By the Seashore by Sanna Nyqvist sold to Ukraine!

We are happy to let you know that the Ukrainian rights for Sanna Nyqvist‘s Finlandia Prize-nominated non-fiction title By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea have been acquired by Laboratoria! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency. Rights were recently sold to mareverlag in Germany and Rahva Raamat in Estonia.

By the Seashore is a captivating and immersive account of how five literary authors – Jane Austen, August Strindberg, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and Tove Jansson – found the sea and the seashore and how these experiences affected them and their writing. In addition to detailing the authors’ own relationship to the sea and the seashore, Sanna Nyqvist also shows how these landscapes have changed since and how they form a shared cultural heritage that we should cherish and preserve.

By the Seashore was one of the most acclaimed Finnish non-fiction titles of 2024. It was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize in Non-Fiction, it received the Lauri Jäntti Prize Honorary Award of 2024, and it was selected as one of the 10 best non-fiction titles of 2024 by Suomen Kuvalehti magazine.

With this latest sale, the rights for By the Seashore have now been sold to 4 territories!
Rights are available in many territories, e.g., United States, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands…

Download materials for BY THE SEASHORE here!

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea

Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

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

BY THE SEASHORE: HOW WRITERS DISCOVERED THE SEA
RANNALLA. MITEN KIRJAILIJAT LÖYSIVÄT MEREN
Tammi, 2024, 283 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample
English summary
Author’s vision
Finnish edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat
GERMANY: mareverlag
UKRAINE: Laboratoria

About author


Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

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

Bibliography


2024, Narrative Nonfiction, Memories & Biographies

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea

Sanna Nyqvist

By the Seashore by Sanna Nyqvist sold to Estonia!

We are thrilled to let you know that the Estonian rights for Sanna Nyqvist‘s non-fiction book By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea, have been acquired by Rahva Raamat! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

Originally published in Finland in April 2024, By the Seashore quickly became one of the most outstanding Finnish non-fiction titles of 2024. It was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize in Non-Fiction, it received the Lauri Jäntti Prize Honorary Award of 2024, and it was selected as one of the 10 best non-fiction titles of 2024 by Suomen Kuvalehti magazine.

Download materials for BY THE SEASHORE here!

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea

Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

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

BY THE SEASHORE: HOW WRITERS DISCOVERED THE SEA
RANNALLA. MITEN KIRJAILIJAT LÖYSIVÄT MEREN
Tammi, 2024, 283 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample
English summary
Author’s vision
Finnish edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Rahva Raamat
GERMANY: mareverlag

About author


Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

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

Bibliography


2024, Narrative Nonfiction, Memories & Biographies

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea

Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2024 Finlandia Prize Jury

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea
Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

 

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

– Turun Sanomat newspaper, Kaisa Kurikka, Finland

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

READING MATERIALS
English synopsis
English sample (February 2025)

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

About author


Sanna Nyqvist

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

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

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

Bibliography


2024, Narrative Nonfiction, Memories & Biographies

By the Seashore: How Writers Discovered the Sea

Sanna Nyqvist