye-opening non-fiction title by experienced investigative journalists Hannu Sokala and Juha-Pekka Raeste. It covers 50 companies that comprise a large part of global market forces. They determine what kind of a world we all live in.

The book was published in January to excellent reviews and has already sold out two print runs, with a third on the way!

We now have a longer English sample of over 100pp download it here!
The English sample now also includes chapters about Google, Gazprom, Deutsche Bank and Disney!

The Hungarian rights for the title were recently pre-empted by Scolar and the Italian rights have just been acquired by Newton Compton!  They were very happy to acquire this thought-provoking title:

THE 50 MOST DANGEROUS COMPANIES IN THE WORLD is a a book that is not afraid to name things. an investigation that will change the perspective of many on who they are ruling the future of the world and how little we can trust them. It is terrible to realize for certain that money has become more important than people’s well-being. Investigations like this on, accurate and rigorous, renew the sense of the publisher’s profession
– Martina Donati, editor, Newton Compton, Italy
Hungarian publisher Scolar pre-empted the title immediately after reading and they said:

When reading this we are sitting behind Ikea desks, using Microsoft laptops, maybe even drinking Coca-Cola. After the Covid times we plan to travel with Ryanair on a Boeing airplane. But until we cannot travel, we advise to read this book, which can bring closer to the understanding the world around us. We are happy to present to the Hungarian readers this undoubtedly exciting reading.
– Andras Kozma, Foreign Rights Manager, Scolar Kiadó, Hungary
FINNISH PRAISE:

The book’s title 50 Most Dangerous Companies is a compelling lure. It makes you think of an excavator hoisting out the biggest crooks one by one. In truth, journalists Juha-Pekka Raeste and Hannu Sokala deliver multifaceted analyses of the powerful companies. …/ Raeste and Sokala deliver excellent journalism. It takes initiative, it’s thought-provoking, entertaining, and appropriately polemicizing. 
– Mikael Kosk, Hufvudstadsbladet Newspaper
THE 50 MOST DANGEROUS COMPANIES IN THE WORLD
by Hannu Sokala and Juha-Pekka Raeste
Otava/Nemo, January 2021Large multinational corporations influence how we think, what we eat, who we meet, how we spend our time and even who we vote for. As those businesses grow, their influence and power over people and governments also grows. To make sure that the future is not dictated by corporations, but by people, we need to know more about them.

This exciting non-fiction title by experienced financial journalists Hannu Sokala and Juha-Pekka Raeste covers 50 companies that comprise a large part of global market forces. They determine what kind of a world we all live in.

Some of the companies in the book are relatively unknown (Zhōngguó Yāncǎo Zǒnggōngsī and BlackRock) some predictable (Google, Amazon), some may seem surprising (Ikea and Disney) and some inevitable (Gazprom and Chevron). Some of the companies benefit from our everyday needs (Cargill, Coca-Cola), some from our vanity (Bytedance, Facebook), and some from our greed (Goldman Sachs, Berkshire Hathaway).

The book reads like a thriller, but it is non-fiction. It offers a comprehensive and often startling perspective on the most important, and dangerous, companies in the world.

Don’t forget to apply for FILI Grants for translations from Finnish/Finland Swedish!

The Spring application period started today 1st of April and will be closed on 1st of May.

The unique translation grant system in Finland gives you an opportunity to finance your translation costs up to 70% and even cover part of your printing costs – read more here:  https://fili.fi/en/grants/

Apply now:
The new FILI grant application period is now open starting January 1st, until February 1st. Please note that only translations from Finnish or Finnish-Swedish to foreign language will be supported.

Translators:
We will advice you to find the best possible translators, and in some cases you can also translate from English.  Find more information about translators here: https://kaantopiiri.fi/en/search-translators/

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Otava/Nemo (orig.)

HUNGARY: Scolar
ITALY: Newton Compton

Juha-Pekka Raeste & Hannu Sokala


Juha-Pekka Raeste covers international and domestic business for Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest newspaper in Finland. He focuses on the biggest corporations and the IT industry.

Hannu Sokala works as an investigative reporter for YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company. His work covers e.g. international finance and macroeconomics.

Author page

Bibliography


Juha-Pekka Raeste & Hannu Sokala

The 50 Most Dangerous Companies in the World

2021, General Nonfiction, History & Politics

Related news

MY FRIEND NATALIA by Laura Lindstedt published in the US today

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We are extremely happy, as today is the US publication day for one of Finland’s most dynamic novelists, Laura Lindstedt, who bursts onto the American literary scene with her novel My Friend Natalia – an erotic story of an ambitious therapist’s sessions with an unforgettable patient. The novel is published by prestigious W.W. Norton / Liveright, and translated by award-winning David Hackston.

“My Friend Natalia” has already received amazing pre-reviews, and is selected by Entertainment Weekly as the Best Book of the Month in March 2021. 

“Throughout the novel, Natalia riffs on Sartre, Beauvoir, and others,baiting the psychologist with sexually charged critiques of patriarchal philosophy.”  – Publishers Weekly

“Lindstedt’s novel reads like the love child of a pornographer and a high theorist: Derrida meets Anaïs Nin. Ultimately, this is as much a novel about language as it is about sexuality or psychology, and translator Hackston has performed a virtuosic task capturing the Finnish pyrotechnics in English.” – Kirkus Reviews

“This provocative Finnish author enters the fray of American literature (thanks to translation from David Hackston) with a racy, wonderfully weird novel about a therapist’s sessions with a sex-obsessed woman.”  – Seija Rankin, Entertainment Weekly, ‘Best New Books of March’

“I was tremendously impressed by My Friend Natalia. . . . Laura Lindstedt has a very Finnish take on sophistication (downbeat, deadpan), is disconcerting, dissonant, peerless in deferred resolution, a blithe dissolver of the regular association of ideas. Why did I not use lockdown to learn Finnish? Why?”
– Helen DeWitt, author of The Last Samurai

