Month: May 2024

Author Johanna Förster, who debuted with The Circus of Dreams this spring, participated in a literature panel during the LANU! Children’s and YA literature festival in Helsinki.

The topic of the panel was “Fantasy of Alternative Realities”, and Johanna Förster discussed the dystopic future she built for The Circus of Dreams. The conversation, where Johanna Förster discussed with fellow author Niklas Ahnberg, gave her a chance to discuss The Circus of Dreams, which has been welcomed with brilliant reviews on Finnish media.

In The Circus of Dreams it is a near future, and we follow seventeen-year-old Juuli. On her way to work, Juuli happens upon a fox in the street. Following behind it is a Watcher, who luckily doesn’t notice her helping the fox escape. The everyday world becomes strangely fractured when the same fox, Eduardo Silver, starts appearing in Juuli’s dreams. In them, she’s in a circus. But are her dreams really dreams?

Around this same time, Juuli befriends the street artist and activist Niko, his sister Nini and his old friend Iida. For a while, everything feels new and full of possibilities, but then something terrible happens. Juuli sets out to find her friends, crossing a continent that has changed in peculiar ways. While on her journey she returns to forgotten childhood memories of a circus that was destroyed in a fire. She embarks on an amazing adventure where she meets her own self, her missing father, and events from the past. This multilayered story transports readers to the totalitarian Europe of the recent future, to a magical parallel world, and into Juuli’s memories. These are woven together to form a place where the falsehood of a restrictive environment is juxtaposed against joy and imagination.

Way to go for this amazing YA title and author Johanna Förster!

Ulla Donner’s The Natural Comedy has been nominated for the Urhunden Prize, the most prestigious award given by the Swedish Comics Association. This is the latest of several nominations for this graphically stunning, sharp, and funny title.

The Natural Comedy by Ulla Donner continues to receive accolades: the title has been nominated for the Urhunden Prize, the most prestigious award given by the Swedish Comics Association, Seriefrämjandet.

The Urhunden Prize was established in 1987 and has since been awarded to one domestic and one translated title each year. The prize owes its name to a comics series by Oskar Andersson in the early 1900s that features a dog-like dinosaur named Urhunden (“prehistoric, ancient dog”). In 2021 the prize was put on hold as the organisers planned on renewing and enlarging its structure and this year it is finally back with a blast and lists The Natural Comedy as one of the nominees.

The Natural Comedy is Ulla Donner‘s third graphic novel, and it has been received with wide critical acclaim. Born as a twist on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, the work follows Birch, a leaf who makes a crash landing on Candy after falling off a tree on the way to the Great Autumn Party. The reluctant duo embark on a roadtrip through the forest, which has been destroyed by mankind, and encounter a string of weird characters along the way. Donner’s pencil stuns readers with vivid illustrations rich in blues, whites and yellows that bring the forest to life and give the main characters rounded, human-like and extremely cute features.

The Natural Comedy has previously been nominated for the Finlandia Comics Award and the Most Beautiful Book of the Year Award.

We are delighted with the accolades, and fingers crossed!

Pirkko Saisio’s iconic Helsinki Trilogy continues its journey into the world: the Swedish rights have been sold to Förlaget M. The trilogy made Saisio the first living Finnish author to be included in the Penguin Modern Classics.

The Helsinki Trilogy by Pirkko Saisio, the grand dame of the Finnish literary and dramatic scene, is continuing its journey into the world: Förlaget M has acquired the Swedish rights to the trilogy in a three-book deal.

The Helsinki Trilogy consists of The Lowest Common Multiple, The Backlight, and The Red Book of Farewells. Pirkko Saisio’s autofictional trilogy carries the reader through the childhood, adolescence and adulthood of a girl who wanted to be a boy and started calling herself “her” when she was eight years of age.

The trilogy starts with The Lowest Common Multiple (1998). In the beginning of the novel, the main character, “she”, is already a middle-aged mother. When her father dies, things get shoved o their place. Her memories take her back to her childhood in the 1950s – to a story, which is also about to change.

In the second novel, The Backlight (2000), it is 1968, and the main character is travelling to Switzerland to work in an orphanage. With episodes from her grammar school years, the reader follows her navigating the conflict between a leftist upbringing, Christianity, and her awakening sexuality.

The Red Book of Farewells (2003) starts in the politically turbulent 1970s. The main character begins her studies in the Theatre Academy, falls in love with a woman, and enters an adult life where there are to be farewells every now and then.

