Kirsti Paakkanen in Memoriam 1929-2021

We fondly remember the memory of Ms. Kirsti Paakkanen who passed away on Wednesday, November 3rd.

We are deeply saddened by the news of Ms. Kirsti Paakkanen’s passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with Kirsti Paakkanen’s family and friends. Our heartfelt condolences.

We are truly grateful to represent The Marimekko Story: The Greatest of All is Love written by Ulla-Maija Paavilainen, published in Finland by Otava in 2020.

This is a story of Marimekko’s former owner and CEO Kirsti Paakkanen who took over the Finnish design house and turned Marimekko into a successful worldwide brand name. The Marimekko Story: The Greatest of All is Love has recently been published in Japan by Shodensha and in Estonia by Helios.

THE MARIMEKKO STORY: THE GREATEST OF ALL IS LOVE
by Ulla-Maija Paavilainen

Ulla-Maija Paavilainen: Suurin niistä on rakkaus. Kirsti Paakkasen tarina
Otava, 2020, 346 pp.

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ESTONIA: Helios
JAPAN: Shodensha

About author


Ulla-Maija Paavilainen

Ulla-Maija Paavilainen, award-winning journalist, is the author of several well-received novels and non-fiction books. She has worked as the editor-in-chief at several top Finnish magazines over the past 25 years. One of her specific areas of interest is the role of women in working life and analysing the power structure and what is required for women to have successful careers.

Paavilainen’s most recent work is the moving biography of the legendary entrepreneur Kirsti Paakkanen, who took over Marimekko, one of Finland’s most famous design brands. Kirsti Paakkanen: Greatest of All is Love is the story of Marimekko, an authentic rags-to riches tale of how a poor girl from the countryside first founded the world’s first all-women’s advertising agency, Womena. Selling Womena when she was 62, Paakkanen bought Marimekko, a global design company that was on the verge of bankruptcy and turned it around into an international iconic fashion house.

Bibliography


2020, Memories & Biographies

The Greatest of All Is Love. The Marimekko Story

Ulla-Maija Paavilainen

PUTIN’S TROLLS and THE MARIMEKKO STORY on foreign bestseller lists!

We are extremely happy to announce that only a week after publication by Helios, THE MARIMEKKO STORY is now TOP7 title in Estonia!

And that is not all, PUTIN’S TROLLS  was just published in Hungary by Corvina and now is the TOP2 title throughout the nation!

Congratulations to our authors Ulla-Maija Paavilainen and Jessikka Aro for their foreign success!


 

THE GREATEST OF ALL IS LOVE. THE MARIMEKKO STORY
by Ulla-Maija Paavilainen
Memories & BiographiesThe breath-taking rags-to-riches story of Marimekko’s former owner and CEO Kirsti Paakkanen, who turned the fortunes of the iconic brand around. This is the true story of how a retired businesswoman took over the practically bankrupt Finnish design house and turned Marimekko into a successful worldwide brand name.Download the English sample for THE MARIMEKKO STORY here.
Rights sold: FINLAND: Otava (orig.), ESTONIA: Helios Kirjastus OÜ, JAPAN: Shodensha


PUTIN’S TROLLS
by Jessikka Aro
General Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction, History & PoliticsTrue stories from the frontlines of the Russian information warfareRussia is waging a war against civilians online. Every critical voice is an enemy. In the last few years there have been countless international, sometimes criminal online campaigns against private people throughout the Western countries – orchestrated and approved by the Kremlin.Well-documented true stories show 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.Download the full English pdf for PUTIN’S TROLLS here.
Rights sold: FINLAND: Johnny Kniga (orig.), BULGARIA: Ciela Norma, CZECH REPUBLIC: N Media, ESTONIA: Menu Meedia, HUNGARY: Corvina Books Ltd, LITHUANIA: Briedis, POLAND: Wydawnictwo SQN, ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra, SWEDEN: Sensor Förlag WORLD ENGLISH: Ig Publishing

About author


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.

About author


Ulla-Maija Paavilainen

Ulla-Maija Paavilainen, award-winning journalist, is the author of several well-received novels and non-fiction books. She has worked as the editor-in-chief at several top Finnish magazines over the past 25 years. One of her specific areas of interest is the role of women in working life and analysing the power structure and what is required for women to have successful careers.

Paavilainen’s most recent work is the moving biography of the legendary entrepreneur Kirsti Paakkanen, who took over Marimekko, one of Finland’s most famous design brands. Kirsti Paakkanen: Greatest of All is Love is the story of Marimekko, an authentic rags-to riches tale of how a poor girl from the countryside first founded the world’s first all-women’s advertising agency, Womena. Selling Womena when she was 62, Paakkanen bought Marimekko, a global design company that was on the verge of bankruptcy and turned it around into an international iconic fashion house.

