Month: April 2022

More exciting sales news! One of the most exciting debuts last autumn, E. L. Karhu’s novel To My Brother, has now been sold to Metropolis Media in Hungary. This is the second foreign rights sale for this title, as World French rights were sold in February.

Metropolis Media’s list consists of various collections, such as Nobel Prize winners, EU Prize for literature nominees and winners and other high quality fiction. They have previously published Juhani Karila’s novel Fishing for the Little Pike.

To My Brother is an absurd, dark-humoured bildungsroman which germinates from internalized self-hatred and prompts thoughts about lust, sexual capital and hierarchies, as well as ways disgust is used as a means of control, especially against women. 

The novel was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, given to the best debut of the year. E.L. Karhu’s play with the same title, To My Brother, premiered this month in Schauspiel Leipzig in Germany.

Congratulations to the author!

One of the loveliest prizes in the Finnish literary scene has been awarded to one of the loveliest authors: Anneli Kanto’s sensational novel The Rat Saint has been honoured with the Thank You for the Book Prize.

The prize is given out yearly since 1966, for a book that is considered to have caused the biggest intellectual and/or emotional stimulus to the readers during the past year. The winner is decided upon jointly by The Booksellers’ Association in Finland, Association Libro ry and Finnish Library Association.

The jury has stated about the novel:

“The Rat Saint is a combination of a masterfully weaved plot and psychologically credible portrayal of individual’s development as well as artistry as both a concrete and spiritual process. Anneli Kanto has done an incredible job researching and weaving together the historical threads and bringing to life the Medieval Häme region, which was mainly unknown to an average reader. (…) What mostly brings joy to the reader – up to the point of bursting out laughing – is the vivid language, with all its medieval expressions and insults.”

And indeed, the readers have loved the novel since its publication: The Rat Saint has sold close to 20,000 copies in Finland, and has recently been awarded the Blogistania Finlandia Prize.

Congratulations to the author!

Some more post-spring-bookfair action! We are thrilled to announce that World English rights for The Mystery of Helmersbruk Manor, the new mystery story for the middle grade readers written by Eva Frantz and illustrated by Elin Sandström, is now sold to Pushkin Press.

Pushkin Press is a beautiful independent publisher of adult and children’s literature based in the UK. Its children’s list aims to introduce everything from “classic fantasy adventures to bold young adult novels and gorgeous picture books” and present stories that “enchant, inspire and open up new horizons”.

The publisher has earlier acquired Eva Frantz’s 2018 Runeberg Junior winner Raspberry Hill, which will be the cover title of Pushkin’s Summer–Autumn 2022 Catalogue.

Additionally, an offer from Slovenia is now on the table for Raspberry Hill and an offer from Poland forThe Mystery of Helmersbruk Manor – so more news to follow soon!

Don’t forget to tune in Literature from Finland podcast episode Atmospheres, where, among other topics, Frantz also movingly discussed her children’s books.

How wonderful to see that some of our older titles never stop conquering the world. It’s a joy to announce that Juhani Karila’s 2019 sensation Fishing for the Little Pike has now been sold to Fazi Editore in Italy! This is the 13th foreign territory for the title.

Fazi Editore is a literary house founded in 1994, that publishes some of the most distinguished literary names from Italy and abroad, including Thomas De Quincey, John Fante, Hillary Mantel, Tove Ditlevsen, among others.

Fishing for the Little Pike has been recently published in French, in translation by Claire Saint-Germain, and was met with raging reviews, comparing the novel to Shakespeare, Arto Paasilinna, Rabelais and Cervantes. The novel was nominated for Prix Micheline, a booksellers’ prize for the best literary debut.

The previous foreign rights deals include:

World Arabic, Al Arabi
World English, Pushkin Press (UK & The Commonwealth) and Restless Books (USA & Canada)
Denmark, Jensen & Dalgaard
Dutch, Koppernik
Estonia, Hea Lugu
World French, La Peuplade
Germany, Homunculus
Hebrew, Locus
Hungary, Metropolis Media
Poland, Marpress
Russia, Livebooks
Turkey, İthaki

Congratulations to the author! Don’t forget to tune in Literature from Finland podcast episode MYTH, where Karila discussed myths from and about Finland.