“Smart, dark, funny, and weirdly exhilarating, Laura Lindstedt’s My Friend Natalia is both pitched on the brink and absolutely alive. An absorbing discourse of sex, power, and boundaries, in sentences that lift like music.”
– Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World

MY FRIEND NATALIA
by Laura Lindstedt

Natalia cannot stop thinking about sex. A mesmerizing tale of one woman’s potent affliction by award-winning Finnish writer Laura Lindstedt. Narrated by an unnamed, ungendered therapist who leaps at the chance to employ their most experimental methods, My Friend Natalia offers a gripping examination of the power dynamics always present but rarely ever spoken about in therapy. “Something flared within me,” the therapist notes, “and it wasn’t merely sympathy, the emotion I feel for most of my clients. It was more like a sudden experience of harmony, wholly inappropriate given the circumstances.”

Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 13 territories.

RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat AS
FRANCE: Gallimard
GERMANY: DTV
HUNGARY: Scolar Kiado
ITALY: Elliot Edizioni
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: De Bezige Bij
NORWAY: Oktober
ROMANIA: HUMANITAS S.A
SWEDEN: Norstedts
USA: W.W. Norton / Liveright

Laura Lindstedt


Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territories.

Author page Author webpage

Bibliography


Laura Lindstedt

My Friend Natalia

2019, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Oneiron

2015, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Scissors

2007, Literary Fiction

Related news

IRRATIONAL THINGS by Saara Turunen published today with rave reviews!

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We are happy to announce the publication of award-winning author and playwright Saara Turunen’s third novel “Irrational Things” – the 1st print run already sold out!

A young woman from a Nordic country meets a Catalan man in Barcelona. A smart, modern love story ensues.
“Irrational Things” asks is it a contradiction if you are a strong independent woman, but also falling madly in love – so much in love that you are willing to change everything in your life for someone else?

When the main character falls in love with a Catalan man, they first try living in Spain, then the try Finland, and when things don’t work out they try breaking up. But the bond between them is so strong, that they have to keep inventing new ways to be together.

The novel also discusses writing about love. Is love a suitable subject to deal with if you want to be taken seriously?

PRAISE:

“Even though love is complicated, it is never irrational. This, and other ideas Turunen carefully depicts with her lovable style that pays attention even to the smallest of details.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper 17.3.

“Like Saga Noren dropped in the middle of Los Serranos!”  – Etelä-Suomen Sanomat newspaper 17.3.

“In a short time Turunen has become the most interesting contemporary Finnish writer.” – Ilta-Sanomat newspaper 17.3.

“I love the way Turunen writes about seemingly mundane details, but they actually represent structures or pain points of the society. Her language is straightforward, and the humor is seen in the contrasts of what is said and what happens. “ – Turun Sanomat newspaper 17.3.

IRRATIONAL THINGS by Saara Turunen
Tammi, March 2021, 340 pp.

Autofictive story of love, death and life between two countries. Turunen’s funny, witty and melancholic voice examines the contradiction of sense and sensibility.

What if you are in love with a good man – a man you have always wanted to fall in love with? But what if this man lives in one country and you in another? Should you be sensible and leave the man to be free and independent? Or should you follow your heart, burn the bridges behind, and go after him?

The narrator travels to Barcelona to study theatre. After a few weeks she falls in love with a local man. Thus begins an intensive relationship that tears her between two countries and two cultures. She learns that relationships are between two individuals who have their own ways of expressing love to others and to themselves.

Turunen’s novel paints a relatable picture of relationships, breakups and the constant battle between fear and love. It is a beautiful picture of a woman growing up and trying to balance between social expectations, commitment and freedom.

Saara Turunen is an internationally acclaimed award-winning author, playwright and director.

Turunen has previously authored two highly acclaimed novels, Love/Monster 2015 and The Bystander 2018. Her debut novel Love/Monster won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize in 2015.
She is known for her bold and direct style and much of her work examines the themes of identity and social norms. Her newest novel Irrational Things (Spring 2021) is a story of love, death and life between two countries.

In addition to her work as a novelist, Turunen is also known for her plays, that have been translated into  English, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Estonian, Greek and Lithuanian and performed all around the world. Turunen was granted with the Finland Prize in 2016, a high profile award given by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, and with the City of Helsinki’s The Artist of the Year Award in 2018.

Rights sold:

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
LITHUANIA: BALTO

Saara Turunen


Saara Turunen is an internationally acclaimed award-winning author, playwright and director. Much of her work examines the themes of art, identity and social norms. Turunen is known for her three highly acclaimed novels, Irrational Things 2021, The Bystander 2018 and Love/Monster 2015, andalso for her work in theatre. Her plays have been translated into 15 languages and performed all around the world. Turunen was awarded the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize in 2015, Finland Prize in 2016, the City of Helsinki’s The Artist of the Year Award in 2018 and Lea-Award in 2020, all high-profile awards given in Finland.

Her latest novel Irrational Things 2021 became an immediate bestseller and a critical darling. It has already sold over 18.000 copies in Finland.

Author page Author webpageAuthor Instagram

Bibliography


Saara Turunen

Irrational Things

2021, Literary Fiction


Saara Turunen

The Bystander

2018, Literary Fiction


Saara Turunen

Love/Monster

2015, Literary Fiction

Related news

Excellent US praise for Laura Lindstedt’s MY FRIEND NATALIA – An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Month in March 2021

Posted on

We are extremely happy to let you know that one of Finland’s most dynamic novelists, Laura Lindstedt bursts onto the American literary scene with her novel My Friend Natalia – an erotic story of an ambitious therapist’s sessions with an unforgettable patient –  and is selected by Entertainment Weekly as the Best Book of the Month in March 2021. Translation by award-winning translator David Hackston.

W.W. Norton/Liveright publication date is March 23. Read more on their website.

