Leena Krohn’s The Pelican’s New Clothes and Mathematical Creatures have been acquired in a two-book deal for the Danish rights by Jensen & Dalgaard.
Stunning news for our fiction list: Leena Krohn’s The Pelican’s New Clothes and Mathematical Creatures are travelling to Denmark, where they will be published by Jensen & Dalgaard.
In The Pelican’s New Clothes, a pelican lands on a beach and becomes fascinated by the way humans live. The bird dresses like a human, gets an apartment, finds work at the opera, falls in love, lives just like anyone else. Grown-ups don’t notice anything, but children see right through the pelican’s disguise. Before long, the pelican meets its neighbor, ten-year-old Emil, who has recently moved to the city with his mother. Emil comes to serve as the pelican’s guide into the world of humans.
Originally published in 1976, The Pelican’s New Clothes is a classic of Finnish children’s literature: an enchanting fantasy adventure touching to readers of all ages. It is a story of two strangers who meet in the big city and become friends, a story of dreams, disappointments, and joy. The Pelican’s New Clothes has been translated into fourteen languages and adapted for the screen as a full-length movie.
Mathematical Creatures, or Shared Dreams is a collection of twelve short, fantastical stories exploring the basis of human identity and human choices, knowledge and ignorance, mortality and immortality.
The narrator delves in the questions of visible reality and existence. Around her, there are strange creatures, such as gorgonoids, tubanide, pacmantis and lissajoune, which look like aliens and act as if they were from science fiction. Instead, they simulate certain physiological principles of the earth. And when the narrator compares a gorgonoid with a human, the underlying question is if spirit is just a mathematical equation.
Mathematical Creatures, or Shared Dreams was awarded Finland’s most important literary award, Finlandia Prize.
Jensen & Dalgaard is a beautiful Danish independent publishing house that publishes books for both adults and children, with a particular eye for unusual themes and literary perspectives. They are the Danish home of other HLA titles like Heavensong by Pauliina Rauhala, Matara by Matias Riikonen and REC by Marisha Rasi-Koskinen among others.
Warmest congratulations!