Always lovely to begin a week with some wonderful book news: Juhani Karila’s phenomenal debut novel, Fishing for the Little Pike, has already sold over 30,000 copies in Finland (in all formats) since its publication in 2019. Karila’s publisher in Finland is Siltala.
The book has been incredibly successful both in Finland and abroad, with foreign rights already being sold to 16 territories. The English edition will be published jointly by Restless Books and Pushkin Press this spring / summer.
Additionally, Sebastian Musielak’s Polish translation of the Little Pike, Polowanie na małego szczupaka, published by Marpress, has been nominated for the prestigious T. Boy-Zelenski Award for the best translation!
The award jury states as follows:
“This funny novel takes place somewhere in northern Finland – a cold, wild land, sparsely inhabited by humans, but full of mythological creatures. The translator perfectly reflects the atmosphere of the original, its wit and the language of the characters. He plays with words, invents names, creates his own grammar. He moves freely between the language plane of the real world and the magical world.”
The winner will be announced on the 21st of April, at the translator-focused literature festival called Fictional meetings in Gdańsk – Found in translations.
This is not the first time the Little Pike is receiving nominations abroad: it was honoured by such nominations as Prix Michelin in France and Internationaler Literaturpreis in Germany. In Finland, the book was awarded the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize, the Kalevi Jäntti’s Literary Prize, as well as Tähtifantasia Prize.
Don’t forget to tune in the hilarious Literature from Finland podcast episode MYTH, where Karila discussed myths from and about Finland.
Congratulations to the author!