The exciting literary novel will be published in 13 territories, but the rights are still available in Denmark, Russia, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Latvia, China, Spain, Iceland, Japan etc.

Download the full English manuscript and praise sheet for MY FRIEND NATALIA by clicking here

US PRE-PUBLICATION PRAISE

Throughout the novel, Natalia riffs on Sartre, Beauvoir, and others, baiting the psychologist with sexually charged critiques of patriarchal philosophy.
– Publishers Weekly

I was tremendously impressed by My Friend Natalia. . . . Laura Lindstedt has a very Finnish take on sophistication (downbeat, deadpan), is disconcerting, dissonant, peerless in deferred resolution, a blithe dissolver of the regular association of ideas. Why did I not use lockdown to learn Finnish? Why?
– Helen DeWitt

Smart, dark, funny, and weirdly exhilarating, Laura Lindstedt’s My Friend Natalia is both pitched on the brink and absolutely alive. An absorbing discourse of sex, power, and boundaries, in sentences that lift like music.
– Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World

This provocative Finnish author enters the fray of American literature (thanks to translation from David Hackston) with a racy, wonderfully weird novel about a therapist’s sessions with a sex-obsessed woman.
-Seija Rankin, Entertainment Weekly, ‘Best New Books of March’

Lindstedt’s novel reads like the love child of a pornographer and a high theorist: Derrida meets Anaïs Nin. Ultimately, this is as much a novel about language as it is about sexuality or psychology, and translator Hackston has performed a virtuosic task capturing the Finnish pyrotechnics in English. Lindstedt may not be looking to make an exact analogy between the work of therapy and the work an artist does, but it’s hard not to read this as an ars poetica: ‘If you talk a lot,’ the therapist says, ‘the sorrow might permanently change shape.’ Bawdy and beguiling.
– Kirkus Reviews

 

MY FRIEND NATALIA
by Laura Lindstedt

Natalia cannot stop thinking about sex. A mesmerizing tale of one woman’s potent affliction by award-winning Finnish writer Laura Lindstedt. Narrated by an unnamed, ungendered therapist who leaps at the chance to employ their most experimental methods, My Friend Natalia offers a gripping examination of the power dynamics always present but rarely ever spoken about in therapy. “Something flared within me,” the therapist notes, “and it wasn’t merely sympathy, the emotion I feel for most of my clients. It was more like a sudden experience of harmony, wholly inappropriate given the circumstances.”

Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territorie

Ystäväni Natalia
Teos, 2019, 240pp

RIGHTS SOLD:

FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat AS
FRANCE: Gallimard
GERMANY: DTV
HUNGARY: Scolar Kiado
ITALY: Elliot Edizioni
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM: De Bezige Bij
NORWAY: Oktober
ROMANIA: HUMANITAS S.A
SWEDEN: Norstedts
USA: W.W. Norton / Liveright

Laura Lindstedt


Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. She is currently revising her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015) is a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death. Oneiron has continued Lindstedt’s critical success, earning her the coveted 2015 Finlandia Prize. Lindstedt’s latest novel My Friend Natalia has been a critical success and the rights have been sold to 12 territories.

Author page Author webpage

Bibliography


Laura Lindstedt

My Friend Natalia

2019, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Oneiron

2015, Literary Fiction


Laura Lindstedt

Scissors

2007, Literary Fiction

Related news

Max Seeck’s THE WITCH HUNTER is Barnes & Noble’s November Pick, WSJ recommends, and English ms. available for EVIL’S NET

the witch hunter
Posted on

Max Seeck’s THE WITCH HUNTER is Barnes & Noble’s November Pick, WSJ recommends, and English ms. available for EVIL’S NET
We are very happy to let you know that Max Seeck’s The Witch Hunter AKA Faithful Reader (Jessica Niemi #1) has now been published in the US and immediately picked up by the biggest bookstore chain Barnes & Noble as Monthly Crime pick!

“One twist follows another, baffling the police and readers alike. Seeck imbues this riveting procedural with a deliciously creepy undertone. Readers will be excited to see what Seeck does next.”
–Publisher’s Weekly STARRED REVIEW

The Wall Street Journal has discovered the talented Finnish author Max Seeck and his U.S. debut giving the thrilling novel high praise:
“The Witch Hunter, translated with icy precision by Kristian London, is written in short, sharp, present-tense chapters, a technique which adds to its relentless tension. Flashbacks to earlier episodes in Jessica’s life suggest that the strangeness currently unfolding is tied to her personal history. Discovering the how and why of it brings a resolution as bleak as anything Poe might have conjured.”
– The Wall Street Journal full review here.

The title is still available in: China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.

Ask for the full English manuscript by clicking here

First English sample for EVIL’S NET (Jessica Niemi series #2) is now available!

Six months have passed since Jessica’s encounter with the mysterious and serial-killing coven of cult members, and her team has a new assignment. Two Instagram influencers have gone missing, and a dead woman is found on the beach dressed up in manga outfit – an outfit that was featured on the missing blogger’s Instagram.

Ask for the English sample for the first 226 pages by clicking here

Rights sold in 22 countries.

Rights available in China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.

Option publishers for: Albania, Arabic, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Latin America, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey

MAX SEECK BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jessica Niemi series

Faithful Reader – Jessica Niemi series #1 (2019, Tammi)
Detective Jessica Niemi is called to investigate a murder case that is out of ordinary. The wife of a famous writer, Roger Koponen, seems to have been killed in a bizarre ritual. As more ritual murders occur, it becomes obvious that Jessica is after a serial killer.

Ask for the full English manuscript by clicking here

Evil’s Net – Jessica Niemi series #2 (September 2020, Tammi)
Six months have passed since Jessica’s encounter with the mysterious and serial-killing coven of cult members, and her team has a new assignment. Two Instagram influencers have gone missing, and a dead woman is found on the beach dressed up in manga outfit – an outfit that was featured on the missing blogger’s Instagram.