EALA Spring 2021 Non-Fiction Rights Guide

We are very proud to share our Spring 2021 Non-Fiction Rights Guide and announce exciting titles from uncovering dangerous companies, exploring a unique love story and everything in between!

Browse our full Spring 2021 Non-Fiction Rights Guide here.


 

The 50 Most Dangerous Companies in the World 
by Juha-Pekka Raeste & Hannu Sokala

He who controls technology and our knowledge rules the world.

This exciting non-fiction title by experienced financial journalists Hannu Sokala and Juha-Pekka Raeste uncovers 50 companies that make up a large part of global market forces and that largely determine the kind of world we live in.

Some of the companies in the list are relatively unknown (Zhōngguó Yāncǎo Zǒnggōngsī and BlacRrock) some predictable (Google, Amazon), some may seem surprising (Ikea and Disney) and some inevitable (Gazprom and Chevron). Some feed on our gluttony (Cargill and Coca-Cola), some on our vanity (ByteDance and Facebook), some on the lust and some on the greed.

The book reads like a thriller story, starting with the smaller players and ending with the most dangerous companies in the World.

Download info sheet and Finnish pdf here

English sample coming soon!

 

The Story of Aino and Alvar Aalto
by Heikki Aalto-Alanen

The love story of the world-famous, pioneering design couple Aino and Alvar Aalto, written by the Aaltos’ grandson

Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino are internationally celebrated for their architecture, furniture, glassware and other interior design, but their personal lives have been relatively unknown – until now. This book, written by the Aaltos’ grandson, contains photos, sketches, and personal letters between Aino and Alvar beautifully illustrating how inseparable this couple was both in work and love.

“Countless books have been written about Alvar Aalto’s architecture and other works. Recently, Aino Marsio-Aalto has also received the recognition she deserves in her own right as well as in her role in the rise of Alvar Aalto as one of the leading architects of the 20th century,” says Heikki Aalto-Alanen. “The voice in this book is personal. I want to tell the story of Aino and Alvar’s unique partnership, relationship, and their joint life work from the perspective of a family member. I also want their own voices to be heard.”

In addition to the photographs from the family archive, the book is illustrated with Aino and Alvar’s drawings of each other and of their children, as well as landscape drawings made while traveling, along with other architectural drawings and photographs.

Download English sample from here

 

Gentle Power: A Revolution in How We Think, Lead and Succeed
by Emilia Lahti

GENTLE POWER is a universal strategy showing how integrity-fueled fortitude is the key to restoring balance to a globalized capitalist world where it seems the value of true human connection is becoming less of a priority every day. It starts first with personal transformation, but leads to better business practices, a stronger sense of self, and a deeper connection to the world and to others.

Based on her pioneering research at University of Pennsylvania on the Finnish concept of sisu, Lahti’s work proves that true success cannot be achieved or sustained by measuring profits and keeping track of “wins.” Instead, success in all areas of life is deeply rooted in the qualities of gentleness and grounded, rooted strength. Lahti shows that we all have access to deep reserves of this gentle power, ingrained in our biology and in our cultural origins, it simply needs to be embraced and nurtured in order to access its transformative power.

Download English proposal and sample chapters here

 

Future Identities
by Perttu Pölönen

Are you an expander, inspirer, crystallizer, or enlightener?

The years and decades to come will force each of us to rethink our place in this world. Traditionally, identity has been based on a profession, for example, but in the future it is worth building on skills.

Future Identities is an immersive book on identifying one’s own strengths and verbalizing them. If you were a colorer, extender, linker or cross-pollinator, what could you do in the future?

English sample coming soon!

 

Daily Sisu: How to tap into Finnish fortitude for a more resilient life.
by Katja Pantzar

Daily Sisu is a hands-on guide on how to use sisu – the unique Finnish concept of fortitude in the face of challenges – in your everyday life. 

By the author of The Finnish Way – rights sold to 22 territories!

Inspired by sisu, the unique form of Finnish resilience and courage in the face of all sorts of challenges, journalist and writer Katja Pantzar embarks on a journey to uncover practical sisu-inspired ways of coping with tough times. Whether that means dealing with the everyday issues facing us all ranging from wellbeing and health concerns to relationship and work-career dilemmas or bigger picture social and sustainability issues, Daily Sisu offers inspiration, hope, action and motivation.

Download English proposal & sample chapters here

English manuscript coming in May 2021

 

The Extraordinary Women of History 
by Maria Pettersson

Finland’s Bestseller #2, over 20,000 copies sold!

Extraordinary “Badass” Women of History – meet Pirates, Psychics, Priestesses and Princess Spies and 96 other women whose stories your history teacher never told you.

Extraordinary Women of History introduces over a hundred exceptional women from different periods of history and from all corners of the world. It is a veritable treasury of captivating stories and unsung ballads about the exciting women in history. Outrageous, amazing, terrible, heroic, thrilling and above all extraordinary; their life stories make the reader gasp and ask: “Why haven’t I heard of them before?”

Download English sample here