The strong themes of the trilogy – the relationship between an individual and the society, sexuality and being queer, and finding your voice – are told in a fragmentary, lyrical style, descriptive of Saisio. As the background, there is Helsinki, changing as the decades go by.

The trilogy made history in January 2024 when Penguin acquired it in a three-book deal which will make Saisio the first living Finnish author to be included in the Penguin Modern Classics. The trilogy is out in German with Klett-Cotta, in French with Robert Laffont and will be a top title on its release with Host in Czech and De Geus in Dutch.

Förlaget M is a Helsinki-based Swedish-language publishing house founded in 2015. Publishing about 25 titles a year, ranging from fiction all the way to children’s books and non-fiction, Förlaget M has rapidly become the home of many successful Finnish titles published in Swedish. The publishing house strives to foster reading and cultural diversity, and they distribute in both Finland and Sweden.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!

Karin Erlandsson’s Song of the Eye Gemstone series is travelling to Slovenia, where it will be published by Morfem. This is the 7th language territory for this gorgeous fantasy series.

The Song of the Eye Gemstone series by Karin Erlandsson continues its journey into the world: Morfem in Slovenia has acquired the whole series in a four-book deal, thus marking the 7th language territory for the series.

The Song of the Eye Gemstone series by Karin Erlandsson consists of four books: The Pearl Fisher, The Bird Master, The Scaler of the Peaks, and The Victor, all set in a world in which colourful pearls are the most important currency. The ocean floor is covered in the pearls, and the queen can never get enough of them.

Miranda is the most skilful pearl fisher of all, and she believes she can find the pearl that everyone wants: the mythical eye gemstone. It’s been said that the one who finds this precious stone will never have to want for anything again. People also say that there are pearl whisperers who can hear the song of the pearls and lure the pearls to them. When Miranda meets Syrsa, a scrawny child with a unique gift, a chain of events is set in motion and the two embark on a quest through the realms.

Friendship and standing up for what is right are central themes in the series, which has been critically acclaimed and loved by readers since its release. The Pearl Fisher, book #1, novel was chosen as the winner of a children’s novel competition organized by Schildts & Söderströms Publishers in 2016. The series is out with Dedalus for World English, Perseus in Bulgaria and Bonnier Carlsen in Sweden, among others. In Finland, it is published by Schildts & Söderströms.

Morfem is a beautiful Slovenian publishing house whose list has a strong focus on atmospheric illustrations and themes relating to nature.

Karin Erlandsson is an established Swedish-speaking author from Åland, the Finnish island between Finland and Sweden. Her production includes children’s books, crime novels, a non-fiction title about knitting and feminism and Home, a stunning choral novel about living on Åland throughout the centuries.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publishers!

Endless Winter, the first volume in the Mythicals graphic novel series by Miila Westin, is rapidly becoming an international success as World Spanish and Czech rights to the title have been sold. The series will be published by Galimatazo for Spanish and Host for Czech.

Winter is over, but Endless Winter by Miila Westin is setting off on its journey into the world: the first instalment in the Mythicals graphic novel series for children is travelling to the Spanish-speaking world, where it will be published by Galimatazo, and to the Czech Republic, where it will be published by Host. This marks the first two language territories for this amazing title, and there is strong interest from multiple other areas.

Endless Winter is a winning combination of stunning illustrations, elements from the Finnish mythology and adventure with an environmentally conscious twist. In the book we follow 10-year-old Eevi, who has just lost her grandfather. It’s June, but there’s a snowstorm and there’s no sign winter will end anytime soon. After receiving a mysterious necklace from her grandmother, Eevi sees things whose existence she ignored, including the guardian elf of barley who has a hunch of why spring is delayed – and learns that if something isn’t done soon, winter will last forever. Eevi is soon drawn into a magical adventure with a group of elves. Their mission is to free the awakener of spring nature, whom the powerful and evil Kalevala witch Louhi has imprisoned in the Underworld. On the journey, Eevi encounters various magical creatures, gets lost in the forest and finally slips through a crack into the Underworld: is this her chance to get Grandpa back?

Endless Winter is the first book of the Mythicals, a series of graphic novels that introduces ancient Balto-Finnic folklore to children. The second book, Dangerous Dream, is out this week.

Galimatazo is a beautiful independent publishing house with a strong focus on high-quality illustrated books and classics from the Nordic countries, and they feature, among others, a Norwegian graphic novel for children.

Host is the Czech home of many Finnish titles, including our very own A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large for the children’s list and Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki Trilogy and Juhani Karila’s Fishing For the Little Pike for adults’ fiction.

We are delighted with the deals, and more to come soon: congratulations to the author and the publishers!