Ask for the English sample for the first 226 pages by clicking here

Daniel Kuisma series

Rights sold for the series:
FINLAND, Tammi (Original publisher) ALBANIA: Muza ESTONIA, Pegasus GERMANY, Blanvalet ICELAND, Forlagid ITALY, Newton Compton SLOVENIA, Didakta

The Angels of Hammurabi – Daniel Kuisma series #1 (2016 Tammi)
An employee of the Finnish Embassy in Zagreb goes missing, and Daniel Kuisma from the Finnish Defence Forces is sent to investigate, along with Annika Lehto from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The investigation gets unexpectedly complicated when the mysteries of the past start to unravel on the stony shores of the Adriatic Sea. It all seems to boil down to a group called The Angels of Hammurabi. Who are they – and who is killing them off, one by one?

Mephisto’s Touch – Daniel Kuisma series #2 (2017, Tammi)
Missing-presumed-dead Finnish diplomat, Jare Westerlund has fled from Croatia on a forged passport, leaving behind a decapitated body and his trail goes cold at Stockholm airport.
When Interpol officer Annika Lehto hears of his escape, she abandons her sick leave to go off in pursuit, with the aid of special forces specialist Daniel Kuisma. What follows is a dramatic chain of events, from northern Norway, to San Francisco, to The Hague, as the pair continue the chase.

Call of Hades – Daniel Kuisma series #3 (2018, Tammi)
Final installment of the  trilogy begins with four executed men found in a Zagreb apartment. The place is owned by the U.K. government, but no one seems to know anything about the case. When Daniel Kuisma receives an unexpected guest from Southern Europe he hears something that makes him board the next plane to Zagreb: the lives of thousands of people might be at risk. Meanwhile Annika Lehto is recovering from an assault, but offers him all the help she can from her sickbed.

Ask for the English samples for the Daniel Kuisma series by clicking here

WHO IS MAX SEECK?

“Another star has been added to the firmament of thriller writers,” stated 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, and his new Jessica Niemi series is conquering the world! In Faithful Reader detective Jessica Niemi from Helsinki police forces finds herself hunting an occultist serial killer. In Evil’s Net (published in September 2020) Jessika and her team follow clues hidden on Instagram to solve a 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.

Read an interview with Max Seeck in Lithub.

Rights sold (Faihtful Reader a.k.a. The Witch Hunter):
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)

ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers (World Arabic)
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna (2-book deal)
BULGARIA: EMAS (2-book-deal)
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada (2-book-deal)
DENMARK: Gutkind (2-book-deal)
ESTONIA: Pegasus (2-book-deal)
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books
ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori
FRANCE: Michel Lafon (2-book-deal)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe (2-book-deal)
GREECE: Livani (2-book-deal)
HUNGARY: Animus (2-book-deal)
KOREA: Cheongmirae
LATIN AMERICA: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji (2-book-deal)
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
MACEDONIA: Matica (2-book-deal)
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna (2-book-deal)
NORWAY: Aschehoug (2-book-deal)
POLAND: Sonia Draga (2-book-deal)
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora (2-book-deal)
ROMANIA: Litera (2-book-deal)
RUSSIA: AST
SERBIA: Vulkan (2-book-deal)
SLOVENIA: Didakta (2-book-deal)
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SPAIN: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Welbeck Publishing UK (2-book deal)
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)

TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author


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

“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 is currently working on the fourth book of the Jessica Niemi series, which is to be published in Finland in fall 2022.

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.

Author page Author webpageAuthor FacebookAuthor Instagram

Bibliography


Max Seeck

Jessica Niemi #4

2022, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

Bad Blood

2021, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Ice Coven (a.k.a. Evil's Net)

2020, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Witch Hunter (a.k.a. Faithful Reader)

2019, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Mephisto Touch

2018, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Call of Hades

2018, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

Angels of Hammurabi

2016, Crime & Suspense

Related news

Advance Praise for THE WITCH HUNTER in Kirkus Reviews

the witch hunter
Posted on

Max Seeck’s FAITHFUL READER a.k.a. THE WITCH HUNTER has been sold to 40 territories, and there’s a Hollywood TV series under development. The independent sequel EVIL’S NET will be published in Finland in September, and has already been sold to over 20 territories as well.

The Witch Hunter will be pulished in the US in the end of October by Berkley, and has just received an amazing praise in Kirkus Reviews!

“The heroine’s personal problems provide a fascinating counterpoint to a disturbing tale of murder and madness.”

“A desperate hunt for what may be a gang of serial killers flushes out a policewoman’s haunting past in Finnish author Seeck’s first English translation.”

“The body of a famous author’s wife is discovered in what appears to be a deliberately staged pose, dressed in a black gown with black painted nails and a ghastly grin. Another almost identical woman is found under the ice of a nearby lake. The author, Roger Koponen, is out of town at a book signing, where an audience member asks some odd questions. While a police officer is driving him back to Helsinki, communications are lost, and two bodies are soon found burned in the woods. The police realize that the deaths are re-created scenes from Koponen’s popular Witch Hunt trilogy and fear that more may follow. Sgt. Jessica Niemi’s dying boss, Erne Mikson, the only person on the Helsinki police force who knows she’s a very wealthy woman, puts her in charge of the case. Mikson, long Jessica’s father figure, knows her disturbingly dysfunctional background, which is slowly revealed as she’s personally drawn into the mystifying case by her striking resemblance to several of the victims. Jessica’s team works tirelessly to uncover suspects and motives as more gruesome murders related to witches occur until Mikson fears that Jessica herself may be a target. The apparent resurrection of Koponen’s cellphone and his image caught on surveillance cameras only make the case more confusing for the officers, who have very different thoughts about who’s involved.”

– Kirkus Reviews, August 19th, 2020

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)

ALBANIA: Muza
ARABIC: Arab Scientific Publishers (World Arabic)
ARMENIA: Guitank
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran
BELGIUM, A.W. Bruna (2-book deal)
BULGARIA: EMAS (2-book-deal)
CANADA: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)
CROATIA: Fokus
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada (2-book-deal)
DENMARK: Gutkind (2-book-deal)
ESTONIA: Pegasus (2-book-deal)
ICELAND: Forlagid
ISRAEL: Tchelet Books
ITALY: Piemme/Mondadori
FRANCE: Michel Lafon (2-book-deal)
GERMANY: Bastei Lübbe (2-book-deal)
GREECE: Livani (2-book-deal)
HUNGARY: Animus (2-book-deal)
KOREA: Cheongmirae
LATIN AMERICA: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
LATVIA: Latvijas Mediji (2-book-deal)
LITHUANIA: Baltos lankos
MACEDONIA: Matica (2-book-deal)
NETHERLANDS: A.W. Bruna (2-book-deal)
NORWAY: Aschehoug (2-book-deal)
POLAND: Sonia Draga (2-book-deal)
PORTUGAL: Bertrand Editora (2-book-deal)
ROMANIA: Litera (2-book-deal)
RUSSIA: AST
SERBIA: Vulkan (2-book-deal)
SLOVENIA: Didakta (2-book-deal)
SLOVAKIA: Motýľ
SPAIN: Editorial Maeva/Maeva Noir
SWEDEN: Albert Bonniers Förlag
TURKEY: Doğan Kitap
UNITED KINGDOM & COMMONWEALTH: Welbeck Publishing UK (2-book deal)
UNITED STATES: Berkley/Penguin Random House (2-book-deal)

TV RIGHTS: Stampede Ventures

Max Seeck, New York Times Best Selling Author


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

“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 is currently working on the fourth book of the Jessica Niemi series, which is to be published in Finland in fall 2022.

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.

Author page Author webpageAuthor FacebookAuthor Instagram

Bibliography


Max Seeck

Jessica Niemi #4

2022, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

Bad Blood

2021, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Ice Coven (a.k.a. Evil's Net)

2020, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Witch Hunter (a.k.a. Faithful Reader)

2019, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Mephisto Touch

2018, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

The Call of Hades

2018, Crime & Suspense


Max Seeck

Angels of Hammurabi

2016, Crime & Suspense

Related news

Amazing review for Salla Simukka’s new YA novel DETAINED

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DETAINED by Salla Simukka has received raving reviews in Finland’s biggest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The critic compares the themes of the book to Steven Spielberg’s Hollywood blockbuster Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, and HBO hit show Westworld.

“Simukka writes the story with confidence and is psychologically attentive. Once again her novel earns a place as the best of Finnish YA literature.”

“In the novel fifty young people are imprisoned for crimes they may commit in the future. Unlike in the Minority Report, the future is not foreseen by mutants, but is based on probability calculations. Of the fifty teenagers we get to follow five: Kaspian, Oliver, Johannes, Meea, and Vega. The focus is in their past, their values and thoughts.”

Each one is given an opportunity to figure out their future crimes, and confess them before they turn 18. Simukka also effortlessly describes teens from very different backgrounds, and the LGBTQIA+ themes are strongly represented.

“Gender and sexuality are an important part of their identity, but they are not highlighted, and one is no stranger than the other. Caspian is a black poet, Meea is a curvy girl adopted from China, Vega is a non-binary outsider, Oliver is a gay guy from rich family, and his boyfriend Johannes comes from a broken, poor and alcoholic family. The main theme is, of course, the confrontation between imprisonment and freedom.”

Salla Simukka’s previous bestselling Young Adult SNOW WHITE trilogy sold to 52 countries around the world.

Review quotes: Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, July 2020, Arla Kanerva

Rights sold

FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Pegasus

Salla Simukka


Salla Simukka is the author of the international success story The Snow White Trilogy: rights are sold in 52 territories and in Hollywood. She has written several novels for young readers and her accolades include the Topelius Prize 2013 and the Finland Prize 2013.

Previously Simukka has written book reviews for the newspapers, translated all kinds of texts into Finnish, worked an editor at a literary magazine and as a screenwriter for a popular TV show for young audiences. These days she writes books for young adults and children, and travels the world talking about them.

Author page Author Facebook

Bibliography


Salla Simukka

In the Dark I Can Be Yours

2021, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

Detained

2020, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

Turn off the Lights! Turn on the Lights!

2018, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

Sisterland

2016, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)


Salla Simukka

As Black as Ebony

2014, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

As Red as Blood

2013, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

As White as Snow

2013, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

Elsewhere

2012, Young Adult (13 or 14+)


Salla Simukka

Without a trace

2012, Young Adult (13 or 14+)

Related news

Courage in Journalism Award for Jessikka Aro! New review for her PUTIN’S TROLLS!

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We are very proud to announce that Jessikka Aro, author of PUTIN’S TROLLS, has received International Women’s Media Foundation‘s Courage of Journalism Award!

The other three award recipients were imprisoned Egyptian multimedia journalist Solafa Magdy; Yakeen Bido, a freelance broadcast journalist in Syria; and, Uighur journalist of Radio Free Asia, Gulchehra Hoja.

“Right now, the pursuit of truth, and the need for diverse journalism, is at a critical high,” said the IWMF’s Executive Director Elisa Lees Muñoz. “This year’s Courage in Journalism Award winners remind us that those who tell the world’s most vital stories, whatever the risk may be, are our true heroes. We congratulate Jessikka, Solafa, Yakeen, and Gulchehra for your spectacular work and uncommon bravery.”

Jessikka Aro reports from the frontlines of Russian information warfare, conducting courageous investigations inside troll factories while enduring incessant attacks and sexual harassment.

Her story is now available in her bestselling narrative nonfiction PUTIN’S TROLLS that has already been acquired by publishers in 7 territories and sold over 20 000 copies in Finland.

Ask for the full English manuscript of PUTIN’S TROLLS by clicking here.

NEW EXCELLENT REVIEW FOR PUTIN’S TROLLS

“Jessikka Aro’s ambitions are to show that the Russian troll business is not a single phenomenon, but a whole system that does not rule out unpleasant surprises in the future. She succeeds well in proving this.”

Here is the full review from Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish)

OTHER PRAISE:

“Valuable insight into Russian troll operations worldwide. ”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Finland

“Have you ever thought about how defenseless one person can be when systematically attacked with information warfare?
This is what happened to Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro. The book is an outstanding personal and educational story about the dangers of modern information society and the possibilities of defending oneself against them.
Precaution – reading this can severely damage one’s naivety with irreversible consequences.”
 – Raul Rebane, Stratkom, Estonia

“A brave and forceful attempt in the time of the ongoing information warfare
to make the invisible culprits visible.”
– László Kúnos, Director, Corvina Kiado, Hungary

”The extraordinary story of Finnish journalist Jessika Aro is a prime example of a great personal courage and journalist’s dedication face to face new types of threats at the time of an actual hybrid information conflict. The book represents important evidence in the recent debates about the risks we underestimate or even don’t realize.”
– Ján Simkanič, Director, Denik N, Czech Republic

Jessikka Aro


Jessikka Aro is an award-winning reporter with Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, specializing in Russia, extremism and information warfare. In 2014 and 2015, she published a series of articles on pro-Kremlin social media trolls and their influence outside of Russia’s borders. Due to her investigations, Jessikka became the target of a severe and still ongoing international propaganda and hate speech campaign, which she recounts in Putin’s Trolls.

In 2019, the US State Department awarded Jessikka the International Women of Courage Award, but the award was mysteriously rescinded by the Trump administration, allegedly due to her social media criticism of then President Trump. On December 1, 2020 Jessikka Aro received the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, presented in partnership with the Washington Post and hosted by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Jessikka was recognized for her award-winning investigative reporting of Russian information warfare. Jessikka lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Author page Author webpageAuthor Twitter

Bibliography


Jessikka Aro

Putin's Trolls

2019, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction, History & Politics

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Praising reviews for Johanna Sinisalo’s STRANGERS INSIDE

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Johanna Sinisalo’s new novel STRANGERS INSIDE was published in Finland a few weeks ago. The novel combines family drama, horror and science fiction into a stylish mix of genres – compared to Rosemary’s Baby and Stephen King. Strangers Inside has already gathered amazing reviews:

Psychological thriller featuring steadily intensifying tension, following one family’s journey to inevitable destruction.

Sinisalo has a wonderfully felicitous way of describing the slide from normal to weird. The internal dynamics of the family acquire ugly new features; the tensions grow as the strange events unfurl.

Stylish body-horror without any clichés. It is extremely relatable, as we all have bodies after all. This could almost happen to anyone of us. A human body has still some unknown elements – strangers inside.
– Five-star review from Turun Sanomat daily paper, Marissa Mehr 5.5.2020
Strangers Inside is classic horror updated! The tension grows beautifully and the horror seeps into the story nice and slow. It is a fresh and brilliant story that is both current and timeless.
– National Horror Competition Jury

About the book:
The marriage of Siiri and Essi is already going through a rough patch, but when their 6-year-old daughter is caught cutting herself with scissors, their family-life is thrown upside down. What could cause such a young child to something like that? Is there someone – or something – telling her to do so? The parents turn against each other while trying to find an outsider to blame, but sometimes the true threat comes from inside…

You can listen to Johanna Sinisalo’s interview (in Finnish) here: https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-50485050

Strangers Inside
Vieraat, Karisto 2020, 448 pp.

Johanna Sinisalo


Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is a Finlandia-Prize winning superstar of Finnish speculative fiction. In addition to her eight 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.


Author page Author Facebook

Bibliography


Johanna Sinisalo

The Storm Flute

2021, Fantasy & Science Fiction


Johanna Sinisalo

Strangers Inside

2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction


Johanna Sinisalo

IRON SKY: RENATE'S STORY

2018, Fantasy & Science Fiction


Johanna Sinisalo

The Core of The Sun

2013, Fantasy & Science Fiction


Johanna Sinisalo

Blood of Angels

2011, Fantasy & Science Fiction


Johanna Sinisalo

The Möbius Twist

2010, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)


Johanna Sinisalo

Birdbrain

2008, Fantasy & Science Fiction


Johanna Sinisalo

Troll

2000, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Related news

Frank Martela’s A WONDERFUL LIFE is published in Finland and already conquering Finnish bestseller lists!

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A WONDERFUL LIFE in FINNISH BESTSELLER LISTS! 

We are glad to tell you that A WONDERFUL LIFE is now in TOP10 non-fiction lists in all major bookstore chains in Finland.

The title has sold already to 18 territories around the world but the rights are still available in Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Denmark, Poland, United Kingdom, China etc

Ask for the full English pdf here

HERE ARE SOME EARLY REVIEWS:

I really liked Frank Martela’s book. It was profound, but not too much. It made me think and question my own life. It made me think about what I want to do from now on – what things are really relevant to me and at what moments I experience feelings of relevance. It made me miss my loved ones.
– Lily.fi Destination Happyness blog

 

The book is definitely worth reading, and its message is very important right now. It intoduces good questions, and provides the tools to make your own life as meaningful as possible every single day.

– Terve.fi Inspirations blog

The book is a great introspection into finding what truly matters to you. I started reading it just before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and am now writing this after a month of the world in a tumble dryer. In these extraordinary times, I find it comforting to be able to understand myself – and all of humanity – and what actually matters. Hence, in these times, the title of this book could be “Science-backed multidisciplinary guide to being successful (according to metrics set by YOU)”.

I hope all leaders in these times of economical crisis would read this book and find guidance to policy-making from within themselves, using the book as a tool for reflection.
– Amazon.com five-star review by Joonas Kiminki

The book can best be summed up in this quote by Alan W. Watts and the suggestion of Martela in the end of the book:

“We thought of life by an analogy—as a journey or a pilgrimage—which has a serious purpose at the end. The thing was to get to that end, success, or whatever it is, or maybe Heaven after you are dead, but we missed the point along the whole way. It was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing or dance while the music was being played.”

One day the music will stop. What happens afterward no one knows. But there’s no point in waiting for the silence. If you’re reading this, then the music is still playing for you. So go out and dance.

– Goodreads.com review by Mervi Rauhala

Rights sold
A WONDERFUL LIFE:

Rights sold:

UNITED STATES: HarperCollins/Harper Design (orig.)

CROATIA: Planetopija
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat
FINLAND: Gummerus
FRANCE: Editions Leduc.s
GERMANY: Blessing Verlag
GREECE: Klidarithmos
JAPAN: HarperCollins Japan
KOREA: Across Publishing
LATIN AMERICA: Ediciones Urano
LITHUANIA: Obuolys
NETHERLANDS: Ambo Anthos
NORWAY: Gursli Berg Forlag
ROMANIA: Editura Humanitas
RUSSIA: Bombora
SPAIN: Ediciones Urano (World Spanish)
TAIWAN: Crown
TURKEY: Orman Kitap

Frank Martela


Frank Martela, PhD, is a philosopher and researcher of psychology specializing in the question of meaning in life. His articles have appeared in Scientific American Mind, Harvard Business Review and Salon and his work has been featured on Quartz and on the BBC. His research has been published extensively in numerous academic journals such as Journal of Personality, Journal of Positive Psychology, Journal of Happiness Studies, Metaphilosophy, Southern Journal of Philosophy, Review of General Psychology, and Organization Studies. He has spoken to more than one hundred audiences worldwide, including invited lectures in universities on four continents, including Stanford University and Harvard University. He’s been interviewed by the New York Times, Discover Magazine, New Scientist, Vice News, and Monocle Observer among others. He is based at Aalto University in Helsinki.

Outside of work, Frank is a father to three lovely children (currently 10, 7, and 5 years old), an amateur-level soccer player, with an occasional skiing trip in the winters. He is made in Green Bay, so Packers holds a special place in his heart.

Author page Author webpageAuthor FacebookAuthor Twitter

Bibliography


Frank Martela

A Wonderful Life

2020, Personal Growth & Lifestyle

Related news

Great review for THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT in Publishers Weekly

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Finnish author Kankimäki profiles in this astute, entertaining work 10 daring female writers and artists who took risks in their quest toward fulfillment. …/ Along the way, Kankimäki, a spirited narrator, highlights her own travels—to Tanzania, Italy, Japan—and shares advice. This insightful book will appeal to adventure enthusiasts and be an inspiration for those with an eye on hitting their stride later in life.” 
– PW

Read the full review here.

The Women I Think About at Night is the perfect book for the time-being, pure escapism: Mia Kankimäki blends travelogue, memoir, and biography as she recounts her enchanting travels in Japan, Kenya, and Italy while retracing the steps of ten remarkable female pioneers from history. The Women I Think About at Night will be published in the US in November by Simon & Schuster. Translated by Douglas Robinson. Rights have been sold in 16 territories and counting.

About the book:
Have you heard about Artemisia Gentilleschi, Lavinia Fontana or Nellie Bly? The Women I Think About at Night follows in the footsteps of 10 historical women, who did what was impossible for women to do in their own times: travel the world or create a career as an artist. And these women were quite successful: some of them actually became celebrities of their own time! So why have they been forgotten by the history books? Finnish writer Mia Kankimäki sold her house, packed her suitcase and traveled the world to find out. Warning: May cause strong case of wanderlust!

Mia Kankimäki is also known for her earlier narrative nonfiction Things That Make One’s Heart Beat Faster, which has sold over 40,000 copies in Finland and won numerous awards including the best travel book of the year and Helmet Library Award.

About the book:

A narrative non-fiction about a Finnish writer’s trip to Japan to look for her soul mate – who lived over 1,000 years ago.

Mia Kankimäki embarks on an adventure and travels to Kyoto to research Sei Shonagon, a Japanese writer and lady-in-waiting who wrote about her life in the court of Heian era Japan. Mia doesn’t speak a word of Japanese, and isn’t quite accustomed to scientific research, but her endeavor produces the most wonderful book about Japan, Sei Shonagon and a middle-aged woman’s solo travels.

Despite her struggles and initial culture shock, Mia finds herself mesmerized by temples, cherry blossoms, kabuki theater, Zen meditation and tearooms. She reads the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and finds a soul sister: a modern woman who loves making lists of all things charming, annoying, elegant and things that make one’s heart beat faster.

Rights sold:

The Women I Think About at Night

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
CHINA: Winshare Publishing
CZECH REPUBLIC: Albatros Media/Motto
DENMARK: Bilgrav Publishing
ESTONIA: Varrak
FRANCE: Editions Leduc.s
GERMANY:btb Verlag/RandomHouse
ITALY: Neri Pozza
LATVIA: Zvaigzne
LITHUANIA: Gelmes Publishing
NETHERLANDS: Uitgeverij Orlando
NORWAY: Gursli Berg Forlag
RUSSIA: Eksmo Publishing
SLOVENIA: Didakta
SWEDEN: Wahlström & Widstrand
UNITED STATES:
Simon & Schuster (North American rights)

 

Rights sold:

Things That Make One’s Heart Beat Faster

FINLAND: Otava (orig.
ESTONIA: Varrak
ITALY: Edizioni Piemme
JAPAN: Soshisha
GERMANY: btb Verlag/Random House

Mia Kankimäki


Mia Kankimäki is the author of two best-selling books which blend travelogue, memoir, biography and women’s history. After taking a master’s degree in comparative literature at the University of Helsinki and working diligently in Finnish publishing, in 2010 she left her job and traveled to Japan to write her first book. Her books have received several literary awards, for example the Best Travel Book of the year 2013, the HelMet Award 2015, and Otava Book Foundation’s Non Fiction Award 2020. She currently lives in Helsinki, Finland, whenever she’s not traveling for her next book project.

Mia has been enthusiastic about Japanese culture for years, and is a qualified ikebana teacher of the Sogetsu school. Her first book Things That Make One’s Hear Beat Faster took her to Kyoto where she has spent long periods of writing and making research ever since. Kankimäki’s second book The Women I Think About at Night has sold over 45,000 copies in Finland and the translation rights have been sold to 20 territories, including USA and China.

Mia's both books have been aqcuired by Japanese publisher Soshisha:

"I am delighted to share that Mia Kankimäki’s debut title, THINGS THAT MAKE ONE’S HEART BEAT FASTER, is embraced and loved by many Japanese readers. A cross between an autobiography and a travelogue, the author finds an emotional connection with a woman geographically far apart and from a different era and tries to discover who she really was. I believe this style is reflected in THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT as well. Though some of the female figures in this second book might not be well-known locally, I am looking forward to seeing how our readers will react to their lifestyles." - Daisuke Watanabe, Editor, Soshisha

Author page Author webpageAuthor InstagramAuthor Facebook

Bibliography


Mia Kankimäki

The Women I Think About At Night

2018, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction


Mia Kankimäki

Things That Make One's Heart Beat Faster

2013, General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction

Related news

MARESI is now sold to 24 territories! Excellent reviews for LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER, AGNES and ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH!

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MARESI is now sold to 24 territories!
Excellent reviews for LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER, AGNES and ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH!

We are very happy to announce that MARESI by Maria Turtschaninoff has now been sold to 24 territories!
The Azerbaijani rights were bought today by Alatoran. Rights were also recently acquired in Bulgaria by Izida.
This bestselling YA title has sold to already 24 territories, but the rights are still available in Russia, Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Slovenia,  Japan, Portugal, Croatia and in many other countries. See the rights sold list.

MARESI is the first title in The Red Abbey Chronicles and an international feature film is under development by Film4/The Bureau.
MARESI RED MANTLE, book 3 in the trilogy,  was awarded earlier this month the 2020 Global Literature in Libraries Translated Book Prize, as the best translated book of the year!

Request the full English PDFs for the trilogy by clicking here.

About THE RED ABBEY CHRONICLES: The Red Abbey is a refuge for women and girls, where everyone pursues their own areas of interest. Maresi prefers to spend her time reading and learning. Everything changes when the frightened Jai arrives on the island. She has seen her sister get buried alive for speaking to a young man, and her father and a crew of thugs are after her. Maresi and her friends have to fight to defend both Jai and their community.

Meanwhile, Finland’s biggest daily Helsingin Sanomat has reviews for just-published children’s titles LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER, AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS and ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH.

LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER

“Good-mood book for children and adults!”
– Helsingin Sanomat

The 6th title of Little Mouse picture book series deals with summer.
Summer holiday is full of fun: going to the amusement park, playing by the beach and visiting the art museum. Buying strawberries and ice cream, and going to the cinema when the weather is too hot. Little Mouse knows that one must enjoy the summer, because it doesn’t last forever.

Ask for English materials here

ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH

“Text is flowy and interesting, but the illustrations make this surprising, almost lyrical!”
– Helsingin Sanomat

This book has 10 stories, and 10 maps. They may sound or look like they are out of a fairy-tale, but they are real, true maps of our planet. THE ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH is a children’s non-fiction book that also engages adults. Through magical maps it teaches about nature, oceans and the history of continents.

Ask for English materials here.

AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS 

“Fast-paced mystery plot and relatable strong characters.”
– Helsingin Sanomat

11-years-old Agnes has to move to a small countryside town with her mother. Her parents are divorced, and Agnes doesn’t know anyone
from her new hometown. She is not having the best summer of her life.

But then something weird happens. Agnes finds an old tombstone that has her name and birthday engraved on it – only the birth year is different. Whose grave is it?

Ask for English materials here.

RED ABBEY CHRONICLES
Rights sold: for the series:

FINLAND (orig.)

AZERBAIJAN
BELGIUM
BRAZIL
BULGARIA
CANADA
CHINA (Simplified)
DENMARK
ESTONIA
FINLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
HUNGARY
ITALY
LATVIA
NETHERLANDS
NORWAY
POLAND
ROMANIA
WORLD SPANISH
SWEDEN
TURKEY
UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED STATES
FILM RIGHTS

LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER
Rights sold for the series:

FINLAND (orig.)

AUSTRALIA
CATALAN
CHINA
DENMARK
ESTONIA,
FRANCE
NEPAL
NEW ZEALAND
PORTUGAL,
RUSSIA
SPAIN
UNITED KINGDOM

ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH
Rights sold:

FINLAND (orig.)

 

AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
Rights sold:

FINLAND (orig.)

CZECH REPUBLIC
DENMARK
ESTONIA
RUSSIA

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. In 2021 - her children's title WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO= was nominated for Finlandia Award and in 2022 won the Tieto-Lauri award!

The Tietopöllö award jury: Laura Ertimo knows how to sum up difficult things appropriately in the blink of an eye. Her works can provide information and joy to a wide range of readers, and they also attract people of all ages to delve deeper into the book and consider even difficult issues together. Laura Ertimo's books open paths to important and current topics.

The Tieto-Lauri award jury: 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.

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Mari Ahokoivu


Mari Ahokoivu (b. 1984) 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.

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